As the American television season comes to a close so to does the bad news that some shows won't be returning in the fall, like the CW's Hellcats starring Alyson Michalka and Ashley Tisdale. In September, Hellcats was the lead in for America's Next Top Model cycle 15 and it looked interesting enough for me to give up yet another hour of my time. Hellcats had great potential but it seemed to not know how to carry a story arch across the season. It seemed to end halfway through when Travis was released from jail and started the second mystery of Marti's father a little haphazardly. It lost some of it flow and its cheerleading! For a show that's all about cheerleaders it didn't really have a lot of cheerleading after the very beginning. Of course saying all this I loved the show and I'm sad to see it go. Especially since they were beginning to find their stride again in the last few episodes. The relationship between Marti and Julian - HOT! I could've watched a lot more of that. And the sister duo Alyson and Amanda Michalka worked really well with the family oriented themes of the show. The revelation about their father in the last episode would have been a great momentum to keep the show moving forward but really it seemed to just be a device to create more drama wherein Marti is able to storm out after her heartfelt speech of never leaving and end the show the way she began it on her bike.
Although there was drama there didn't seem to be enough or rather the show didn't push the envelope so to speak. The relationship triangle between Savannah, Dan and Marti could have been taken further. Don't get me wrong, I love the Marti Julian pairing as I've said before but I also really like Marti and Dan. Dan and Savannah didn't have chemistry, passion or drama. It was nice, cute and all tied up. There was nothing their that drew me to them. Whereas Marti and Dan had that chemistry that made their relationship dangerous. Speaking of dangerous its all about Red and Vanessa! That's one smoking couple. I was so over Derrick in the first few episodes (but maybe it was because I wasn't fond of D. B. Woodside in Buffy and that carried over). Once again its all about chemistry, Red and Vanessa had it, Derrick and Vanessa lacked it - to neat and tidy of a romance.
Let's take a moment to talk about place. I've seen a growing trend in television to focus on small lesser known towns or cities not in California (think Glee in Ohio). A change from the late 1990s where everything happened in Cali. The Memphis backdrop adds character to the show which is slightly picker up on by Travis, Marti, her father and her sister but I feel like it was misplaced. There wasn't enough of Memphis within the show to justify setting Hellcats in Memphis. Why Memphis?
Although I would watch a second season of Hellcats I'm not sure what they could do in a second season. I held my breath in anticipation as other networks finalized their fall schedules waiting to hear about Hellcats but I knew it was coming. A drop in ratings, a focus on college cheerleaders (maybe it would have been better if they were in high school? College doesn't work on television - Think Buffy season 4) and the kiss of death - a day change(No longer same Bat channel same Bat time).
Hellcats wasn't the greatest one season show. There are still loose ends and unraveling mysteries but it's also a nice place to stop. We were given the privilege to glimpse a year of their lives but the characters will live on (fanfiction or Twitter - in fact the Studio 60 characters have made a comeback). Really, it's sweet when you think about it.
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