Two new shows premiered on The CW last week: Nikita and Hellcats. Neither of theses shows were even on my radar until days before they aired. Usually The CW is not a channel I associate with stellar TV drama. Let’s face it, the only show I watch on that channel is America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) and that’s a guilty pleasure show. While watching the season premiere of ANTM, I saw promos for Nikita and Hellcats and was vaguely interested by them.
Hellcats is being described as the Glee of cheerleading shows. It stars Aly Michalka, who I absolutely ADORE from Phil of the Future, and Ashley Tisdale of High School Musical fame. At first I thought I was on the wrong channel since they’re both Disney stars. The show appeared to be an odd hybrid of Bring It On meets Glee meets High School Musical. Needless to say I was intrigued so I watched the premiere. I thought it was a cute concept; Aly’s character loses her academic college scholarship so in order to stay in school she tries out for a cheerleading scholarship.
It’s no revelation to the TV world, but it’s a fun show. There’s some great cheer routines and some really snarky comedy. For example, Aly’s character is very outcast/punk but to get ready for the try out she watches Bring It On to learn some cheer moves. Be warned that Ashley Tisdale basically plays her character from High School Musical and that some of the dialogue is reminiscent of Secret Life of the American Teenager. But if you’re looking for some fun fluff TV to watch, this is definitely the show for you. I know I’ll keep watching it just to balance all the dramas I usually watch.
The other show that caught my eye was called Nikita. As you may have guessed, the show is a new take on the Le Femme Nikita movie and 90’s TV show. A lot of the promos and write-ups on it compared it to Alias. This had me curious. I never saw the movie or the original TV show, but I knew the general idea. I’m a sucker for spy shows (like Burn Notice), so no one needed to tell me to tune in to the premiere twice.
After watching Buffy and Xena so much recently, I was hoping for some good ‘ole “girl power”. Unfortunately the show fell short of that expectation. Yes, it had some good deception and action like any self-respecting spy show should, but I was really disappointed with the writing – especially the dialogue. Most of Nikita’s lines sounded so fake and robot-like. It’s just not how people talk. A good analogy would be, Nikita is to Alias as Vampire Diaries is to True Blood. Both of the vampire shows have a strong following, but True Blood is the classier, better written and produced show. Despite these criticisms, I’ve learned from previous series that the pilot episode can be very misleading since it’s such a unique episode for a series. So I think I’ll give it another chance this week.