"Hellcats" Review: The Same Old Stuff

The world of college cheerleading seems like the perfect place to find some new drama and angst. But apparently, the writers of “Hellcats” just weren’t looking hard enough because they’re only giving us the same old stuff…

Disney vet Aly Michalka (“Phil of the Future”) is Marti, a student at Lancer University, a college football powerhouse. But she’s only interested in graduating law school and getting away from her mother (Gail O’Grady). However, when she loses her scholarship, she’s forced to jump into the sports world by auditioning to be a cheerleader and receive a cheerleading scholarship.

Of course she makes the team—the Hellcats. But in order to stay on the team, she has to navigate the world of cheerleaders, which, unfortunately for us, means both the annoyingly peppy girls and the way too familiar mean girls.

The annoyingly peppy girl is Savannah, played by another Disney vet, Ashley Tisdale (“High School Musical”). In fact, I’d say she’s playing her “HSM” character Sharpay with just a touch more heart (and as a brunette). The mean girl is Alice (Heather Hemmens), whose broken wrist created the roster spot for Marti. Now Alice is angry that the rest of the squad and their coach, Vanessa (Sharon Leal), is making a place for Marti and taking all of her ideas. And, of course, Alice is not happy that Marti has gotten the attention of her ex-boyfriend, Lewis (Robbie Jones).

I usually like watching the heroine put the mean girl in her place, but there is just no originality here whatsoever. It’s all been done before and done better. The show is completely lacking in the attitude department—which is especially bad for a show about cheerleading.

Michalka is good and I’m happy to see that one of my faves, D.B. Woodside, will be joining the show shortly. But it’s just not enough to keep me watching…

“Hellcats” premieres Wednesday, September 8th at 9 p.m. on The CW…

Photo Credit: Andrew Eccles/CW