New TV Series: Make It or Break It

Make It or Break It premiered this week on ABC Family. It runs on Monday nights at 9 pm. With Greek on hiatus, and my disinterest in Secret Life of An American Teenager, I was eager to find a new show to fill my ABC Family void. This one is about hardcore teenage gymnasts who are just as catty as regular girls, only they dis each other's leotards instead of the usual bad outfits.

The plot starts with Emily Kmetko, a fantastic gymnast who just happens to be dirt poor, joining an established gym that trains Olympic hopefuls. She gets in on a scholarship, and struggles to make time for both training and her part time job at a pizzeria to help ends meet at home. Emily's mom is forgetful and a little trashy, but you can tell she cares about her daughter a lot. Emily also has a brother in a wheelchair. We don't know much about him or their relationship, but he's around for now.

The gym has three stand out gymnasts, Payson, the focused leader in skill, Kaylie, the smiling crowd favorite, and Lauren, the rich bitch. When Emily shows up, they are all threatened by her talent because she could knock anyone out of the top three headed to nationals. Lauren leads a freeze out, which the other girls go along with despite not being as mean, and even though this disturbs Emily, she keeps her focus and does her best at the qualifier. Unfortunately, Lauren has more than bitchy tactics on her side, and gets down right dangerous at one point. I think she reminds me of Tanya Harding a little...


The qualifying match gets ugly, but there is a hopeful resolution to it all. However, another evil plot twist isn't too far behind, and the show ends with a cliffhanger. I feel like this show would make a good movie (for TV), but I'm not sure how it will survive as a series. I think they would need to tone down the gymnastics a bit and crank up the drama to succeed. Although, I loved seeing some of the athletic parts. You can't help but hold your breath for a second when you see one of them about to do a vault, or let out a huge OH! when someone falls. It's very exciting.

The character development is really weak right now, but the pilot did a good job of getting the main personalities across. They made you feel for Emily and hate Lauren, while also making you wonder how Payson and Kaylie will develop. I have a feeling they might go back and forth between good and evil. ABC Family does short runs of episodes, so I'm sure I'll watch this one throughout the summer before it goes off air in the fall. I'll keep you updated on it's progress.