ABC Family used the sweet spot behind Secret Life to premiere its new family drama, Make It or Break It, Monday night. This gymnastics-focused series details the life of young gymnasts attending a special Olympics training facility.

Three females led the first scene: Payson Keeler (Ayla Kell), who never looks too far ahead; Kaylie Cruz (Josie Loren), who can’t wait to pig out after the competition is over, and Lauren Tanner (Cassie Scerbo), who wants to enjoy a jet setter’s life.

Soon, the Coach was talking seriously of their future, saying that only three would go on to the top. New gymnast Emily then made her appearance, shaking up the top three set of girls who were introduced earlier.

A scholarship kid, Emily Kmetko (Chelsea Hobbs) is working class and performs astoundingly well. She was assigned to work out with the team of Faye, Kaylie and Lauren. Emily’s weakness is at the vault, an event where gymnasts have to run toward a stationary objects and hurl themselves atop it.

An outsider and an underdog, the main character is immediately likable. She doesn’t have much support and now she has no friends at her special training facility. Emily also has a brother who’s confined to a wheelchair and an extremely busy mother who’s nonetheless out of work.

In contrast to Emily’s non-working and financially strapped mother, Kaylie lives in a palatial Colorado mansion. She’s also secretly dating Carter Anderson (Zachary Burr Abel), a male gymnast at the facility and a big no-no as far as the rules go. Lauren is also well-to-do and quite the conniver, plotting with others to keep Emily out of the Nationals competition. Emily, who has accepted a job where a meth addict is her manager - but also where a potential love interest lies. Unlike her friends, Payson lives in a happy, middle-class family that’s as normal as it can be with a potential Olympian in the house.

Stunning gymnastics moments, fast direction and split-screen effects made the episode visually stunning, but the show didn’t skimp on juicy plot and character development, either - typical for ABC Family programming.

A surprising plot twist - the loss of the coach and the expensive gym - left viewers hanging at the end of the episode. Will the characters be able to overcome the frightening obstacles? Is the question enough to keep you watching for an entire season? ABC sure hopes so.