The teen drama, which features the series return of former Full House child star Candace Cameron Bure and Frasier's Peri Gilpin, focuses on the cutthroat competitive world of Olympic-caliber gymnasts and their families.

For viewers who have experienced the typically confusing, often-roiling social hierarchy of teen girls, Make It could resonate. Set at The Rock, an exclusive Colorado training center, the showcenters on Emily Kmetko (Chelsea Hobbs), a nice newcomer who arrives on scholarship, decidedly unfashionable and lacking confidence.

Her budding talent threatens queen bee Lauren Tanner (Cassie Scerbo), whose ruthlessness is matched by that of her father, Steve (Tony Starke). Gilpin is Kim Keeler, the well-adjusted mother of perfectionist Payson (Ayla Kell). Friends and foes take sides, some parents worry about paying bills, others prematurely calculate post-Olympic endorsement deals, and some even bully Coach Walsh (Erik Palladino).

Series creator Holly Sorensen says the idea for Make It — originally titled Perfect 10 — crystallized after a meeting with ABC Family's management team. Sorensen had been exploring ideas about young kids focused on careers, perhaps pre-Olympic trainees. Fresh off the U.S. women's gymnastics performance at the 2008 Summer Games, the project was approved last fall.

"We hear a lot of pitches about sports and that kind of arena, but Holly's pitch about kids with serious careers had an insider's point of view yet was so relatable," says ABC Family programming exec Kate Juergens, the architect behind many of the scripted hits targeting 14- to 28-year-olds.

Bure, a late cast addition barely in tonight's launch, will have an increasing presence as Summer, Steve's love interest, a relationship bound to cause conflict with the self-centered Lauren. "It makes for a crazy dynamic because she really likes this man and she does everything she can to make it work, but Lauren is just nasty," Bure says.

Bure spent most of the past decade as a stay-at-home mom raising three kids with husband Valeri Bure, the recently retired NHL star. "The timing was great and the work schedule was, too, plus I loved the concept," Bure says. "There was an instant connection. I've been living in the sports world and know what it's like — uprooting your life, the business and the politics."

Many viewers know Bure from Full House, which ended its eight-season ABC run in 1995, then found new life in repeats on Nickelodeon and ABC Family. Now 33, Bure says she relishes playing an adult role. "She's a very nice woman. But she's not squeaky clean; she has much more of a past than she's told people about."