‘Make It’ tries a tricky move after pregnancy
MICHAEL LANGE, who has directed several episodes of the ABC Family hit “Make It or Break It,” happened to be on the set when a key cast member, Chelsea Hobbs, announced she was pregnant.
“It was an interesting room to be in that day,” says Lange.
Interesting indeed, because it changed the whole game plan for the show, which launches its third and final season Monday night at 8. Hobbs, 28, played Emily Kmetko, one of the four teenage gymnasts whose personal and athletic dramas formed the heart of “Make It or Break It.”
All four were aiming to make the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastic team. They trained together at The Rock, a facility for elite gymnasts, and while this had a bonding effect, it also underscored the intense rivalry.
Only three girls can make the team, and of course other girls outside The Rock also coveted those slots.
The other three Rock girls were, and will continue to be, the scheming Lauren (Cassie Scerbo), the nice-girl Kaylie (Josie Loren) and the driven Payson (Ayla Kell).
Emily was a latecomer, a bluecollar kid who had only a natural gift.
She was discovered in a YMCA workout room and brought to The Rock. She made some mistakes, but was a naturally likable, accommodating, somewhat insecure kid who instantly became a viewer favorite.
The other girls were also likable and sympathetic, even occasional mean girl Lauren. But Emily had the whole scrappy underdog thing going.
Then the real-life Hobbs got pregnant, which ruled out a gymnastics body even when someone else did the stunts. She was put on a bus and sent out of town for good late in season two.
That left ABC Family with a dilemma.
“We love the show,” ABC Family president Michael Riley said soon after Hobbs’ news. “We just need to consider our options.”
After a production delay of several months, the option that won was a shortened season with eight episodes.
The Rock girls have always had a main rival in Kelly Parker (Nicole Anderson), but it was decided to add a fourth girl to their group: Jordan Parker (Chelsea Tavares), a walk-on with a lot more attitude than Emily.
In a broad sense, then, the show can go where it originally was headed. It won’t penalize Lauren, Payson and Kaylie, and it can stay true to its mission as a teen drama with a strong aspirational message.
It also won’t end where it finished last season, with a victory scene that seemed hastily cobbled together.
But it will be a different show, because there’s no way around the fact that the whole central Emily story line wound up being a frustrating dead end.
“There was a lot of animated conversation,” recalls Lange, “the day Chelsea broke the news.”