Bunheads

Premise

Bunheads is the tale of Michelle Simms, a former ballerina 'bunhead' (a slang term for women who put their long hair into a bun while dancing) who wound up as a Las Vegas showgirl. Seeing her life and career at a dead end, she impulsively takes up the offer of marriage from her persistent admirer, Hubbell Flowers (played by Alan Ruck), and moves to his sleepy coastal town, the fictional town of Paradise in Southern California, thirty miles south of Ojai, California. Once there, Hubbell is killed in a car accident and Michelle struggles to adjust to life in a small town and teaching alongside her mother-in-law, Fanny Flowers (played by Kelly Bishop), at her ballet school: the Paradise Dance Academy.

Main cast and characters

Recurring cast and characters

Cameos

In addition to recurring actors that carried over from Gilmore Girls, including Kelly Bishop, Liza Weil, Gregg Henry, and Rose Abdoo, numerous other known actors, as well as Broadway actors, also appeared in episodes of Bunheads.

Development and production

Bunheads first appeared on the development slate at ABC Family in September 2010, under the title Strut, when the show received a cast-contingent pilot order. Lamar Damon wrote the script, and production was originally expected to begin in fall 2010. In September 2011, it was reported that the series was being retooled by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who would serve as executive producer. The series was given a pilot order under the new name Bunheads.

On September 28, 2011, it was announced that Broadway star Sutton Foster was set to star in the lead role as Michelle. Filming took place in November with creator Amy Sherman-Palladino writing and directing.

On February 11, 2012, ABC Family ordered the pilot to series with a ten episode order. Following shortly, on February 15, 2012, it was announced that Kelly Bishop would join the show playing the recurring role of Fanny Flowers, the mother-in-law to Michelle.

It was announced on June 9, 2012, that singer-songwriter and Gilmore Girls composer Sam Phillips would score the music to Bunheads.

On August 17, 2012, Bunheads received a renewal for the "back end" of the first season (eight additional episodes).

Bunheads returned on January 7, 2013, after Switched at Birth.

On June 4, 2013, it was announced that Bunheads was one of 31 selected productions to receive California’s Film and Television Tax Credit. Earning $5.82 million, the money would help fund a second season should the show be renewed.

On July 4, 2013, it was announced that the sets were torn down, leading some reporters to speculate that the show would be canceled. ABC Family later confirmed that it was officially cancelled on July 22, 2013.

Reception

Critics have given a very positive reception to the show, specifically praising Amy Sherman-Palladino's distinct writing and the performances of leading ladies Sutton Foster and Kelly Bishop.

Robert Lloyd of Los Angeles Times thinks "ABC Family's Bunheads a cute summer treat. Amy Sherman-Palladino strikes again with that Gilmore Girls charm in Bunheads, with Tony-winning Sutton Foster as a former showgirl mentoring budding ballerinas." Variety's Geoff Berkshire says "Sherman-Palladino's snappy banter and slightly melancholic characters only enrich the texture of a series perfectly pitched between comedy and drama."

The Huffington Post's Maureen Ryan recommends the show saying "the pilot for Bunheads moves at a brisk, refreshing clip and it even packs an emotional wallop or two. The relationships that are sketched out in the first hour are promising. Sherman-Palladino has long been interested in characters who are dancing as fast as they can, and in this show, she has a whole new set to play with."

Vanity Fair's James Wolcott titles the show a "knockout charmer" and singles out particular praise for lead Sutton Foster "revealing a knowing Carol Burnett-ish clowning flair that works beautifully on camera."

Newsday critic Diane Werts notes that "Bunheads sets [a] multigenerational tone," and praises Sherman-Palladino's style. "Think they've all got a way with words? Some attitude? Smart pop-culture shout-outs? You betcha. Bunheads is from Gilmore Girls auteur Amy Sherman-Palladino, so it chatters just as giddily, from Gadhafi to Godzilla to Graceland."

HitFix's Alan Sepinwall calls "ABC Family's Bunheads a return to form for Amy Sherman-Palladino." and Time's James Poniewozik, though showing some minor concern for the series plot going forward, suggests, "What matters is its voice, and the spring in its step, and its first hour was just so damn enjoyable that I'll gladly season-pass this and see where the season takes it. Out of the gate, Bunheads has some impressive moves; I look forward to trying to keep up."

Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly says in his review of the pilot, "Summer TV just got dreamier, dancier...Sherman-Palladino has constructed Bunheads cannily to both fit into and transcend ABC Family's programming." On the mixed front, David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle thinks Bunheads "will take some work and it could just as easily become either annoying or likable."

Popular entertainment website The A.V. Club ranked Bunheads number 15 on their annual "The Best TV of 2012" list writing "At its best, Bunheads scavenges real heart out of its flea-market approach to plot and character. When Foster breathes “The re-useable tote!” and Kelly Bishop replies with satisfaction, “The re-useable tote,” it’s time to be thankful Sherman-Palladino is back in business." The New Yorker's Emily Nussbaum included Bunheads among her favorite television shows of 2012, listing the Istanbul (Not Constantinople) dance number closing episode six as the year's most memorable TV moment, saying: "1. This. Television is always the best when it takes you by surprise.

Following the season one finale, TIME's James Poniewozik wrote a piece on the show titled "On the Importance of Bunheads." In it he details Bunheads as a necessity in the TV landscape. "Over its first season, it’s been a joy to watch, funny, charming and bittersweet, and that’s reason enough for me to want it to stay on the air, despite not-great-even-for-ABC-Family ratings." But TV also needs this show to stay on the air, to prove that there are different kinds of stories worth telling outside the usual genres."

Alyssa Rosenberg of ThinkProgress asks "ABC Family, Save Bunheads!" She writes: "All of this would be enough to make a specific, brilliant, rare show. But Bunheads is something more. Its characters have pop culture addictions that rival Community‘s. It’s the unusual show about women that has good male characters—Carl, Michelle’s maybe-boyfriend bartender Godot, Michelle’s hilariously shiftless brother—but that hasn’t subverted its female characters to their development, creating an unusual degree of gender balance. And it’s a show that’s not afraid of real sadness, but that doesn’t need to beat up on its characters to let them fail: when Michelle accidentally pepper-sprayed her students on the eve of a critically important performance for the school’s financial health, we were allowed to feel the weight of her accumulated past missteps without being disgusted by or feeling distanced from her. That’s a deft balance. And if ABC Family wants to level up on its brand, to be something more than the network where Shailene Woodley worked before she got famous, it should keep it up, and renew Bunheads."

Slate magazine's David Weigel explains "Why Bunheads is the best show on TV." In his article, he writes: "The New York Times has said it on the front page of the Style section, and regular Slate-ster Alyssa Rosenberg has said it eloquently at ThinkProgress. I’ll add my voice: ABC Family needs to renew Amy Sherman-Palladino’s fantastic ballet dramedy Bunheads, the best original, scripted show on TV."

Nearing a decision regarding renewal, on July 17, 2013, several critics dedicated individual articles urging ABC Family to renew Bunheads. Todd VanDerWerff of the AV Club titled: "Hey, ABC Family: Just renew Bunheads already" in it he writes " Fortunately, the qualitative argument is very easy to make for Bunheads. It’s by several orders of magnitude the best show ABC Family has ever aired, and it’s not like that’s an easy task or anything."

The first season currently holds a 74 on Metacritic and is one of the more highly rated shows to premiere in 2012.

Awards and nominations