User reviews

Look, I'm a 22-year-old male, not exactly this show's target audience. I only caught it because I was watching the hilarious train wreck that is The Secret Life of the American Teenager (god what an awful show).

I was expecting more of the same from Bunheads (I have to echo everyone else's sentiments here: that title is terrible). Instead, I found myself totally engrossed. Sutton Foster is an incredible find -- bundles of charisma, great comedic timing and the ability to pull off the dramatic stuff without being cheesy. The conflict between her and Fanny is well pitched and comedic and should carry the show far. The teens are all great actors considering their age and the fact that this is ABC Family, and have a cute camaraderie that will be fertile ground for drama later on (you can see the writers already laying the foundation for this).

The best part, though, is the show's humor. Michelle name drops Kirsten Wiig and it's a good comparison -- manic, physical but always with intelligence and heart. The writing obviously never reaches the heights (or the grossness) of Bridesmaids, but Bunheads is honestly funnier than any network comedy not airing on NBC.

If you liked Gilmore Girls, or want a family comedy-drama, or are just bored on a Monday night, I highly recommend checking out Bunheads. Even if you're a twenty-something guy...

With Amy Palladino and Kelly Bishop at the helm, you have a good chance that your ship is going in the right direction. Bring on the talented Sutton Foster and sail away. While the beginning had me concerned that Sutton was just another Lorelei in Broadway clothing, by the end of the pilot she sets her own character.......and does she ever. The Amy Palladino clever dialog and oblique references are still there.(Those that endeared me to Gilmore Girls which was the best comedy of the '00's). With the surprise ending of the pilot, one can only guess where the plot lines are going next, but I can't wait. Fresh and entertaining and a MUST alternative the the Bachelor and Bachelorette. Bet Lauren Graham is glued to her TV set.

to whom may concern: I love this show I am sad they have cancel a just fun show there seem to cancel all family fun cute show bring bun heads I love Gilmore Girls I love Amy Sherman Palladio show she write family show. I prefer family show over most show on TV this day please ABC family channel bring Bunheads show back on the air. I miss deeply everyday I watch Bunheads and Gilmore Girls once a day everyday so I wish for more Bunheads episode.

please I would appreciate it ABC family or any other TV channel please pick up Bunheads and renew this wonderful TV show bring it back to the air. best wish Kaoru Tomoe

I can't even believe I love this show, since I have never been a dancer, but I checked it out simply for the amazing and wonderful Sutton Foster and have stayed for the rest of this talented cast. The characters are interesting and the dialogue is the best reason to stay focused. I laugh out loud A LOT every week, and that's saying something these days. Witty and clever is not the norm with most TV shows. I'm not sure what the deal is with all the haters on the reviews here, unless they can't get over the fact that this isn't the Gilmore Girls. I never was able to watch GG, so maybe it's easier to enjoy this without expectations. Anything that gives Sutton Foster exposure to a wider audience is a blessing for us all.

I love Bunheads and I think it stands out in all the TV shows of today, I was told to keep it simple so here are reasons why you should at least give Bunheads a chance:

1. It is truly funny, we are talking quick and sassy dialog! 2. The actresses (and the fewer seen actors) are outstanding and believable, from the slightly crazy dance instructor, to the not so ballerina looking wannabe bunhead to the over-achieving nerd who waits tables.... 3. The dancers are professionally trained and don't just act as dancers 4. Sutton Foster and Kelly Bishop 5.The quirky small town setting including all the hilarious characters

If you like good dialog a pinch of drama and quirky characters you will not be disappointed!

I loved, loved, loved Gilmore Girls, so thought I'd give this show a whirl. On episode 3 and so far, like it! Thank you Ethan for taping it and letting me watch. Very similar vibe to Gilmore - with great writing, repartee and lovable, kooky characters. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Sherman-Palladino's script is as witty as ever and love the fact that they brought in a great Broadway actress/dancer. Sutton Foster is likable and funny. Similar, yet different to Lauren Graham. Good to see Kelly Bishop back. Difficult not to compare to Gilmore Girls really, but as I love that show and they've stopped making it - I have to fill the void with something. I love ballet too, so like that addition to the story. So great that there ARE ballerinas and dancers that could also act. All those dance movies with the plastic 'acting' were depressing me. A great pick-me-up show. So you can add this to The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family as my favourite comedies!

Most pilots aren't great, but when they are, you know that you have something special. Such is the case with Bunheads. While the title leaves much to be desired, the plot and characters, not to mention the acting fulfills a need for something witty and possibly touching.

After just one episode, you get a great sense of the story and who the characters are. After watching the pilot, you will want to see what happens next.

Michelle is a professional dancer whose career has taken a dip in recent years, and fails to amaze at yet another audition. Feeling low on herself and her lackluster life, she decides to marry a kind admirer.

Upon arrival at his small town, Michelle meets his mother, a dance instructor. After butting heads at first, they discover a common ground and seem to get along.

The ballet students seem to cover a great variety of what one might expect. The thin waif who has ease and skill with dancing, but not the motivation, a girl who wishes more than anything to be more graceful than her body type will allow, and another whose larger bust proves difficult (a challenge for any dancer.)

The final moments of the first episode set up the direction for which the show will take, and leave the viewer with chills.

I found it quirky and smart and I cannot wait for what lies ahead with this series.

5/5 stars.

This show was the best to put on in the background when you're in a bad mood or just need something fun to watch. It's nothing intense and makes me want to move to the middle of no where and take ballet haha! Overall it's not a show I would tell people to watch but it definitely is a cute show to binge on a lazy Sunday.

Older Vegas showgirl Michelle Simms (Sutton Foster) finally relents and accepts a marriage proposal from admirer Hubbell Flowers. She moves to Paradise, California but he quickly dies in a car accident after one day of marriage leaving her with everything including a dance studio. With his mother Fanny Flowers (Kelly Bishop), she takes on the shock of her new life. Boo Jordan, Sasha Torres, Ginny Thompson, and Melanie Segal are four of the young teens attending her class.

Amy Sherman (Gilmore Girls) created a new series. The premise is a little awkward at the beginning. Foster has plenty of energy coming from years on Broadway. The four girls are an appealing bunch with good chemistry. It never hurts to have Kelly Bishop return to Amy. Overall, everybody is likable but it doesn't have the natural flow of Gilmore Girls. It does have a fake feel although I don't buy the Shonda race complaint. It's a good show and I wish they lasted more than just one season.

I've been "binge-watching" this series b/c I have a "girl crush" on Sutton Foster who seems to be blessed with every possible talent. She's a true triple Broadway threat, she's nice, funny, and disgustingly optimistic.

I wouldn't bother to spend so much time watching a 1 season, 10 year old series otherwise.

There's a lot to like about this series and a lot not to like. What's with the identical cadence everyone speaks in? Is this another planet? Why does everyone sound scripted, talk too fast and sound like valley girls?

The show can be funny, very touching and I LOVE ballet stories, but the story arc is implausible, contrived, forced and rushed. You feel like you're being strung along by people who don't much like you.

I'm on episode 11 and not looking forward to the cliffhanger left in perpetual uncertainty but I hope that immensely talented Broadway musical comedy performers will have more opportunities to strut their stuff rather than having to hang up their voices and their dance shoes to bow to Hollywood's often misguided agenda.

Let 'em sing! Let 'em dance! (They did a lot, and that's why I'm still watching.)

Write a better storyline and we might have had a season two!

This show was the best, before it's time. It would have an audience even now. I don't know what company was in charge, The WB, CW or ABC Family? (They missed the ball) I watched the show when it came out in 2012 and now again in 2018. (Big thanks Hulu!) This could have been as big as "Jane the Virgin" or "Crazy Ex Girlfriend". I would love to see this relaunched, (that's all they're doing these days) But honestly, this was only the show it is/was because of the cast and creators (Sutton Foster and Kelly Bishop, love, love and the girls, and my favorite content creator Amy Sherman Palladino)

Absolutely the cleverest writing and acting around ! Casting beyond compare and so deserved another season. Loved how several of the Gilmore Girls cast were brought into play. Could the title have really made the difference ? If you have not seen this... believe you are missing a jewel !

I checked this out because it was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who did the Gilmore Girls. And if you're looking for another Gilmore Girls, Amy seems to want to give it to you, down to the lead, who is a very similar type to Lauren Graham. I maybe don't like her *quite* as much as Lauren, but that doesn't mean I won't in time.

There are a number of issues with the basic premise of the first episode, in which an admirer persuades a drunken showgirl named Michelle to marry him and move to his sleepy town. The guy woos her with presents, but he doesn't really know her, and while the show wants you to think he's this nice guy, my impression was he just fell in love with her looks. And because this is a guy she has pretty much zero interest in (I believe showgirls often have these sorts of hangers-on and are rarely impressed by them), it's surprising how when she sobers up the next day she doesn't put the brakes on, especially after getting to his house.

But the way the show is structured, the premise is ultimately not important, and what is important - a Lauren Graham-ish lead, a mother-in-law reminiscent of Lorelei Gilmore's mom (and played by the same actress), and a whole slew of Rory Gilmore substitutes in a dance school - becomes that Gilmore Girls sequel we've been craving, offering the same smart dialogue and engaging characters.

When I saw the first episode, I thought, based on my experience with the ABC Family channel, it would probably be a great show that got cancelled after one season. I was tragically correct.

It just unexpectedly ends! No conclusions!! Ugh sad face. Loved this show!

Hope you have read the story line. Beyond that: The girl (Sutton Foster) is a 30 something girl, life has passed her by in the dancing business and she is now an ordinary show girl in Las Vegas. She has a 40 something guy who sees her show all the time and is a big admirer.

He keeps courting her all the time and finally she relents and marries him, seeing that she has no further career in her present life.

The show moves along fast, and its once she reaches the guy's hometown that the real story begins.

The whole cast seems nice, especially Sutton. And the direction and editing was really tight, a very good indication that some good guys are behind this, so I think this has promise.

I can't give a full recommendation, but I am intrigued and will continue to watch.

Give it a shot, just 5 mins would be enough and you will know if you like this kind of show.

Cheers!

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Review after seeing episode 2:

I was so disappointed. The quality has gone on a nose dive and the show has become silly. The one actor that I was rooting for, he was just eliminated all together, now all that is left is a group of really silly, artificial people with mediocre acting.

The teenage girls that they showed in episode 1, the students in the dance class, they are just horrible. I guess the point is to show them slowly evolving over the many years this show might run, but its going to be really difficult to live through their bitching and super idiotic behaviour.

Opinion - If you are someone very much into ballet, you should give this show a shot, else its just not worth our time considering that there are better shows like 'The Newsroom' running on TV right now.

Cheers!

I was so happy when I found this show on-demand! I'd heard good things for a long time about it (especially with the success of Sutton Foster's show Younger). Well - I wanted to REALLY REALLY like this show. Unfortunately, it's just an "I like" - without the "reallys." Why? I watched Gilmore Girls - start to finish - on Netflix. I even watched the Netflix movie. This seems to be trying to be another Gilmore Girls BUT with dancers. Even down to the females humming in the background music. For some reason, the writers wanted to turn Sutton Foster into Lauren Graham. Fail! Sutton Foster is an amazing performer - should have allowed her to make the role hers. The teenage friendships between the girls is realistic and reminds me of my daughter and her friends. The girls' affection toward "Michelle" (Sutton Foster's character) is believable. It's also nice to see a softer Kelly Bishop in this series. I found the quirky actors from Gilmore Girls to be very distracting. AND there are a lot of them. Yes - they were playing different characters - but watchers if Gilmore Girls recognize them. Quirky small towns - with quirky people - give it a rest. This story didn't need it. There was enough going on with the story without the craziness thrown in. Sorry it lasted only one season - but it was trying to be too much Gilmore Girls and NOT enough Bunheads. The story wasn't allowed to develop. I am still giving it a 7 - because the relationship stories were entertaining. The dancing beautiful.

Sutton Foster + FreeForm + Only One Season... that last addition had me on the fence, and quite frankly so did the first two episodes. Here I am on episode 10, wondering WHY THIS WAS CANCELLED?! Definitely in the same wheelhouse as Hart of Dixie and other similar shows but with a snarky version of Liza from Younger, cuz.... Sutton Foster. This woman is quite amazing and I can't wait to see her in more!

I just started watching this show on amazon. I have to admit it was a lot better than I anticipated. It sort feels like Gilmore Girls (many of the same actors play town people) but different scenario. The main character is a ballerina turned Vegas show girl who marries a fan she barely knows and starts a new life with him in his hometown Paradise, CA. A dance studio is the back drop of the show but it's the small town charm that sucks you in.

When I saw the promos for this show last year, I thought it was going to be really bad mainly because of the name. The fear of it being like the after school special The Secret Life of an American Teenager was also a deterrent. It wasn't until the boredom of summer programming kicked in that I decided to give it a shot on amazon prime. Hoping there will be another season.

I took ballet for 14 yrs and this program brought back great memories. Why take it off the air? It was clean wholesome show. Maybe that's why they canned it.😢

Am I a Gilmore Girls fan" Yes. A Bunheads fan? Not so much. I wanted to like this show and had such high hopes, as it was brought to us by the writer of "Gilmore Girls" and stars Sutton Foster (who I enjoyed recently in the show "Younger," along with Shrek on Stage).

However...I just don't really like this particular show for some reason, and not because I don't do ballet. I'm perfectly willing to watch a decent show that involves dancing, I mean, why not? But this show just comes across as being shallow and incredibly unrealistic.

The characters are all very one-dimensional and extremely unlikable, which is the worst problem, since you don't give a darn what happens to any of them.

Plus...the fact they used the same town they used for Gilmore Girls, and a lot of the same actors, makes it more like a cheap imitation of G. G. (with dancing thrown in) then a show that stands on its own. And this is sad. After all, nobody wants a cheap imitation.

There will never be another Gilmore Girls, so why try to make one? Do something completely different!

Anyway, like I said...the characters seem very one dimensional and extremely unrealistic, like cartoon versions of people. Like, for instance, that "Truly." (What a name!) Nobody in REAL life would ever ACT the way she does! It's just ridiculous! It's not funny or silly (like Taylor Doose on Gilmore Girls). It's just plain...annoying.

Yes, a lot of the characters in Gilmore Girls (sorry to keep comparing, but I just can't help it) had very unique personalities. But they also had their "likable" and more realistic sides as well, so they didn't act like one dimensional cartoons every time they were on screen. Or at least they were humorous.

And why did they pick that guy to play Hubble...Michelle's husband and Truly's true love when he's old enough to be both of their fathers????? A little gross, if you ask me.

I'm sorry this "review" seems more like one long rant. To be fair, I did get a few laughs out of the show. And perhaps if it could have run longer, the character would have had time to be developed a little more.

Although, I didn't feel that way about the first season of Gilmore Girls. (Here I go comparing again). Actually, G. G. was perfect after just one episode. There was a lot more warmth in that show, along with the silliness. Warmth, caring, friendship, love....in addition to the witty banter, sarcasm and humor.

I'm only glad they didn't cancel THAT show after one season!

Would I recommend Bunheads? Eh. Maybe on a rainy day if you have nothing better to do. Or if you're home, sick in bed.

This show reminded me of Gilmore Girls, right from the first episode, before I knew it was a Palladino thing. Not in a predictable way, rather the quick wit writing unique to Amy Sherman Palladino.

Bunheads is brilliant TV, it's funny and interesting but can take on a sad angle wonderfully too. The actors are amazing, each and every one of them, and the dancing is beautiful!

Highly entertaining and heartwarming, you grow to love the characters. and feel personally involved in their lives (I'm not weird, I swear). Paradise is such a nice little town with its eccentric inhabitants.

I particularly like the female-centered cast, they pull it off brilliant. Don;t be discouraged, though, it isn't a "girly" show.

If you like ballet, witty dialogue and little towns, give this a shot. Heck, give it a shot even if you don't; you will be hooked by episode 3.

PS. I'm heartbroken that Bunheads has been cancelled.

This tv show was incredible. Funny, quick, smart, beautifully done. Pure Sherman-Palladino. A gem that was not appreciated as it deserved in 2012 and that is an absolute pity. In the reboot and remake era that we're living in, this show deserves a second chance. The Paradise Dance Academy managed by Michelle Simms still has a lot of stories to tell in 2022. I am writing this review in the hopes that Amy Sherman-Palladino reads it and realizes that Bunheads did have a fan bese - here's a Spanish fan to attest for it. #BringBunheadsBack!