It's not often that a show gets booted off a network, disappears for more than a year, and then re-launches on a new network, with the entire cast in tact to boot.

Yet that's the journey "The Game" (BET, 10 tonight) has taken, and so consider this premiere a cause for celebration for all fans who've had a favorite show dropped without satisfying resolution.

If you're not familiar with the show, it chronicles the life and times of the players of a San Diego pro football team, The Sabres, and their families and hangers-on. It's billed as a half-hour comedy, but it's better described as a dramedy. There are comic moments for sure, but "The Game" isn't afraid to tackle serious/timely issues like gay athletes, interracial relationships, workplace sexism and politics.