By WSJ Staff
The new cheerleading series “Hellcats” premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on the CW. The show is drawing comparisons to Fox’s musical series “Glee”–not all of them favorable.
The show is about pre-law student named Marti Perkins (played by Aly Michalka of the criminally under-appreciated movie “Bandslam”) who joins her university’s cheer squad in order to win a scholarship. The head of the squad, named the Hellcats, is played by Ashley Tisdale (of the not-at-all overlooked franchise “High School Musical).
So far, most critics say that the show isn’t as smart or as much fun as “Glee”–but that there’s a chance the program could turn into something worthwhile.
A sampling of critical opinions:
“Starring Disney alums Alyson Michalka and Ashley Tisdale, ‘Hellcats,’ which premieres on Wednesday, is an energetic and occasionally sophisticated fish-out-of-water mash-up of ‘Glee’ and ‘Bring It On’ with top notes of ‘Flashdance,’ aimed squarely at audiences perhaps too young for ‘Gossip Girl’ but seriously too old for ‘Hannah Montana.’” [Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times]
“Played partly tongue in cheek, the show’s premiere isn’t quite unabashedly trashy enough to completely qualify as a guilty pleasure, but one can see it developing into that — as well as posting reasonably impressive scores by CW standards, even if the execution doesn’t quite nail the landing.” [Brian Lowry, Variety]
“‘Glee’ has proved that there is plenty of room for innovation and wit in the youthful-angst genre, but “Hellcats,” inspired by the 2000 movie “Bring It On,” doesn’t even try.” [Alessandra Stanley, New York Times]
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