You know, I am a fan of drama. Good drama. And this is not the kind of show I normally watch. (i.e. I don't watch anything on ABC Family normally). But, it's about one of my favorite things of all time. I can watch it and accept it for what it is and overlook the parts that aren't 100% true to life.
Point #1: A lot of people are bet out of shape over the lack of difficulty in their routines. But, ok seriously, short of having Rebecca Bross taking some "time off" (lol) and come be a stunt double, what do people expect? Elite gymnasts are elite gymnasts, and they train 40+ hours per week to make it the the Nationals, Worlds & Olympics, no be stunt doubles. That being said, I'm ok with the amount of difficulty they do. For an ongoing tv show, I would imagine it'd be hard to find four stunt double who not only could resemble each of the four girls, but who also could, consistently, do things like triple fulls, full-ins and double layouts. For Stick It and Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, since they were films and not tv shows, it was a one-shot deal, so Nastia Liukin and Vanessa Atler could take some time off as a one-time thing to film the movie.
What I'm NOT ok with is the crappy stunt work in a movie like Little Girls in Pretty Boxes. I re-watched that the other week. I think one of that movie's "competitive" vaults was a layout Yurchenko. OK, that's somewhat hard to believe for it being 1997 and a gymnast on the national team, but possible, maybe. But even so, one of the first things gymnasts train is how to fall. That movie (as best I recall) showed a gymnast falling, just straight on her back, on that vault. That's not the kind of fall where you'd break your back, nor is that the kind of fall a gymnast would take. What IS a nasty fault, for example, would be Kerri Strug's fall from compulsory bars in 1994. Please, LGIPB, I'm not that stupid.
Point #2: A lot of people have made comments like, the national team doesn't train at one gym....that's not how national teams are picked, etc etc. Well... the rules for selecting teams in the U.S. have changed numerous times. We used to not have "Bela's Camp" and now we do.... I mean, the show isn't intended to exactly replicate the American system. If it did, then, you know, there could be the potential for some "shady" dealings that might make the Karolyis, USA Gymnastics, and even individual coaches look bad. This is ABC Family and they aren't going to go there. If this was HBO, ok, maybe.
In my opinion, I'd LOVE a show that explored all of that. But that's not what we have right now. But what we have isn't AWFUL. It has its weaker elements: all the sex scandals which seem hard to believe; Mrs. Kmetko, who is too over the top to believe; the wheelchair-bound kid, which is just a bit over the top as well; the chit chatting and casual attitude during practice; the party in L.A....
All that being said, I am very much enjoying the plot surrounding Payson getting injured. Though not all careers end in injury, a lot of careers end when gymnasts don't make Olympic teams. I have read this before, this can leave a lot of girls baffled and bewildered: gymnastics was my whole life, NOW what? And that's a hard one. I am enjoying that. And the consequence of Payson's injury was (Kaylie?) Cruz winning a national title, which, I think we can all agree that there have been competitions where the best gymnast did not necessarily win. And in th4 back of her mind, she knows that's true. And she knows she benefited from Payson's fall. hmm... much like Bridget Sloan benefited from Rebecca Bross' fall in the final rotation, final tumbling pass at last year's Worlds.
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