In addition to Hellcats, the folks at The CW were kind enough to send me a screener of their other new series, Nikita.
The show resolves around Nikita, a former assassin who used to be part of Division, one of the government’s top secret, um, divisions. When she falls in love with a civilian, she flees the organization and her lover is killed. She spends 3 years in hiding before resurfacing with the goal of destroying Division.
Like Hellcats, Nikita opens with the title character, played by Maggie Q, narrating. The exposition continues in another scene, where Nikita reveals to her foster dad what she’s been up to since she last saw him. I’m big on flashbacks and I love that it allowed us to see Nikita in a vulnerable state, since she’s pretty much kicking ass and taking names the rest of the time. Which is something I don’t quite understand. She wants to stop Division, stop them from killing people, but to do so…she has to kill people.
The biggest bright spot for me was the cast. Maggie Q is not only stunning but talented, both of which were made clear during her brief appearance at The CW Upfront. I had never seen Lyndsy Fonesca in anything before and she blew me away. Shane West is as handsome as ever. I could watch him in anything. And Melinda Clarke (Julie, The O.C.) seems to be channeling Mrs. Cooper-Nichol a little bit, which is a win in my book. (Check out my interview with Clarke for her thoughts on the show.)
Throughout the pilot, though, I felt like I was watching a FOX show. Perhaps a female-driven version of 24.
Nikita is part action drama, part psychological thriller. Neither appeal to me.
I’m not big on violence. I’m not big on mind games.
And then the twist came.
At the end.
And while I won’t reveal it, I will say it left me intrigued. Intrigued enough to check out episode two when the time comes?
I don’t know yet. I’m still processing.
A premiere date for Nikita hasn’t been announced yet but it will air Thursdays in the fall after The Vampire Diaries.
I have to note, though, that Nikita won’t be covered extensively on this site since it is not a teen drama. I will continue to include it as I have thus far: when there’s something relevant to Clarke or executive producer McG (executive producer, The O.C.) or when there’s some other teen drama connection.
TeenDramaWhore 
Hi there, I’m new to your site so forgive me if this has been asked before – what’s your definition of ‘teen drama’ ? Would the Alex storyline qualify for that? And I was quite surprised you don’t consider ‘Hellcats’ one.
IAS, welcome! Please feel free to ask any questions, regardless of whether it may have been asked before.
I have a very, very specific definition of a teen drama. The short version is that if it’s not one of the shows on the navigation bar above, I don’t consider it a teen drama. But here is the long version:
A teen drama, in my opinion and the standard for this site, is a one-hour show aired in the United States during primetime on a broadcast network that, at least in the first season, has a predominant focus on the everyday lives of teens in high school.
As such, Hellcats does not qualify, since it is about college students. Nikita does not qualify, either, because though there is a focus on Alex (though I don’t recall her age), it is not about being an average high schooler.
I’m dying to know what the twist is…I have a couple ideas since I’ve seen all the previous installments in the La Femme Nikita franchise and am what I would call a pretty diehard fan – so I know how things work with this storyline/plot. Needless to say, I’m not counting ANYTHING out as far as the “twist” you refer to goes.
I know more things about the show and its history than most people do. I’ve collected all the music and bought the books and DVDs and visited countless sites, yada-yada-yada. I could probably write a book of useless-but-interesting trivia about the Nikita franchise. 🙂 The original USA Network TV series is by far, hands down, my favorite TV show of all time. I never got so excited about watching a TV show. Every Sunday night, without fail, everything else was secondary for one hour as I parked it in front of my TV to watch the show.
Thanks for covering it on your site.