Does 'Make It Or Break It' make it... or break it?

Half way through the first episode of ABC Family’s new teen drama series Make It Or Break It I was praying that it got either really good or really bad because otherwise I was going to be writing a three letter review:

Meh.

Twenty minutes later I really have nothing more to report.

Make It Or Break It deals with the exciting lives of competitive gymnasts ... did I say exciting? Because I meant ‘predictable’. If you’ve ever seen the 2006 gymnastics movie Stick It, which for some reason I have, then you’ve pretty much seen this... only with less hardcore ‘revealing of the bra strap’ to show those fancy pants judges who’s boss.

MIOBI deals with four girls whose names are as forgettable as their faces – there’s the Outsider who has just moved to town, she doesn’t have a proper uniform and her mum drives a bomb. LOOK HOW MUCH SHE DOESN’T FIT IN. And she even has a little brother who’s in a wheelchair – she’s like a cross between Joan Of Arcadia and every outsider ever.

There’s the Bitch who’s a bitch, and desperately wants to make the team at any cost... quick quiz: will she lose out to the outsider or despite the outsider overcoming every obstacle will she still just fall short of selection? Please show all your working.

The rest of the cast is rounded out by bland brunette girl who I figured was going to be the lead until The Outsider was introduced and Bland Lead just got relegated to Bland Regular Girl. And there’s a super dedicated girl who’s super dedicated to becoming a successful gymnast. They all attend the world famous super important gym called The Rock... and every time they mentioned The Rock I expected Nicolas Cage to leap out brandishing a pair of flairs while rockets sent to destroy San Francisco fly through the air.

After going through the motions for a half hour of plot which can be best described as ‘Stick It-lite’ the show switches things up so much as to take as through an entirely different set of motions as the “plot thickens” and the head coach has to... oops I better not reveal that particular plot “twist.”

The problem with Make It Or Break It, other than its title, is that not only is gymnastics a stupid “sport” but it’s also kind of boring to watch. I’m not saying there isn’t the basis of a drama series in the world of spinning around on crossbars I’m just saying Make It doesn’t find it. The show taught me nothing about gymnastics that I couldn’t have guessed or made up myself.

In short it’s just not very good.

Oh, and in case you sat through the first episode wondering where you knew that mum from... it’s Roz from Frasier. Yeah, we know... it took us the whole episode to figure out as well.

Good, Alright, Bad Or Ugly?
Bad