When I first watched Hellcats in the fall, a show about a competitive cheerleading squad in college, I acknowledged its dedication to male (& female) T & A fantasies, but I found the actors lacking. Robbie Jones (Lewis) and Heather Hemmens (Alice) were hot, but I didn’t buy Heather’s mean girl and Robbie didn’t bring much to the table. Alyson Michalka (Marti) and Matt Barr (Dan) were stronger acting-wise, but Alyson lacked emotional vulnerability. I didn’t have high hopes for Ashley Tisdale (Savannah) outside her High School Musical vitae. While I had no complaints with the “adult” characters, I had seen Sharon Leal (Boston Public), Gail O’Grady (NYPD Blue) and D.B. Woodside (Buffy, 24) in much better shows showcasing their talent.
Writing-wise, I felt the show placed 18-22-year-olds in high school scenarios. I felt the pilot constructed the show as good looking teenagers hooking up while effacing the competitive cheerleading and funding story-lines. Although I watched the show on and off when Carissa posted, I still felt slightly cynical until it returned from hiatus.
On Tuesday night, I realized something — the acting is good. I mean, believably good. For the first time, I actually believed the actors and their characters. I totally believed Alice’s motivations and found myself cheering on the female searching for daddy’s love. This made more sense than the girl pulling senseless high school pranks and Heather made her absolutely sympathetic. I loved Lewis’ cautious advisory support. I found myself enjoying his warning empathy and found myself not thinking “if only Lewis would remove his shirt.” I see now why the casting director chose these actors. It just took them a while to shine. Watching last night’s episode made me want to partially recant any criticism I ever posted. Plus, they totally improved Tisdale’s character beyond the one-dimensional sweet girl. I buy Savannah’s emotional intelligence. She no longer seems sweet without the smarts. Plus, in the bedroom scene, I finally saw Alyson’s emotional vulnerability. The bedroom scene, Alice’s confrontation with her father, and the pre-cheer-off stand-off all made me realize that Hellcats has morphed beyond the hot cheerleaders in wife-beater tanks and crop tops. Yes, that remains, but the acting and writing no longer exist to showcase it. Plus, the show followed the failing funding, competitive cheering story-line I hoped it would.
So, what do people think? Has Hellcats greatly improved?
I also have a couple questions for the peanut gallery:
Clacked by An Nicholson 
on Jan 29, 2011 @ 19:24 EST5EDT
You KNOW my answer. Glad to have you back on board, girlfriend!
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Thanks, C!
I think it is a bit of a stretch to call Mario Van Peebles a Hollywood legend, but that’s just me :P
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I thought someone might question me on that, but here’s my justification. Mario’s father, Melvin, has directed in the field for ages. Plus, Mario has a couple ground breaking films/tv shows under his belt. Having an African-American lead for NBC’s ‘Sony Spoon’ was a big deal in 88 (and it lasted 2 years). Plus, his direction of and starring in ‘New Jack City’ ushered in a new era regarding exposing inner city realities (sure, the genre eventually burned itself out, but it was groundbreaking at the time).
Finally, I know I shouldn’t mention ‘Posse,’ but I respected it for bringing another historical aspect people tend to obfuscate (which is why I focus on 18th century Anglo-Africans’ :). I’m thinking about re-adding ‘Badass’ to my Netflix list. I respected the ideal of its meta-referencing which was part-documentary/part-parternal tribute. Although the post-release reviews scared me off, I just love meta-textuality, so I might just have to bite the bullet on that one –
I definitely agree the acting has gotten better. I think that is a combination of the actors becoming more comfortable in their roles and the characters becoming more well rounded. They were all introduced to fit a specific stereotype, but they have grown in a short amount of time.
My only real disappointment so far has been that the coach gave in to being blackmailed. I can only hope that he was participating in the payoff in an sting/undercover type of operation.
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It’s possibly a combination of poor writing/acting/nerves in the pilot. I felt during the initial episode the director(s) could push the cast moreso, but at this point they have and everything has come together –
Oh NO! Now I have to start watching this. I had been avoiding Hellcats successfully up until this point. I guess there’s no use fighting it …
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I know. I was dismayed to see the improvement, myself. All I can say is there’s always the possibility they might go back down in quality. But, if they do, at least you can enjoy the show’s various bits of eye candy :)
I don’t know where this show gets it’s guest star power, but they surely are pulling in major favors.
Aside, the prestige of flying is more because you become a star, in the cheerleading sense of the word. It does take major conditioning, practice and talent. Usually, if you are a flyer and aren’t flying, you aren’t in the stunt. But I agree floor is generally the most cool thing to watch, and uses the whole squad.
And I’m pretty sure she just kissed him. But I think savannah is just really pissed and embarrassed about the whole thing.
PS I’m typing this on my phone, I’m not proofreading or anything.