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Disney's TV movie is 'Cheetah'-licious submitted by: Lisa D. source: Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah) Date: August 15, 2003 By Scott D. Pierce, Deseret Morning News HOLLYWOOD -- "Cheetah Girls" isn't just a series of books and a TV movie musical, it's a way of life. Just ask Raven ("That's So Raven"), who's starring in the Disney Channel movie, and Deborah Gregory, the larger-than-life original cheetah girl herself. "It's in the mentality," Raven said. "As we say in the beginning of the movie, cheetah is about believing in your friends and your family and having a vision to go and follow your dream." "Yeah, that's a cheetah-girl credo," Gregory added. "Cheetah Girls" (tonight at 9 on the Disney Channel) is the multi-ethnic story of four teenage girls (Raven, Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams and Sabrina Bryan) who come together to form a singing group and plan to "take the world by storm." The plot itself isn't much -- it's one of those TV movies where you know how it's going to end almost from the minute it starts -- but it's energetic, entertaining and loaded with good feelings and good messages. And the inspiration for all this is Gregory, who penned the series of "Cheetah Girls" books and served as a co-producer on the TV movie. "The first time we met her, she walked in and she was, like, 'You're not wearing enough cheetah,' " Bailon said. Gregory, on the other hand, was "clothed head-to-to in cheetah," Williams said. "Cheetah shoes, cheetah socks, cheetah pants. And she talked like the books. It was amazing." And words like "cheetah-licious" really are "in the vocab," as Bailon said. "It's an inspiration." "We're living what she dreams of," Williams said. "It made it an honor to be a cheetah girl because it wasn't someone who just wrote a book," Bryan said. "It's someone who lives and breathes this cheetah world." Gregory was a contributing writer for Essence magazine who was invited to appear on "Oprah" (and showed up dressed in cheetah, of course) after writing a first-person story about liposuction. That got her noticed by a Disney book editor who asked if Gregory had ever considered writing for kids. "I said, 'No, I never have,' " Gregory said. "And she said, 'Would you take a meeting?' "And I said, 'Are you serving lunch? Yes? I can fit that into my busy schedule.' " Disney was working on a "initiative with urban projects" and "multi-cultural" books. "I said, 'I can come up with something,' " Gregory said. "And I went into my cheetah bedroom and I'm thinking, 'What should it be? What should it be?' And it was, like, 'Just be yourself.' And that's how I came up with the idea." It was an idea that the Disney Channel quickly embraced. "Disney Channel came imediamente before the books were even published," Gregory said. "From the beginning there was just this sentiment that this was really cheetah-licious. And I was kind of awed by that and happy that other people shared what had always been in my bedroom -- my cheetah world. I just couldn't believe that they got it." Gregory said she cried the first time she saw a rough-cut of the movie. "It was kind of amazing to see it. I'm going to start crying now." And she really did well up with tears. Is all this cheetah-licious-ism a bit offbeat? Sure. But it's certainly genuine on Gregory's part. And, given that show business isn't exactly crawling with genuine people who are full of enthusiasm about positive messages, it's a nice change of pace. And as entertaining as the "Cheetah Girls" TV movie musical. Site design by: Dolphin Webpage Designs © 1996-2003