Stick the landing, kids
Sep. 13th, 2010 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyOkay, one of the things I wanted to do today was to finally get around to watching Hellcats. Originally I was just going to shuffle to my room and watch it in there, but then I thought that since ratings were not spectacular, I should probably do what little I could and watch online. CW's player isn't as clear as I would like, but it wasn't awful video quality wise.
Nor was the show awful. It's been put on my Watch Weekly list.
Marti (the blonde with the beauty mark you'll see in any given promo) has a week to find some way to pay for school after her scholarship has been revoked. Because her mother is often drunk and living in her own world, she spent the summer not telling Marti about it because she didn't want Marti to worry. Marti finds out that cheerleaders get a scholarship because this is the South and we take our football (and thus our cheerleaders) very seriously. Luckily for Marti, she was a gymnast until her senior year in high school!
Unfortunately for Marti, she pissed off the head cheerleader by calling her a football groupie and being a bitch. Back to luckily, the Lancer Hellcats are in desperate need of new blood, especially since head bitch Alice (not the captain) fell and hurt her wrist. Marti tries out and manages to not only make it through, but is elevated to pretty much rockstar status awfully fast.
This leads to one of the few things that bothered me to the point of distraction. They tried to explain it away with all the backups having either moved, flunked, or gotten knocked up. Fair enough. But you couldn't shuffle things so one of the other fliers was up front? The new girl gets that honor? Yeah. That'll endear her to the rest of the cheerleaders. *cough* Dead serious. Watch the show and Marti is dead fucking center all the time, and if she isn't, Savannah (Ashley Tisdale's character) is right next to her, and yet Marti still gets all the attention.
Whatever. Marti funkifies the squad, which probably makes Savannah worry that she made a mistake in voting Marti onto the squad. Alice sure as hell ain't happy about it.
There are adults running around the storylines. You've got the coach, Vanessa (I think?) who was a Hellcat back in the day. She finds out that in order to make way for a new well known football coach, all the other budges are being slashed. If the Hellcats don't make nationals, they are out of competitive cheerleading and stuck cheering at sporting events only.
This is the part that stuck out when I initially read the synopsis about the show. Football in the south is not God, as the show will say. It is a religion and if you think I'm kidding, you're obviously Not From Around Here. But the way it's explained in the show makes a bit more sense. In order to further their football team's chances at greatness, I'd imagine they'd cut as many other budgets as possible.
I'm still not sure I'd buy that they'd cut the competitive cheerleading aspect, BUT that's for a former cheerleader to confirm or deny at this point. I'd imagine that it's expensive, particularly if your team doesn't win or at least place.
Vanessa is datingPrincipal Wood the team doc but an ex-boyfriend of hers pops back up. When the sports shows pick up on the news Wood Doc asks if V and the guy ever crossed paths back in the day. She says that the cheerleaders and footballers didn't hang out together.
My entire world view is shattered by this. High school and pop culture tell me that this is a big fucking lie, but hey. Maybe it's different for competitive cheerleading? OtherwiseWood is too stupid to live. You know this lie is going to come back and bite her in the ass.
Savannah and Marti bond a bit and Alice overheads that Lewis, her ex, has not only asked to have Marti (who has been working with them for less than a week at this point) be his permanent flier, but seems interested in her as well. Alice is Not Happy. Since she also happened to overhear that Marti's mom is a drunk who helped ruin gymnastics for M, she goes to the bar where M's mom works and invites her to qualifiers. Because Alice isn't nearly as brainwashed as Savannah seems to think.
Which brings us to Savannah. I'm not going to lie. I think Ashley Tisdale is adorable and while she will probably never be a Super Serious Actress, she makes her characters likable even when they shouldn't be, either due to bitchery or stupidity on the parts of the writers. So far Savannah is an odd duck. She's not above trying to bitch-slap Marti when provoked, but she turns around and accepts Marti because she knows that Marti is good for the team. I want more Savannah and less Marti in the coming episodes, CW. Thank you.
While you're conforming to my will, here are some other things that should change.
Marti riding everywhere on her bike is essentially filler. I get that it had to be done for whatever reason, but it's boring. Someone once said that it was dull as dishwater watching someone on screen typing? Biking ain't much more interesting once you've established that there will be no wipeouts. The cutesy transitions with cheerleaders wiping the screen? Yeah. Either invest more money in making it smoother, or just... don't. I think it worked well enough for the pilot because of the way the end came about but still.
Do not change the awesomeness of having a cliffhanger without actually having one. Confused?
Alice convinces Marti's mother to show up and we cut to the roar of the crowd as the Hellcats are heading into the competition. It's as epic as it needs to be and maybe we held a little too long on Savannah's writing on Marti's arm (that's something that should have been on screen only long enough for the screencappers to grab one or two really clear shots. Not enough that I looked away for a minute and then looked back only to find it still. on. the. screen. Subtle goes a long way, guys. Try it some time.) but then we finally get our opening shot with the show title...
And the episode is over.
It is always, always better to end and leave us going, "Wait, it's over already? No way!" than to be checking our watches, man. Well played.
I hope that the show does well enough to stay on the air. I think it'll be a fun one to watch.
*kicks blogger and sends warm fuzzies to zallia* I'd comment but, like I said, it hates me.
Nor was the show awful. It's been put on my Watch Weekly list.
Marti (the blonde with the beauty mark you'll see in any given promo) has a week to find some way to pay for school after her scholarship has been revoked. Because her mother is often drunk and living in her own world, she spent the summer not telling Marti about it because she didn't want Marti to worry. Marti finds out that cheerleaders get a scholarship because this is the South and we take our football (and thus our cheerleaders) very seriously. Luckily for Marti, she was a gymnast until her senior year in high school!
Unfortunately for Marti, she pissed off the head cheerleader by calling her a football groupie and being a bitch. Back to luckily, the Lancer Hellcats are in desperate need of new blood, especially since head bitch Alice (not the captain) fell and hurt her wrist. Marti tries out and manages to not only make it through, but is elevated to pretty much rockstar status awfully fast.
This leads to one of the few things that bothered me to the point of distraction. They tried to explain it away with all the backups having either moved, flunked, or gotten knocked up. Fair enough. But you couldn't shuffle things so one of the other fliers was up front? The new girl gets that honor? Yeah. That'll endear her to the rest of the cheerleaders. *cough* Dead serious. Watch the show and Marti is dead fucking center all the time, and if she isn't, Savannah (Ashley Tisdale's character) is right next to her, and yet Marti still gets all the attention.
Whatever. Marti funkifies the squad, which probably makes Savannah worry that she made a mistake in voting Marti onto the squad. Alice sure as hell ain't happy about it.
There are adults running around the storylines. You've got the coach, Vanessa (I think?) who was a Hellcat back in the day. She finds out that in order to make way for a new well known football coach, all the other budges are being slashed. If the Hellcats don't make nationals, they are out of competitive cheerleading and stuck cheering at sporting events only.
This is the part that stuck out when I initially read the synopsis about the show. Football in the south is not God, as the show will say. It is a religion and if you think I'm kidding, you're obviously Not From Around Here. But the way it's explained in the show makes a bit more sense. In order to further their football team's chances at greatness, I'd imagine they'd cut as many other budgets as possible.
I'm still not sure I'd buy that they'd cut the competitive cheerleading aspect, BUT that's for a former cheerleader to confirm or deny at this point. I'd imagine that it's expensive, particularly if your team doesn't win or at least place.
Vanessa is dating
My entire world view is shattered by this. High school and pop culture tell me that this is a big fucking lie, but hey. Maybe it's different for competitive cheerleading? Otherwise
Savannah and Marti bond a bit and Alice overheads that Lewis, her ex, has not only asked to have Marti (who has been working with them for less than a week at this point) be his permanent flier, but seems interested in her as well. Alice is Not Happy. Since she also happened to overhear that Marti's mom is a drunk who helped ruin gymnastics for M, she goes to the bar where M's mom works and invites her to qualifiers. Because Alice isn't nearly as brainwashed as Savannah seems to think.
Which brings us to Savannah. I'm not going to lie. I think Ashley Tisdale is adorable and while she will probably never be a Super Serious Actress, she makes her characters likable even when they shouldn't be, either due to bitchery or stupidity on the parts of the writers. So far Savannah is an odd duck. She's not above trying to bitch-slap Marti when provoked, but she turns around and accepts Marti because she knows that Marti is good for the team. I want more Savannah and less Marti in the coming episodes, CW. Thank you.
While you're conforming to my will, here are some other things that should change.
Marti riding everywhere on her bike is essentially filler. I get that it had to be done for whatever reason, but it's boring. Someone once said that it was dull as dishwater watching someone on screen typing? Biking ain't much more interesting once you've established that there will be no wipeouts. The cutesy transitions with cheerleaders wiping the screen? Yeah. Either invest more money in making it smoother, or just... don't. I think it worked well enough for the pilot because of the way the end came about but still.
Do not change the awesomeness of having a cliffhanger without actually having one. Confused?
Alice convinces Marti's mother to show up and we cut to the roar of the crowd as the Hellcats are heading into the competition. It's as epic as it needs to be and maybe we held a little too long on Savannah's writing on Marti's arm (that's something that should have been on screen only long enough for the screencappers to grab one or two really clear shots. Not enough that I looked away for a minute and then looked back only to find it still. on. the. screen. Subtle goes a long way, guys. Try it some time.) but then we finally get our opening shot with the show title...
And the episode is over.
It is always, always better to end and leave us going, "Wait, it's over already? No way!" than to be checking our watches, man. Well played.
I hope that the show does well enough to stay on the air. I think it'll be a fun one to watch.
*kicks blogger and sends warm fuzzies to zallia* I'd comment but, like I said, it hates me.
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Date: 2010-09-13 03:45 pm (UTC)Plus, you're witty and I need you. :-)