VIDEO PHOTOS Ashley Rickards to get ‘Awkward’ following Teen Mom

MTV has a mega-hit on their hands with the show Teen Mom and I’m sure the powers that be at the network took a long, hard look at which program they wanted to fill in the all important post-TM time slot. The results are in and the big winner is a scripted comedy to star actress Ashley Rickards called Awkward.

Rickards will portray young student Jenna Hamilton whose life gets altered following a simple accident that becomes a big-time misunderstanding and, like things tend to do in high school, eventually gets blown way out of proportion.

Here’s the official preview trailer from MTV:

 
 
If you’re a fan of One Tree Hill Ashley may look familiar to you as she played Samantha Walker in over 20 episodes of that popular program. She’s also made brief appearances on Entourage and Ugly Betty as well.

In addition to the 19-year-old’s TV experience the talented star has been featured in music videos for The Fray’s song “How to Save a Life” and The Format’s “She Doesn’t Get It.” Here’s the clip for “How to Save a Life” (which already has over 15 million views!):

Awkward will be narrated in the first person by Ashley’s character in the voice of her blog posts (the undeniable power of the blog 🙂 ). Following the accident Jenna is forced to deal with an unwanted new stigma that through the daily struggles of a young teenager will serve as a catalyst for positive change.

David Janollari, Head of MTV Programming says of the show:

“With a phenomenal cast of fresh faces, coupled with a strong female voice and message of empowerment, we’re confident this show will resonate with our audience, so much so that we’ve given it the prime time slot behind Teen Mom one of our highest rated series.”

^RK/WENN.com

The show is also set to star Beau Mirchoff (Desperate Housewives) as ‘Matty,’ Jenna’s love interest; Molly Tarlov (Huge, iCarly) as ‘Sadie,’ Jenna’s nemesis;  Brett Davern (Junk, Triple Dog,) as ‘Jake,’ the good-natured popular kid; Jillian Rose Reed (Weed) as ‘Tamara’ and Jessica Lu (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Law & Order: Los Angeles) as ‘Ming,’ Jenna’s two best friends;  Desi Lydic (Traffic Light, Two and a Half Men) as ‘Valerie,’ the school’s guidance counselor and Nikki DeLoach (North Shore, Love and Other Drugs) as Jenna’s mom ‘Lacey.’

Teen Mom’s season 3 premiere is July 5th at 10:PM EST while Awkward comes in two weeks later on the 19th at 11:00 EST. MTV has ordered a dozen half-hour episodes of the show for its first season. Here’s one more parting shot of lead actress Ashley Rickards:

^Nikki Nelson/WENN.com

Top Photo: Russ Einhorn / Splash News