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.
| Hit the Floor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | 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 |
|
| Running time | 42–45 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | VH1 (2013–2016) BET (2018) |
| Release | May 27, 2013 (2013-05-27) – August 28, 2018 (2018-08-28) |
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]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | Network | |||
| 1 | 10 | May 27, 2013 (2013-05-27) | July 29, 2013 (2013-07-29) | VH1 | |
| 2 | 12 | May 26, 2014 (2014-05-26) | August 11, 2014 (2014-08-11) | ||
| 3 | 10 | January 18, 2016 (2016-01-18) | March 28, 2016 (2016-03-28) | ||
| Special | September 5, 2016 (2016-09-05) | ||||
| 4 | 8 | July 10, 2018 (2018-07-10) | August 28, 2018 (2018-08-28) | BET | |
| Actor | Character | Seasons | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Kimberly Elise | Sloane Hayes | Main | Does not appear | ||
| Charlotte Ross | Olivia Vincent | Main | Does not appear | ||
| Taylour Paige | Ahsha Hayes | Main | Does not appear | ||
| Logan Browning | Jelena Howard | Main[a] | |||
| Katherine Bailess | Kyle Hart | Main | |||
| Valery Ortiz | Raquel Saldana | Main | Does not appear | ||
| McKinley Freeman | Derek Roman | Main | |||
| Jonathan McDaniel | German Vega | Main | |||
| Robert Christopher Riley | Terrence Wall | Main | Does not appear | ||
| Don Stark | Oscar Kinkade | Main | Guest | ||
| Dean Cain | Pete Davenport | Main[b] | |||
| Adam Senn | "Zero" | Does not appear | Main | Does not appear | |
| Brent Antonello | Jude Kinkade | Does not appear | Main | ||
| Jodi Lyn O'Keefe | Lionel Davenport | Does not appear | Main | ||
| Kyndall | Jamie Lawson | Does not appear | Main | ||
| Tiffany Hines | Eve Vincent | Does not appear | Main | ||
| Kristian Kordula | Noah | Does not appear | Main | ||
| Cort King | Pax Lowe | Does not appear | Main | ||
| Teyana Taylor | London Scott | Does not appear | Main | ||
| Durrell "Tank" Babbs | Warren Matthews | Does not appear | 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]
