Hit The Couch For Hit The Floor
Show: Hit The Floor, which airs Tuesdays at 8 PM on VH1.
Plot: Sloane (Kimberly Elise) -- a former "Devil Girl," performers who dances at L.A. Devils basketball games -- wants nothing more for her recent college-grad daughter Ahsha (Taylour Paige) than a stable job in banking. But Ahsha has dreams of her own, and they involve being a second-generation Devil Girl. If only she knew why Sloane had tried to keep her away from the team....
Soapy Intrigue: Well, the secret Sloane's been keeping involves the identity of Ahsha's biological father, and since it came out at the end of the series premiere, I'm going to put it at the end of this sentence, which you should stop reading if you don't want to know: Ahsha's father is Pete Davenport (a bearded Dean Cain), who was a Devils player back when Sloane was a Devil Girl. Meanwhile, former stripper Kyle (Katherine Bailess) blew Devils owner Oscar Kincade (Don Stark) to get onto the squad and is opportunistically parlaying her position as a Devil Girl into gifts and cash from interested dudes; and squad captain Jelena (Logan Browning) knows Ahsha's the better dancer and is determined to destroy her.
What It Will Remind You Of: The sportiness and girly back-biting are very Make It Or Break It, but more adult. Which is not to say more mature.
What’s Best About It: Elise's and Cain's extremely straight-faced performances enhance the show's inherent campiness, which is great, but the actually best thing about the show: The Devil Girl routines! Unlike some Glees I could mention, Hit The Floor is actually directed in such a way that the viewer can actually see and appreciate what's going on. And the ladies who play the Devil Girls are legitimately good dancers.
What’s Worst About It: The ladies who play the Devil Girls are not good actors. Actually, Bailess is pretty good, but as the resident gold-digger, she has the most fun role to play.
But If I Save It Until Friday, Don’t I Risk Having Someone Spoil It For Me Before I Watch It? When I told my esteemed colleague Sarah D. Bunting that her one-time (forever?) crush and fellow Princeton Tiger Dean Cain was on Hit The Floor, her response was, "I don't know what that is." I suspect her experience of the show (none) is typical.
Finally, And Most Importantly, Do the Female Leads Wear Cute Outfits? Not the leads; the current Devil Girls, when they're not in uniform, are dressed either for rehearsal or for man-trapping. But Devil Girls Director (and Sloane's one-time Devil Girl contemporary) Olivia Vincent (Charlotte Ross) rocks sharp business attire; and Sloane has sported an impressive range of funky separates. The girl likes her prints, just like me!