Remember Hellcats? Ever wish that it would cut the amount of cheese and angst in half and just have a relevant storyline? Hit The Floor is VH1's attempt at getting Hellcats right. A lot of the cheese is cut through. So far, we don't have any characters trying to get a grip on God vs Evolution.
The main protagonist is black, her mom is black, the evil bitch cheerleader (because there has to be one) is also black, as are the two guys involved in the burgeoning love triangle... but I don't think it falls into the "black show" category. There's enough white/ latino/ non-black people included in key roles to make it not a "black show". Or at least, it's a "black, but not exclusively black, show".
It's on VH1, not BET.
Also: it's not done by Tyler Perry; stars Dean Cain; has a good enough number of whodunnit subplots running through it to make it quasi-mysterious, like a ABC Family show dialed way down; good music and actual dancing by people who can dance. Not to say that they hired dancers and gave them an "acting for dummies" crash course - the acting mightn't be top notch from everyone all the time, but it's not jarring, and no way near as cringe-worthy as anything on CW. It's at a Friday Night Lights level.
All the characters, from the foolishly naive protagonist, to the fallen from grace single mom, to the HBIC, to the country girl hooker/stripper, to the clingy-ish poverty-riddled boyfriend - they're all tolerable. No one crosses over too far into "unlikeable" territory, and no one spends too much time there as to become hateful. Honestly, I'm most invested in the Country Stripper who's a self proclaimed unashamed gold-digger - she's just awesome.
It's not Breaking Bad or The Borgias, but it's not trying to be. Definitely in the guilty pleasure category, but it's entertaining. Bottom line - it's entertaining! In a new age soap opera, rnb/country/dubstep professional Tiny/Private Dancer kinda way. With good music featuring a diverse lot of people who are easy on the eyes.
And there's Dean Cain. No Van Der Beek, but, lol, Dean Cain people! How can you not give this a chance?
The only thing missing maybe is the actual basketball... We don't get a lot of that. I don't think they've even shown a game. Or five minutes of a game. But as I'm not into basketball, at all, that doesn't detract much.
