Hit the Floor - Pilot - Review

Debuting on VH1 on Monday night Hit the Floor got off to a fairly decent start, with a strong cast, some strong routines, and a whole lot of potential drama. The series definitely has the ingredients to be a one to watch this summer.

Centered around the Ahsha played by former Laker Girl, Taylour Paige (Glee) the premiere episode follows her strive to reach her dream of following in her mother’s footsteps and becoming a ‘Devil Girl’, the professional dance team for the Los Angeles Devils basketball team. In line with this the majority of the plot in the opening episode is centered on the try-outs for the team where the majority of the leading characters were introduced. The team captain Jelena played by Logan Browning (Meet the Browns), Ahsha’s ally Racquel played by Valery Ortiz (South of Nowhere), fellow try-out Kyle played by Katherine Bailess (One Tree Hill). The leading characters outside of the team consists of Ahsha’s mother Sloane played by Kimberly Elise (Close to Home), the team manager Olivia played by Charlotte Ross (NYPD Blue, Glee) and the new head coach Pete Davenport played by Dean Cain (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman).

In relation to the cast I would say on the whole it is strong and although there may be some performances that are stronger than others. There is not anyone on the show that I feel is hideously terrible, to the degree where I was unable to watch a scene in which they were in. The strongest performances for me came from Valery Ortiz, in her portrayal Racquel’s struggles with balancing her place on the team with her family troubles. Charlotte Ross and Kimberly Elise also impressed me, most evidently in the scene where their characters were re-introduced to each other, giving some indication to their past relationship. They may be playing the archetypal role of the ‘promiscuous slut’ and the ‘Queen B - b**ch’ however, in spite of this Bailess and Browning both stood out for me, because they committed to these roles, and did not go in to them with half measures. Although for me personally, Bailess gave the stronger performance bringing, Kyle’s southern flare and attitude to life, easily making her one of my favourite characters to look out for as the series continues, secured by the delivery of my favourite line from the episode, "OMG it's like a Unicorn humped a Care Bear and gave birth to you". This in no way takes anything away from Browning performance I just felt at times she could have reeled it in a little, as I find when playing the ‘mean girl’ role sometimes less is more. After watching the pilot the character who I did not feel as much of a connection to was in fact the lead character Ahsha. I do not believe this is in any way down to Paige's performance, I just feel that some of the other characters in particular those on and trying out for the 'Devil Girls' team, for example, Jelena and Kyle. Had more of an attitude and strength that allowed them to have more of a spark to draw in the audience. In comparison to Ahsha more innocent and insecure demeanor. However, in spite of this initial reaction to the character I feel that this characterisation may have been intentional. So that as the season moves forward, they will be able to clearly show Ahsha's struggle with trying to keep sense of who she is, while being pressured to change and conform as she is tempted by the unpredictable world of being a Devil Girl, that he mother has warned her about.

With the pilot focusing primarily on the try-out stage, there was not much room for the other storylines to shine. However there was some screen time given to secondary plots, which helped to open up the scope of the series and the directions it could take, outside of the world of the dance team. These included Raquel personal troubles with her child and his father, Jelena’s possible manipulation and power struggles, the mystery of the elusive character of Mia's sudden departure, but most importantly that of Ahsha’s mothers past life as an original member of the Devil Girls. In addition to these plots you also have the generic romance storyline with Ahsha and her boyfriend German (Jonathan "Lil J" McDaniel) and the newly added obstacle of Derek (McKinley Freeman), one of the stars of the Devil's, who is seen to developan instant attrction to her. However, in comparison to some of the other storylines that have some depth and intrigue to them, this one does not really interest me. From the pilot it is clear that the series will have a heavy focus on the dance team and the relationship of the girls and the basketball players.  However, these subplots give some indication that in a similar way to The Game, that there will be some life outside of the stadium given further scope not just to the storylines , but also to the characters and their story arcs for the season.

As a series with a heavy focus on dance it is only right that I give some indication to my thoughts on the routines featured. On the whole, not being a trained dancer myself I felt most of the performances during the try-outs were pretty strong and tight. What I liked was that they showed a that the girls had a commitment to the dance and that those performing had some dance ability, rather than completely looking like actors playing a part. When it came to the dance-off routines I enjoyed the energy of these scenes, and how most of the girls were not just going through the motions with their moves, but brought their A-Game and were really performing. This allowed the audience to actually believe in what they were doing and trying to convey. As stated I did enjoy most of the performances, however, the two that I was least impressed with were the two female leads Jelena and Ahsha, as I just felt that in comparison to others they did bring much to the floor. Starting with Jelena having just stated before her routine that it was not just about technique but 'face'. When it came for her to perform, despite it being strong on a personality level, it just felt like all she brought was face with a dash of sex, and we were not really shown a performance that would justify her as the captain of Devil Girls. Then for Ahsha, although we got to see a bit more technique from her (however, if she did one more pirouette), I felt where she was lacking was on the personality side. If the final 'Run The world' routine is anything to go by, I think we are in for some great dance numbers throughout the season.

Overall, based on the pilot episode in spite of the use of some obvious clichés and predictable story plots, the series has a strong set of characters, the overarching theme of dance and a good dose of soap opera, giving it a lot of potential to deliver going forward in the season. Whether you are a fan of cheerleading, dance or pure good old fashioned drama, I would definitely recommend people take an hour on a Monday night or set their DVR’s and check out Hit the Floor.

Hit the Floor airs Monday's at 9pm on VH1.

All images are the property of VH1.