Add Bunheads to the list of new series getting the go ahead from ABC Family. The drama pilot with a name that makes absolutely no sense until you read what the story is about has been given a series order. It joins Baby Daddy, a name with no redeeming qualities, and a reality series as the latest to get the greenlight.
Deadline reports that the network has passed on two other pilots in the same breath. Intercept and Village People are apparently a no go. Just last week ABC Family picked up Baby Daddy, a half hour comedy series. Although the new addition to the series lineup is being called a drama, I can’t help but see some comedy in the plot.
Bunheads surrounds a Vegas showgirl who moves to a small town after getting married and takes on a role working in a dance school owned by her mother-in-law. Any girl who ever took dance lessons know exactly what it felt like to walk around with that bun on her head, and thus the name instantly makes a lot more sense. Writer for the series Amy Sherman-Palladino (she wrote for Roseanne) remembers that bun as well, and seems to have a personal feeling about the project. Apparently her mother wanted her to be a dancer. And not the Vegas kind.
The show’s star, Sutton Foster, has little in the way of TV credits – she has guested on Law & Order: SVU and Flight of the Conchords - but she has been nominated for five Best Actress Tony Awards with two wins in her pocket for her work on stage. This role sounds just right for her first starring role on the small screen.
