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EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that ABC Family is moving ahead with a series order to Bunheads, its dance drama pilot from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. It will join another new ABC Family series that was picked up last week, comedy Baby Daddy. I hear that the cable network’s 2 other pilots from the current batch, drama Intercept and comedy Village People, are not going forward.
Bunheads stars Sutton Foster as Michelle, a Las Vegas showgirl who impulsively marries a man and moves to his sleepy coastal town, and takes an uneasy role at her new mother-in-law’s dance school. “I spent 20 years of my life with my hair in a bun,” Sherman-Palladino, who got her break as a writer on Roseanne, said when the project was picked up to pilot in September. “I was supposed to be a dancer. My mother was a dancer. Her greatest heartbreak was when I got on Roseanne. So, while writing this will never equal playing ‘Rumpelteazer’ in a bus and truck tour of Cats, it does let me to tip my hat to a really special time in my life.” Bunheads was originally picked up as a cast-contingent pilot in fall 2010 with a different writer.
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And that “different writer” has a name, and that name is Lamar Damon.
Sutton deserves better than ABC family. But oh well, a check’s a check.
Hey, Ralph. What network are you starring on these days?
What a shame. The Intercept pilot looked fantastic (even though it was a tad … okay, a lot off brand). Too bad. Butler and Panabaker had great chemistry.
Too bad, indeed, but I figured that it would be tricky to get this through on ABC Family with that premise.
So – shop it to The CW, maybe? Sounds like they could use something like that…
Go, AMY!!! Love her!! Best showrunner in the biz, folks. Treats her cast like family no matter how ungrateful they become. Class act all the way! Congrats, Amy!!! xo
And treats her writing staff like family — if you mean the family from The Squid and the Whale. She’s a monster.
There’s a well known story among writers of her tellling one of her staffers – publicly – that his script made her “ass bleed.” Amy has to be the smartest writer in the room or the only writer in the room.
@Reality Check – you are the 5th person I’ve heard this from so clearly it’s true. Type A Monster.
It will be interesting to see who she manages to staff. She fired pretty much her entire staff every single year for six years.
The networks really don’t get it. Oh well, Apple HDTV, Google TV, etc. will make way for fresh independent sitcoms and dramas from real artists with new ideas and diverse talent. Can’t wait!
Yeah, this is probably not true. Those companies will continue to go to the well-known people like all the rest. There is no money out there for complete unknowns, probably never will be. You have to pay your dues.
Amy SP created one of the best tv shows of all time! I’ll watch anything with her name attached!
Love Sutton Foster!
So… ‘SP’ is totally Scott “Luke Danes” Patterson, right?
Sad about Village People. I really wanted to see Jennie Garth back on tv!
I love abc family shows(expect life of a american teenager) loved gilmore girls so looking forward to this!
Love abc family with shows like lying game make it or break it and switched at birth different and good some of my favorite sites have been from them ex: wildfire
Having read all these scripts, in my opinion, Village People should’ve been picked up over Baby Daddy, and ANYTHING should have been picked up over Bunheads. Sutton is a lot of things; great singer, phenomenal dancer, but an actor she is not. Plus, the Bunheads pilot is terrible. Her character decides to run off with her stage door stalker, and marry him sight unseen, after he promises her this grandiose life. When she arrives in California, not even LA, she discovers that he lives with his mother, essentially a nutjob, and winds up teaching a bunch of misfit teenagers how to dance. So silly. I understand loyalty to AS-P, she has done a lot for the network, but c’mon.
Agreed. Plus, the GUY DIES at the end of the terrible pilot, which wants to be Gilmore Girls, but isn’t. And Sutton is basically playing Lorelai. Ummm…after the guy dies…WHY DOES SHE STAY THERE? It’s preposterous. And also, “Intercept” was 100x the show that Bunheads is. Clearly ABCFam is not interested in branching out and finding new viewership. Bunheads isn’t going to pull anyone who isn’t already watching ABCFam.
ASP is a loyal, loving and an incredible talent. I watched her go through six years of backstabbing, lies and attempts to dethrone her and she weathered it all with strength and character. And when she walked she did it on her terms. Brave, loving soul. Tough? You betcha. But these descriptions of her are not accurate. She writes gold and wants it word perfect and as a writer she deserves that respect. The Amy I know – not only would I move a body for her I would chop one up, as well. Any studio/network would be lucky to have her. She should have an Emmy for each day of the week and got passed over time and again but it will come around for her. Love you, Amy. Disregard the above BS
Hey SCOTT PATTERSON, are you maybe hoping that Amy will give you a job? Ask ANY WRITER who has worked with her what she’s like and you will get an earful. She is really scary.
I don’t think anyone will deny she’s difficult to work with from a production standpoint – but, well, shouldn’t she be? She has a very distinct vision for her work and being a woman in this industry, I can’t imagine how hard it is to protect it.
I hear Mozart was a pain, too……always ranting about his “vision”.
I’ve worked with her and found her to be completely lovely. She definitely fights for what she wants, but she was always kind, friendly and respectful to writers and production. Of course she has her nemeses, but who doesn’t? I thought the Bunheads script was great, and I, who’s never seen an ABC Family show, will certainly be tuning in for this one.
I did not get an opportunity to see any of the pilots but I was looking forward to seeing Intercept because actor Trevor St. John was supposed to be on it. Had that series been picked up, I would have tuned in just to see TSJ. Now, I don’t even feel like tuning in to any of the other shows or ABC Family period.
I still wish Amy had come back to write a REAL GG series finale…
Once again, a show on ABC family with little to no diversity. As much as I like ballet, I wish the network would find more actors and actresses of different backgrounds…
This is what abc puts on insted of mack it or brack it?!?!?!
Who will win the 2012 oliympic? What happend to emely and her baby?!? I hait it when they cansel my fav shows