"Bunheads" by the producers of Gilmore Girls.

Cafe Society
#1

Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator of Gilmore Girls, has a new series on ABC Family (a U.S. cable TV network) called “Bunheads.” If you were a GG fan (or even if you weren’t), the show is worth sampling.

The show stars Broadway actress Sutton Foster as a Las Vegas show dancer and Kelly Bishop (who played Emily Gilmore, Lorelai’s mother). While Sutton Foster is not a terribly convincing showgirl, it doesn’t matter since she moves to a small California coastal town where everybody knows everybody’s business (remarkably like Stars Hollow) and has to live with Kelly Bishop’s character, the owner of a children’s ballet dance studio. Foster’s character is reminiscent of the sharp-witted fatalism of Lorelai Gilmore, while the long rambling monologues have shifted over to Bishop’s character.

The title “Bunheads” refers to the student ballerinas in the dance studio, but while the students have been given storylines, they appear to be secondary (at least so far). So you don’t have to worry about this being a story about cutsie girls learning ballet.

While the parallels to Gilmore Girls are quite obvious, I don’t mean to make this sound like it is a continuation or clone of Gilmore Girls. It has a life of its own that has really drawn me in after three episodes.

Episode 3 is available for free on Hulu until Monday and will be repeated on ABC Family on Monday 7/9/12. Episodes 1 and 2 are available for a fee on itunes.

I’ve deliberately tried to avoid spoilers in this description.

So, has anyone else watched? Comments?

#2

I have not watched yet, and I am very much not the target demographic for this show. I didn’t know about the Gilmore Girls connection- a show for which I was not the target demographic but I saw it once and kinda enjoyed how everyonetalkedREALLYREALLYfastallthetime.

However, I did fall madly in love with Sutton Foster when she was on Flight of the Conchords. I even posted a zero reply Thread crowning her the Cutest Girl on T.V.
I have never seen her on Broadway, but when I found out that she has starred in Broadway musicals I only got to crushing on her all the more.

So, Bunheads maybe wouldn’t have otherwise caught my attention . . . but I can’t help but be a little interested.

#3

I kept thinking her voice sounded like she was on stage now I know why.

It took me awhile to realise the MIL was Lorelei’s mother as well

#4

I don’t get cable, but look forward to seeing this on DVD later. (I went through the entire run of GG on DVD during a period of unemployment – definitely a love-hate relationship with the characters. Kelly Bishop is great, though.)

#5

They played a scene from this show on The Soup a couple of weeks ago.

Admittedly, The Soup tends to look for the most egregious stuff it can find, but if the clip they showed is any indication at all of the show’s writing and acting, then it’s eat-my-own-brains-out awful. And i say that as a big fan of Sutton Foster (mainly, like bienville, from Flight of the Conchords).

My wife, who watched all of Gilmore Girls, also thought it looked painfully, embarrassingly bad.

#6

My wife wanted to watch this show as she used to be a bunhead herself. We caught the first episode, were both completely turned off by the ridiculous story line and implausible situations, and vowed never to watch it again. We’ve never seen Gilmore Girls. Sutton Foster is kind of attractive, however.

#7

Dude, you didn’t link to a photo, not surprising you got no replied. I saw why after I googled up Sutton Foster’s face and checked a few images out and thought, “Meh, Hollywood plain.” Must be good at projecting “cute” when she acts.