The TV Chick

Last night’s episode of Make It Or Break it centered around a fundraiser to bring China’s team to The Rock. Sasha is mad about the team that was sent overseas to China, and wants to challenge them to a meet with his dream team in the United States. However, what Sasha fails to tell the gym mothers prior to their planning this fundraiser is that he hadn’t even invited China yet. He was waiting for the US to lose to China so he could invite them. The gym mothers hold a meeting to try and come up with good fundraising ideas, and settle on Bingo, at the Pizza Shack.

However, the cliffhanger we’ve all been waiting for is if Payson got through her surgery. Outside of the gym, Sasha is training Kaylie and Emily quite hard, and making them run on rough terrain while timing them. He tells them to go again, and they question it. Sasha explains that Payson would never complain, as Payson comes running up the hill. She made it! I mean, there was never a doubt in mind she wouldn’t survive surgery, but it was so nice to see her running. When she finishes, she immediately turns back to go again and improve her time. But not everything is great in the Keeler household. Payson’s surgery wasn’t covered by insurance (since it wasn’t “essential”) so Kim meets with a realtor to see about selling the house. The realtor tells her that she could sell and get out of her loan but she would still be in debt.

Later in the episode, Payson goes to see her physical therapist to get the go-ahead to start training. He tells her she can start the next day. However, when she returns to the car where her mother is waiting, she tells her that she’s not ready to train yet.

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Last night’s Make It Or Break It was huge. It addressed the politics behind the national team, something that the show has never done before. There is clearly a lot of corruption in any sport, and gymnastics is one I have followed closely throughout the years. There have been some interesting decisions regarding coaching and centralizing the national team process that I have had mixed feelings about. But I digress. (More on this later).

The episode starts with Payson and her family meeting with the European doctor who thinks her experimental surgery can fix Payson’s back. Payson and her dad are very excited by the prospect, but Kim can’t seem to get behind it. She’s worried about the risks and the possibility for paralysis and for Payson not to be the gymnast she once was.

Back at The Rock, the girls are told by Sasha to be flawless because they are having a National team practice. The China meet is a very important step towards the Olympics, and the girls need to be perfect so they are chosen to compete. Lauren decides to confront Chloe Kmetko and try to get her to stay away from her dad, by “confessing” that her dad is a sex addict. She also confronts Emily about her dress from her mom’s “boyfriend.”

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It’s Prom Night at The Rock…well, at Payson’s school. Last night’s episode “Save The Last Dance” centered around the girls going to prom. Payson finally seems happy to go to school, and has found a new hobby in photography. Her new friend Heather talks about prom night and gets Kaylie and Lauren excited, so they all vow to go if Payson goes. The girls immediately start planning for the big night.

Meanwhile, Damon decides to show up at the pizza shack to try and explain himself. Emily, who previously ripped up a photo of her and Damon, is not having any of it. Lauren shows up and tells Emily they are all going to prom. Razor of course offers to step in as her date, which she isn’t thrilled about. Back at the gym, Sasha is pushing Kaylie to try and master an arabian. Carter (still in love with her) offers to help her like Nicky did previously, and she takes him up on the offer. By the end of the epsiode, Carter takes the safety net away (she was practicing attached to wires) and she lands her new skill. Carter is obviously still very much in love with Kaylie, but Kaylie doesn’t seem to feel the same way.

Lauren, up to her old ways, finds Carter in the closet and he tells her that her dad is dating someone. She decides that she will figure it out from the woman’s cheap perfume. Lauren calls her dad and tells him that someone has been upstairs with a lady friend, and her dad denies the whole thing and blames it on the housekeeper. Steve and Chloe at this point, are still keeping up their ruse of not dating.

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Last night’s episode of Make It Or Break It was Valentines day themed. Love is in the air at The Rock. Payson is dealing with life at high school. Her perky “friend” Heather is selling Valentines Day roses and Ike (the boy from last episode) declares that its pointless. Payson makes a donation anyway, but doesn’t buy any roses. Lauren picks Payson up from school and conveniently leaves a magazine with the picture of Nicky and Kaylie from the LA party and puts thoughts in her head about Kaylie and Nicky being involved.

Earlier in the episode, Sasha told Kaylie that if she had more power she could turn her double back into an Arabian which would compete better against international teams. Nicky offers to help Kaylie, and she comes in early in the morning to the gym. They share a few moments together, and it seems like they both have a thing for each other. Of course one of those moments Payson walks in on. Nicky comes out to Payson’s car after to give her a box of chocolates for Valentines Day but she shrugs him off and tells him she met a boy at school. Nicky later throws that chocolate box in the garbage.

Meanwhile, in Emily/Razor/Damon love triangle land, Emily hasn’t heard from Damon in days and is getting worried. Razor tells Emily that Damon has a habit of acting like this towards girls, but wouldn’t understand why he would do this to Emily. He also plays her a random guitar song he made up about her, which was oddly romantic. Razor then rushes off to make an “emergency” pizza delivery, which is code for go bail out Damon from jail. Apparently, Damon bought a mixer to record his own songs. He didn’t wan to take the Pinky Promise record deal, so he decided he would record his own songs and mistakenly bought a mixer that was stolen. Razor gives Damon a lecture about Emily and being honest with her, and proceeds to leave him hanging in jail. Later, he does finally bail him out but Emily follows Razor to jail and gives Damon a piece of her mind (rightfully so) and adds that Razor should have been honest with her, too.

But of course there are some other love stories as well. Kaylie and Nicky agree that they had some moments but Kaylie respects Payson and doesn’t want to hurt her so that’s all they were — moments. Nicky tells Kaylie that he has been recruited to Denver, and will probably go because there is too much drama in the gym. Lauren leaves Carter a Valentines Day present on his bed: a framed picture of his mom. Meanwhile, Carter had left rose petals in the shape of a heart on the hood of Kaylie’s car, which she seemed to completely ignore.

However, the huge surprise of the night was Sasha and Summer. Yeah, you heard it right. Summer asks Sasha if there can be a Valentines Day mixer at the gym. Sasha disagrees because of the no-dating policy, but Summer explains that it’s a good idea to have them in the gym as opposed to breaking the rules somewhere else. She asks if she can give a lecture about sex to the gymnasts and Sasha brushes her off. Summer comes back to the gym after it’s closed to tell Sasha off and explain how she believes in abstinence, but she also has needs. Then, there’s some making out between Sasha and Summer which I didn’t see coming. After this after hours make out session, Sasha has the mixer and lets Summer give her lecture. I thought it was a pretty awkward situation and the looks on all the gymnasts faces reiterated what I was thinking. I don’t think the Summer/Sasha storyline was a bad one, in fact, it was quite interesting. However, I don’t really tune in for a lecture on abstinence and spirituality. I realize I may not be in the target demographic for this show, but I think I’m pretty close, and I just didn’t think that fit into the show’s general vibe.

At school, Heather told Payson about all her fears and why she is so perky and open to anything now. Payson, after learning the rose wasn’t from Ike, “dumped” him and opted to hang out more with Heather. However, in the middle of Payson talking to a drunk Ike, a guard breaks up the group and she gets detention even though she wasn’t drinking. Payson then tells her mom that she is finally realizing that the world is full of so many possibilities and gymnastics isn’t the only thing anymore. At the end of the episode, Heather, Emily and Kaylie come over to Payson’s house to watch a movie, and it looks like she is finally laughing and enjoying herself, something she hasn’t done since her injury. Her mom then gets a phone call from Sasha about a doctor who says she can operate on Payson’s condition and she should be able to return to competitive gymnastics.

I have mixed feelings about this ending. I want Payson back in the gym, of course. But could this call have been made a few episodes later? We just got over Payson’s devastation about her condition being inoperable and now she might be okay again? That said, I really did enjoy the episode. Lauren was up to her old dramatic, scheming ways. Payson seems back to her old self, for the most part. I loved the ending where the friends all spent Valentines Day together. And I am really interested to see where the Summer/Sasha romance goes. They both agreed it was inappropriate but I know that’s not the end of it. In TV world, it never is. I look forward to seeing if Payson is able to get surgery, and Sasha mentioned an international invitational, which would be exciting to see.

Make It Or Break It airs Monday nights at 9 pm on ABC Family.

This season of Make It Or Break It has been quite wonderful, and full of drama. One of the main story lines has been Payson’s injury, and her facing the reality of being a “normal” girl. I recently had the chance to chat with Ayla Kell, who plays Payson about her emotional scenes, her budding relationship with Nicky and whether or not she is going to embrace her new situation. And be sure to tune in tonight for an all new episode of Make It Or Break It at 9 pm on ABC Family.

You know, this story line for Payson has been really emotional.  Where has your inspiration been coming from for this?
My inspiration has been coming from my own life.  I did ballet professionally for 14 years and I suffered a really bad knee injury that I thought was going to be entirely crippling to my career as a dancer.  But, I pushed through and was able to conquer with the support of my family, my friends, my teachers. It’s really given me a great base, a place to level with Payson… it’s so true to who I am.

Last week, we got a glimpse of Payson giving a few tips to Kaylie on beam.  Do you think she’ll ever make an appearance at the Rock as a coach?
It’s very possible because she is informed and very driven and I don’t see how they can keep her away from gymnastics that much longer.  Mind you, I don’t get the script before we shoot them; I get them as we shoot, so I’m waiting to find out just as much as everybody else.

I know when we spoke on set that you said that we would see a less than perfect Payson so far this season, and we definitely have.  I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the journey Payson’s gone through so far this season.
Well, Payson has had her whole life, not just her career, her whole life stripped away from her with the injury.  She’s not only trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life, but trying to figure out who she is without gymnastics.  It was what she woke up and thought about; she was entirely involved with gymnastics.  So with it gone, she’s trying to figure out, am I anybody without it?  It’s very, very less than perfect I would have to say.  There’s a lot of emotion that goes with it of putting everybody else in the show through all this rigmarole.

Yeah, absolutely.  And are we going to see her embrace her new situation?
I’m going to have to say embrace and conquer.

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The title of this week’s Make It Or Break It reminds me of Party Down, but I digress. This episode centers around The Rock’s open house event. Kaylie and Nikki seem opposed to the event at first and aren’t getting along as usual. They don’t really get the need to stop practice and put on a show. Meanwhile, Payson is forced to go to a regular high school. Of course, her first class turns out to be gym, where they are practicing tumbling. The Queen Bee at school demonstrates a round off-back handspring (screwing up the landing), and the gym teacher tells Payson to give her tips. Payson does so reluctantly and has quickly become the outcast. In her adventures at school, she meets a really uppity girl who wants her to join Astronomy Club, and a new boy. The new boy/possible love interest seems just as displeased with high school as Payson is. In fact, they even cut class together. To Payson’s surprise, Lauren, Emily and Kaylie pick her up from school and Lauren and Kaylie decide to show up the Queen Bee by showing them how to really tumble. However, it doesn’t seem like Payson enjoyed it at all. She catches up with her friends and they suspect there’s a new boy, but she doesn’t seem to want to hang out with them. That was her old life, this is her new one (even if she hates it).

Emily tries to comfort Payson, telling her that she has been tossed from school to school before and she understands what Payson is going through. However, in true Payson form, she tells Emily that even if she had to deal with many different schools, she still had gymnastics. Payson says that she has nothing. It’s actually good to see Payson stand up for herself instead of being as perfect as she was before. She has lost everything, and going to real school isn’t fun for her (a fact in which she blatantly states to her mom over dinner that night).

And back in The Rock world, each girl is scrambling to come up with a routine for the open house. Emily is preoccupied reading bloggers comments about how she is unfit to become an Olympian. She can’t focus on practice and has no idea what to do for her routine. Her mom suggests that she own her story. She didn’t come from an elite gymnastics background but now she is thriving at The Rock, and she should tell her story because she has nothing to be ashamed of.

Kaylie and Nikki have to perform a duet together, and they continue to butt heads. Finally, Kaylie confronts him and explains that she works just as hard as everyone else and beat everyone in the country and she deserves to be where she is today. Nikki opens up and confesses that it’s hard to see her win the gold when he has been trying so hard and can only come in second place. They call a truce, and Kaylie says she has an idea for their routine: a bull-fight.

The next day is The Rock open house. Payson reluctantly attends to support her friends. First up is Lauren who does a hip-hop beam routine. This made me laugh because I have gone to or watched many gymnastics tours where this is the sort of thing they do. Clearly, Holly and the writers did their research. Next up is Emily, who told her story and did some great gymnastics. She explained that she didn’t learn any of this in a gym but she can do anything if she puts her mind to it. Last up is Nikki and Kaylie, who perform a dance and tumbling routine with a bull fighting theme. It’s at this point that Payson storms out. She runs into Sasha who tells her to find another dream, and to keep dreaming. Payson aptly replies “I’m done with dreaming.” She then goes to see her new (boy) friend and hangs out with his crew. He offers her a smoke, which she declines, but I don’t like that she is hanging out with these people. Earlier she skipped class with the boy and now she is blowing off her friends to hang out with him. Payson is a strong girl but she has suffered a devastating loss which leaves her vulnerable and susceptible to peer pressure. I hope she doesn’t cave into it.

After The Rock open house a little girl comes up to Emily and asks her for her autograph and tells her she got the picture from her fan site. The girl also tells Emily that her speech inspired her. This was a great moment, that may or may not have caused my eyes to water a little bit. The open house turned out to be a big success. Of course there is still Lauren and Carter drama going on — he’s still staying in her house, he got drunk towards the end of the episode, she really likes him — but I am sure all of that will play itself out over the course of the season.

I like the new Payson, but I hope she decides she wants to coach. I think that she really longs for the gym again and even if she can’t compete, this would be a decent compromise. Payson’s mom (Kim) is really getting the brunt of the anger and she clashes with Summer in this episode, who has taken over the gym. I like Summer’s new role but it seems like we haven’t seen much of her in the first few episodes of the season. I hope that she gets more involved with the girls. And Lauren…what can you say about Lauren? She is bound to reveal the secret of the cortisone, and the fact that Carter is staying with her. Regardless, I have really enjoyed what I have seen from the show in this (mid) season. There has been more gymnastics, and certainly more drama. I am wondering if there will be an Olympic trials somewhere down the line, but I’m sure that won’t be for quite some time. I’d like to see another competition though. Next week’s episode centers around Valentines Day, so I’m excited to see what happens.

Make It Or Break It airs Monday nights at 9 pm on ABC Family.

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Lots of TV news coming out of the TCAs! This piece of news, I am particularly thrilled about (besides the Glee news from yesterday of course).

ABC Family has renewed Make It Or Break It for a 2nd season! Sources at the network have informed me that they have been picked up for ten more episodes. It is slated for a summer premiere. In addition, there’s more great ABC Family news! Secret Life of the American Teenager has been picked up for a 3rd season, and 10 Things I Hate About You will be returning March 29th.

So expect more drama, more gymnastics, and more great-ness coming your way next summer!

After a wonderful premiere, Make It Or Break It kept up its momentum in episode 2 titled Follow The Leader. The girls of The Rock are eagerly anticipating the announcement of the National Team coach, and they all expect Sasha to be named. In a shocking development, rival coach Marty is chosen. Each of the girls struggle to accept Marty. Kaylie knows he slept with her mom, Emily feels abandoned by him, and Lauren knows about her dad bribing him. The girls plan on sabotaging Marty, one way or another.

Meanwhile, Razor has returned and Emily finally admits to him that she’s a gymnast. In addition, one of the National Team committee members informs Emily and her mom that she has to get a B in math to remain on the team. In steps Damon, the “mathlete” and new tutor (Emily’s mom asked him). It is clear he has romantic intentions, so I’m curious to see what happens in this love triangle. This episode also explored the interesting relationship with Emily and her mom. When taking her math exam (supervised by Summer), Summer shows Emily all the letters her mom sent to Marty to try and get her into The Rock. Emily slowly comes to realize that her mom has helped with her gymnastics career all along, and has always had her best intentions in mind.  

The other big storyline involves Kaylie continuing to grapple with the pressures of a National Champion. She decides she is going to tell her dad about her mom’s affair, but is unable to go through with it. She calls Carter for support and opens up to him about the pressures and Marty, and feeling like she isn’t in control of her own life. Kaylie starts to kiss Carter and things get a little heavy, but he stops it. He tells Kaylie he’s not giving up on her, and is always there if she needs him. I like that Carter is back in Kaylie’s life. I think he has a lot of making up to do, but in this case, he did the right thing. I hope their relationship will continue to develop.

Because Kaylie couldn’t go through with the Marty sabotage, the girls think up a new plan. They tell the new National team members several petty lies (he’s very hands-y, he has bad breath, don’t look him in the eye) to make Marty look bad. Sasha catches on to their plan, and is clearly disappointed in the girls. In an interesting twist, Kellie Parker reveals to Payson why Sasha wasn’t chosen: essentially because his star gymnast got a career ending injury. Payson goes to talk to Sasha, who reveals that a previous gymnast of his suffered a fall, appeared to be fine and then ended up dying. Sasha tells Payson that the girls look up to her, and she needs to be a leader. Throughout the episode, Sasha (and even Marty) asked Payson to coach, and she said she wasn’t interested. During this talk, it seems as if Sasha finally got through to her. She decides to talk to the girls and tells them they will all be going to the Olympics together–maybe not in the way they anticipated, but it would happen one way or another. Payson may have given in (in a sense) but that fire isn’t gone. While the National Team photo is being taken at the end of the episode, she turns to her mother and tells her she’ll be up there next year, as the new National Champion. (Way to go, Payson!)

I really enjoyed this episode. The return of Kellie Parker was great (she is always a good counter-bitch to Lauren), and I loved seeing Payson step up her role. I hope to see her back in the gym one day, but this was a good start. Also, Emily and her mother’s relationship has always been unique, and I enjoyed seeing this side of Emily’s mother. She seems like the perpetual screw up — always late, always forgetting things — but this episode brought her into a new light. In the scenes from the next episode, the girls hit Hollywood, and there’s more to Damon than we think. I am Damon girl myself, so I’m curious to see what happens. 

Make It Or Break It airs Monday nights at 9 pm on ABC Family.

Anyone who reads this site knows that I absolutely adore Make It Or Break It, and all ABC Family programming.  I love gymnastics (I am a former gymnast), and when I received word of this show, I was thrilled. The show has more than lived up to my high expectations. It is a look into the world of elite gymnastics, but even more than that, it’s a great drama with wonderful, interesting characters. And it returns tonight! I can’t wait! I recently had the chance to visit the amazing set of the show (I even got to step foot in The Rock), and speak with the creator, executive producer and the cast members. It was a fantastic visit and I’m so excited to finally be able to share with you all of the interviews. When I caught up with Chelsea Hobbs, who plays Emily Kmetko, we talked about what she wants to see from her character going forward, her love interest(s), and what she’s most looking forward to in this upcoming half season.

At the end of last season, Emily was left with a lot of decisions. Where do you think she will fit in this season?
I think her qualifying for Nationals has given her more confidence but at the same time, she has more pressure to prove herself even. So I think Emily’s still struggling to fit in, she has a little bit of a boost, but (laughs) it’s still an issue for her.

And she was also just starting to make friends with the group. Do you think that’s going to continue?
I think with the subject matter being competition, it’s always going to be hard, you know, for these girls to fully get along. And yeah, I’m sure things are still going to come up. I think they all have a stronger base, and they’ve all bonded but that Lauren, I don’t know (laughs) I wouldn’t put anything past her.

(laughs) Do you think she’ll also start trusting her coach some more? She had just started to.
Yeah, I think that if Emily doesn’t trust her coach, she knows it’s all over, so she really doesn’t have a choice. If she doesn’t, then she’s back to square one, and probably not on the National team, so she has to learn how to do it.

Her dating life is very interesting.
It is (laughs).

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Anyone who reads this site knows that I absolutely adore Make It Or Break It, and all ABC Family programming.  I love gymnastics (I am a former gymnast), and when I received word of this show, I was thrilled. The show has more than lived up to my high expectations. It is a look into the world of elite gymnastics, but even more than that, it’s a great drama with wonderful, interesting characters. And it returns tonight! I can’t wait! I recently had the chance to visit the amazing set of the show (I even got to step foot in The Rock), and speak with the creator, executive producer and the cast members. Josie Loren, who plays newly crowned National Champion Kaylie Cruz, was unfortunately not there on the day of my set visit. But I recently had the chance to catch up with her and ask her about her character’s new responsibilities, feeling guilty because of her championship win, and her ever-dramatic relationship with Lauren.

What about your role continues to challenge you?
Well, we have a great team of writers. I feel like our characters are always developing. Kaylie started off as one thing and she’s now going into something else completely different. So I have different things that I have to deal with, different issues, different troubles that have to deal with these ten episodes that I didn’t have to in the last ten. In last ten episodes, Kaylie kind of played this golden girl, very naïve. I thought she was kind of—she’s really just soft and she’s now stepped into the role of national champion. And just dealing with all of those things that the writers are giving me, dealing with envy, having to be even more aggressive now because she actually has the title. I think that that’s very challenging because it’s just all different.

Have you had a memorable moment from filming the first ten episodes?
I’ve have a few memorable moments. I just saw this girl the other day. Actually, she was doing a stunt for me. I think only a handful of girls can do this in the entire country and I saw her do this amazing trick. It’s called a Double Arabian. I was able to see it first hand and it was incredible. I was like, “Wow!” I get to see this live. So those are just one of the many things on our set that we get to appreciate and enjoy.

Do you have a background in gymnastics? Did you like watching it?
I was a gymnast when I was younger. My parents put me in gymnastics and I was actually only good at the floor. I was terrible at everything else, especially beam. Unfortunately, you can’t be a gymnast unless you’re good at all of the apparatuses, so I became a competitive cheerleader. I was just the main tumbler for my squad. We competed in big state and national championships. We were on ESPN, did that whole thing. So I’m really knowledgeable about the world of gymnastics and the competitive nature of it and all of that. But unfortunately, I was only good at one of the things.

Has there been anything that you learned from cheerleading that has helped you with this role?
Yes. I think Kaylie is a huge performer. I think her best asset is floor because she’s just such a ham. If cheerleading taught me anything, it was performing. Cheerleaders, they know how to spice it up. They know how to ham it up for the fans and Kaylie definitely does that for her audiences as well.

Now that Kaylie is national champion, she has a lot more responsibilities, distractions, stuff like that. What do you want to see from your character going forward in terms of handling all those new things?
It’s kind of funny answering this question because we’ve already filmed six episodes. What do I want to see? Honestly, I’m pretty happy the way that she’s been handling all of this, what the writers are writing. I didn’t know what to expect after winning the national championship. I didn’t know if it was going to be a good thing or a bad thing because it could have been a negative thing in terms of she would just—once you’ve won the national championship, like well, kind of just give up on the rest because she’s already number one. But actually, she’s working a lot harder. She’s becoming more and more focused as a gymnast. In the last episode, she shed her father and Carter and everything else that was a distraction. And it’s kind of kept that way so far. Like I said, we’ve only filmed six episodes, so we have another four to film. But so far, she’s remained really focused and very, very dedicated to gymnastics, which is what I was hoping for.

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