Hit the Floor | |
---|---|
Genre | Sports drama |
Created by | James LaRosa |
Starring | |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 41 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Running time | 42–45 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | VH1 (2013–2016) BET (2018) |
Release | May 27, 2013 – August 28, 2018 |
Hit the Floor, originally titled Bounce, is an American sports drama television series that debuted on VH1 on May 27, 2013. Created by James LaRosa, the series chronicles the off-the-court drama surrounding the Los Angeles Devil Girls, the cheerleaders for the Los Angeles Devils, a fictional professional basketball team. On April 27, 2017, the series was renewed for an eight-episode fourth season that premiered on BET on July 10, 2018. The network canceled the series on December 7, 2018.
Ahsha Hayes (Taylour Paige) becomes the newest member of the Devil Girls, the cheerleaders for the professional basketball team, the Los Angeles Devils, and immediately makes an enemy of Devil Girl captain Jelena Howard (Logan Browning). Knowing that her mother Sloane (Kimberly Elise) used to be a Devil Girl herself, Ahsha is shocked to discover that former player-turned-coach of the Devils, Pete Davenport (Dean Cain), is her biological father. Ahsha is also tempted by bad boy player Derek Roman (McKinley Freeman), even though she is already involved with German Vega (Jonathan McDaniel).
Season two is overshadowed by the murder of Olivia Vincent (Charlotte Ross), who was blackmailing several people associated with the Devils. Meanwhile, Ahsha and Derek try to keep their relationship a secret, Pete's estranged wife Lionel (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) becomes a regular presence at the arena, and a devious new forward named Zero (Adam Senn) arrives with a plan to supplant star players Terrence Wall (Robert Christopher Riley) and Derek. Zero seduces—and eventually gets burned by—Jelena, before he becomes sexually involved with his male agent, Jude Kinkade (Brent Antonello).
In season three, a reunited Jelena and Terrence secretly plot to take over the Devils and oust Lionel, and Zero's unwillingness to go public becomes an obstacle to his fledgling relationship with Jude. From jail, Devils owner Oscar Kinkade (Don Stark) seeks vengeance against Sloane, who has rekindled her romance with Pete.
Season four finds Ahsha and Zero gone from the Devils and Los Angeles, leaving Derek and Jude to navigate new relationships. A vengeful Eve Vincent (Tiffany Hines), Olivia's daughter with Chase Vincent (Rick Fox), arrives with a plan to destroy the Devils. New Devil Girls London Scott (Teyana Taylor) and Jamie Lawson (Kyndall) clash, and Derek is frustrated with new rookie player Pax Lowe (Cort King).
After the cancellation of the series, creator James LaRosa announced the resolutions of several storylines. [1]
Actor | Character | Seasons | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
Kimberly Elise | Sloane Hayes | Main | |||
Charlotte Ross | Olivia Vincent | Main | |||
Taylour Paige | Ahsha Hayes | Main | |||
Logan Browning | Jelena Howard | Main [a] | |||
Katherine Bailess | Kyle Hart | Main | |||
Valery Ortiz | Raquel Saldana | Main | |||
McKinley Freeman | Derek Roman | Main | |||
Jonathan McDaniel | German Vega | Main | |||
Robert Christopher Riley | Terrence Wall | Main | |||
Don Stark | Oscar Kinkade | Main | Guest | ||
Dean Cain | Pete Davenport | Main [b] | |||
Adam Senn | "Zero" | Main | |||
Brent Antonello | Jude Kinkade | Main | |||
Jodi Lyn O'Keefe | Lionel Davenport | Main | |||
Kyndall | Jamie Lawson | Main | |||
Tiffany Hines | Eve Vincent | Main | |||
Kristian Kordula | Noah | Main | |||
Cort King | Pax Lowe | Main | |||
Teyana Taylor | London Scott | Main | |||
Durrell "Tank" Babbs | Warren Matthews | Main |
Notes:
Hit the Floor was announced by VH1 in April 2012. The series was created and executive produced by LaRosa, alongside Bryan Johnson and Maggie Malina. The pilot was written by James LaRosa and directed by Sanaa Hamri. Signed on to the pilot was Taylour Paige as Ahsha, the lead; Dean Cain as Pete, the coach of the basketball team; Kimberly Elise as Sloane, Ahsha's mother; Valery Ortiz as Raquel, and Katherine Bailess as Kyle. [4] Following the announcement of the pilot, Charlotte Ross signed on to play Olivia, a former dancer-turned-basketball wife who oversees the squad. [5] The pilot was ordered to series in July 2012, with Logan Browning, Jonathan McDaniel and McKinley Freeman signing on to the main cast. [6] Don Stark, who plays Oscar Kinkade, the owner of the basketball team, and Robert Christopher Riley, who plays star player Terrence, were upgraded to series regulars after being billed as guest stars in the pilot. [7] In April 2013, Starz Distribution finalized an international television distribution agreement to represent Hit the Floor outside of the United States. [8] The series premiered on May 27, 2013, [9] and the first season was the No. 1 new cable scripted series of mid-2013 among the adults 18–49 viewership demo.[ citation needed ]
VH1 announced the renewal for a second season on July 15, 2013. [10] [11] Season two production began on January 31, 2014,[ citation needed ] and premiered on May 26, 2014. [12] The season featured a whodunit story involving Olivia's murder, and LaRosa was inspired by the 1980s "Who shot J.R.?" storyline on Dallas to shoot multiple resolutions so that even the cast would not know the identity of the killer until the episode aired. [13] Teasing the reveal in the season two finale, LaRosa said, "It's definitely someone you've come to know. It's a name at the top of the credits and I can tell you that you will be shocked ... the reveal gives me chills every single time". [13]
On July 29, 2014, VH1 announced the third season renewal of Hit the Floor. [14] [15] The 10-episode new season premiered on January 18, 2016 and ended on March 28, 2016. In April 2016, VH1 greenlit an hour-long summer special to resolve the cliffhangers raised in the third season finale. [16] The special aired on September 5, 2016. [17]
On April 27, 2017, it was announced that the series would move to BET for its future seasons. [18] [19] In October 2017, BET announced that Cain, Elise, Freeman, Bailess, O'Keefe, and Antonello would be returning to the series, [20] and series creator James LaRosa confirmed that Paige and Senn would not be returning for season four. [2] [21] Teyana Taylor was cast in an undisclosed role in October, [22] and four new regular cast members were announced in November 2017: Tiffany Hines as "mystery woman" Eve, Cort King as rookie player Pax, Kyndall as new dancer Jamie, and Kristian Kordula as reporter Noah. [23] Production began in November 2017, [22] and the series' eight-episode fourth season premiered on July 10, 2018. [23] [24]
LaRosa said in August 2018 that he had already planned out a potential fifth season. [25] However, BET canceled the series on December 7, 2018. [26]
Stacey Lauretta Dash is an American actress. Dash played Dionne Marie Davenport in the 1995 feature film Clueless and its television series of the same name. She has also appeared in the films Moving, Mo' Money, Renaissance Man, and View from the Top. Other television work by Dash includes appearances in the series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Single Ladies and the reality TV show Celebrity Circus. She has also appeared in music videos for Carl Thomas' "Emotional" and Kanye West's "All Falls Down".
BET Her is an American basic cable television network currently owned by the BET Media Group subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group.
Jodi Lyn O'Keefe is an American actress, model, and fashion designer. She came to prominence as Cassidy Bridges on the television series Nash Bridges (1996–2001) and played Gretchen Morgan on Prison Break (2007–2009), Jo Laughlin on The Vampire Diaries (2014–2017), and Lionel Davenport on Hit the Floor (2014–2018). Her film credits include Halloween H20 (1998) and She's All That (1999).
Donald Martin Stark is an American actor known for his role as Bob Pinciotti on the Fox Network sitcom That '70s Show for all eight seasons (1998–2006) and fictional Los Angeles Devils owner Oscar Kinkade in VH1's Hit the Floor, Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and John Carter (2012). He also provided the voice of Vincent in Father of the Pride (2004–2005) and voiced Rhino in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1995-1997). He has two daughters.
Katherine Bailess is an American actress, singer, and dancer best known for playing the role of Erica Marsh on the CW's hit show One Tree Hill, Life and Death Brigade member Stephanie on Gilmore Girls, and Kyle Hart on the VH1 series Hit the Floor.
Logan Laurice Browning is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Samantha White in the 2017 Netflix satirical-drama series Dear White People. She is also known for playing Sasha in the 2007 film Bratz: The Movie, Brianna Brown in Meet the Browns, Jelena Howard on the VH1 series Hit the Floor, and Zora in the PlayStation Network series Powers.
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Edward Adam Senn is an American model, actor, and restaurateur. He is known for playing Zero, a professional basketball player, on VH1's Hit the Floor from 2014 to 2016.
Taylour Dominique Paige-Angulo is an American actress. She is best known for playing the title role in the black comedy crime film Zola (2020), which won her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. Other notable performances were in the VH1 sports drama series Hit the Floor (2013–2016), as well as in the films Jean of the Joneses (2016), White Boy Rick (2018), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020), Boogie (2021), and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024).
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Tamisha Akbar, known professionally as Tami Roman, is an American television personality, model, actress, singer, businesswoman and producer. She first gained fame on The Real World: Los Angeles in 1993. After making appearances and landing supporting roles in various television shows and films in the 1990s and 2000s, she became one of the breakout stars of VH1's Basketball Wives (2010–2019). Roman later starred in the television series The Family Business (2018–present), Truth Be Told (2019–2023), Haus of Vicious (2022-present) and The Ms. Pat Show (2021–present).
Robert Christopher Riley is an American film, television, and stage actor of Trinidadian and Bajan descent. He is known for his role as Terrence Wall in the VH1 television drama series Hit The Floor from 2013 to 2016, and for playing Michael Culhane in The CW's 2017 Dynasty reboot.
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Brent W. Antonello is an American actor, best known for his roles of Jude Kinkade in VH1's Hit the Floor and Detective Jamie Whelan on NBC's Law & Order: Organized Crime.
Jude Kinkade and Zero are fictional characters from the VH1 series Hit the Floor, which chronicles the off-the-court drama surrounding a fictional professional basketball team, the Los Angeles Devils. Introduced in the 2014 season two premiere episode "Game Changer", Zero is a devious new addition to the Devils from a rival Ohio team, and Jude is the junior agent assigned to him. Jude is also the estranged son of the Devils' unscrupulous owner, Oscar Kinkade. Jude and Zero's working relationship soon evolves into a sexual and then romantic one, which continues for two seasons until the series was cancelled by VH1 in 2016. Hit the Floor was later picked up by BET for a fourth season to air in 2018, with only Antonello returning.
McKinley Freeman is an American actor and producer. He has appeared in films and on television series, including the starring role of Derek Roman in the drama series Hit the Floor, portraying the role of Dominic in the OWN's drama TV series Queen Sugar, and playing the character Lewis in Hulu's Reasonable Doubt.