davidh777

My kid was watching ABC Family and I just happened to catch a promo for a new series called Bunheads centering around kids' dance. What surprised me is that it stars Broadway superstar Sutton Foster. I don't get to Broadway much, but she's come to Seattle a couple times and was pretty dazzling. I guess she's trying to expand her resume for those post-dance years. I might have to tune in to the premiere. I guess they have Kenny "High School Musical" coming in to direct the third episode also.

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conscience

Hmm. I will check out the first episode because of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Kelly Bishop even thought the subject just isn't my style.

dstrauss

There's a preview floating around the net. Just watched it. It definitely has a very Gilmore Girls feel to it -- Sutton Foster could be playing a younger Lorelai that didn't get pregnant. It's definitely got the wit and rhythm of a good GG episode.

critterdvd

I've seen the first three episodes of the show and I have to admit it is very good, and I am definitely not the target audience for this kind of show. But I was a huge fan of "Gilmore girls" back in High School and wanted to check it out for ASP, and Sutton Foster.

It's a very light, fluffy, typical ABC Family show (complete with a lower than industry standard budget), but the dialogue is all Amy and you honestly feel at moments like you are revisiting Stars Hallow and not watching a different show. Also, there are a lot of cameos by Gilmore Girl's regulars.

davidh777

Man, I'm a fan of Sutton Foster but never watched GG (maybe someday).

pelenor

I watched the preview and really enjoyed it. But then again, I was a huge fan of Gilmore Girls. Gonna stick with this.

davidh777

Bumping for tonight's "official" premiere

Gunde

Very enjoyable pilot. It's like Gilmore Girls never ended

And I thought the twist at the end was kinda awesome.

critterdvd

I spent 90% of the episode thinking to myself "this is never going to work" and then when the twist hit I knew that it was going to be a hell of a first season.

I remember during the beginning when Michelle was talking to her fellow dancers, everyone was talking so fast that I had to put the subtitles on for a second before I could readjust my brain for Amy Sherman-Palladino dialogue again. But really the small town, Kelly Bishop, the writing - it all felt like revisiting an old friend.

davidh777

Clearly I should have put ASP in the thread title but GG is still on my to-watch list

dex14

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Flave

Great to have you back Ms. Paladino. This show has all her winning trademarks from snappy dialog to quirky characters. Love the concept, love the lead actress, and of course love the writing.

So is Cameron only appearing in the pilot?

Anyone know who does the song that was playing when she was in her apartment bashing the A/C? Neither SoundHound nor Shazam could ID it.

DJariya

Okay, this show wasn't really on my radar this summer. But, I have heard glowing comments about Ms. Sherman-Palladino's writing from her Gilmore Girls days, so I checked it out. Plus, ABC Family shows are sort of a guilty pleasure.

Anyways, despite the weird name "Bunheads" I really liked it. Never crossed my mind that name is associated with Ballerina dancers.

Anyways, I really liked Sutton Foster as Michelle. Very charming actress and the character is very likeable.

And damn, I didn't see that twist coming at the end at all.



It does set up the whole premise for the show pretty nicely.

boogieman03

Agreed. I enjoyed the episode. I've (strangely enough) been missing Gilmore girls and Stars Hollow lately. I think it has to do with the appearances of "Rory Gilmore" on Mad Men. Anyways, hopefully this show will fill that void.

Traxan

And here comes the PC bitching.

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethe...y-creator.html

On Tuesday, "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes tweeted at the official account for ABC Family's new show "Bunheads," from "Gilmore Girls" creator Amy Sherman-Palladino.

"Hey @abcfbunheads: really? You couldn't cast even ONE young dancer of color so I could feel good about my kid watching this show? NOT ONE?" she asked.

"Bunheads" is a show about a Vegas showgirl who relocates to small-town California and becomes a dance instructor at her new mother-in-law's dance studio. Starring Sutton Foster and Kelly Bishop, the show has no regular cast members of color. In the first dance class scene, there are "young dancers of color" -- but they're in the background, and don't have any lines. Instead, the focus turns to the conversation of four young white teenage girls, lamenting their body issues and ballet school prospects. These are the four characters the audience is supposed to root for. These are the people with names, and lives, and problems. These are the ones who deserve our attention.

Is that acceptable?

Derrich

Her kid can only identify or root for people of the same race?
Sounds like there's a deeper issue there.
D

Flave

And no Asians? NOT ONE? No Italians? NOT ONE? No Armenians. NOT ONE? No Native Americans? NOT ONE? No Betelgeusians? NOT ONE?

Shonda, you're a fucking stupid cow.

davidh777

I bet the important characters are all bipeds too

Ropes Pierre

perhaps she would be happier if there was one "sassy spicy latina" or a token black BFF.

davidh777

There ya go. Maybe the black can have attitude and be from the wrong side of the tracks.

MikahC

Except she's not.

On the plus side, she's advocating for more diversity in television, which I think is an admirable goal. Unfortunately, her complaint isn't very well thought out. When you have such a public complaint, you should have a very clearly defined expectation to compare reality against. Shonda's words portray a belief that every show should have diverse casting. I'm not sure if that's her real expectation (in which case, why pick on this particular show aired by the same parent company that supports her 3 shows?), or her words betrayed her. She has clarified her remarks since making them to say that it was just a personal observation on her part.

As for the whole, "people like me," comment, there's credence there as well. Children get their dreams from all kinds of places, and a lot of those dreams have to do with what they see. I decided to learn to play trumpet as a kid because I used to see Louis Armstrong do it. Many kids decide to be singers, dancers, and all kinds of things because they see others doing it. But it's a little harder to dream when the dream doesn't seem to fit you. It's one of the reasons people like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Arthur Ashe, and (yes) Tiger Woods are celebrated to some degree -- there's an underlying understanding amongst many that it shows a new generation it's OK to expand their dreams (if they're willing to work hard for them).

It's not impossible to dream outside your vision, but it is a little harder. I can still remember when it became public knowledge that Rock Hudson was gay. I'll just bet you there was some young gay guy somewhere who decided liking guys didn't mean he couldn't be a leading man actor (no John Travolta jokes here).

I don't think Shonda's stupid (in fact, I think she's doing better than most of the people who'd call her that), and I think she's coming from a good place, but I think it wasn't the best tweet (a tweet, mind you... not a press release). But at the end of the day, it's a challenge to convey the hope that entertainment creators create worlds of inclusion where appropriate while avoiding the perception that there's some type of affirmative action demand for diversity. If I were on twitter, I'd say to Shonda that the best way for her to be a change agent is to continue doing what she does best -- being a change agent (as opposed to imploring others to do it).

Flave

Micah, your post is obviously much more deeply thought out and much better expressed than mine. Much. That said (and understand that, although not a visible minority, I grew up an immigrant kid with few role models myself) I despise racial/ethnic quotas of any kind. I think they hold back the very group these misguided principles seek to protect and are as archaic as they are useless. I could care less whether this cast is all white, all black, or all rainbow. The most important criterion should be whether the cast works and this cast does. IMO, Ms. Rhimes' ideas about racial quotas are as dated as 50s era racism against blacks. And yes I know that the books are far from balanced but for Christ's sake you're not going to get that balance by picking on a quirky little show on ABC Family. If she's as smart as you think she is then she should know how and when to pick her battles. Racist issues seem to constantly swirl around this woman and that's not an accident.

Traxan

It's funny how we always get caterwauling over no blacks in an all-white series but no one seems to care when no one white shows up in an ethnic show. As someone said in the article, where were the white people in "Precious?" Or anything on TV One/BET? And the thing is, white people don't care, except maybe for the PC-obsessed.

As for "Girls," I do find it a bit hard to believe that a group in Brooklyn has no ethnic friends, but with "Bunheads," are there a lot of black ballerinas? I only saw one that I know of. She's drop dead gorgeous, too. Toured with Prince. Other than that, are there a lot of black girls doing ballet? Was there one in "Black Swan?" I never saw it so I'm just asking.

DJariya

See what you started Traxan, now you turned a Bunheads episode thread into a debate about race.

Now your going to get people talking who didn't even watch this.

Traxan

Well if it gets people watching.