Bunheads, on ABC Family, premiered a week ago to great reviews. Fans of the Gilmore Girls were rather vocal about their love for the show. Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino co-created this series about a Las Vegas show girl who moves to a sleepy California town with her new husband, Hubble. The Las Vegas show girl, Michelle, doesn't fit in to the town. No one trusts her, least of all his mother, Fanny, played by Gilmore Girls' own Kelly Bishop. Michelle begins to carve out a niche for herself, though. Fanny is a ballerina teacher. One night, during the wedding reception, Michelle teaches the girls about what to expect in an audition. For one dance-student, Boo, Michelle gives her confidence to pursue dance furiously, body and other peoples opinions be damned.
The "Pilot" was a charming episode. Paradise is the kind of quirky small town any TV viewer could get sucked into on a weekly basis. The characters are harmless. The meanest character is a petite dancer named Sasha, who's just mean because she has issues with her parents. Fanny and Michelle were the obvious main characters. Sasha and her friends are important characters, too. Think of the teenage foursome in Now And Then because these teenage girls are the 21st century version of them. The show is sort of turned on its head when Hubble dies. The death happens in the last scene, where Fanny and Michelle finally bonded, until the aforementioned death turns everything upside down in Paradise.
Bunheads isn't my kind of TV show. I didn't watch a single Gilmore Girls episode during its run, and I was a notorious consumer of The WB during GG's heyday. Amy Sherman-Palladino's voice is very distinct. Michelle is the classic Palladino heroine. She's quick-witted, fast on her feet, independent, but she's layered with depth; her luck is horrible; she left Las Vegas because she wore herself out, and she had enough disappointment. Paradise, which is a town by the Pacific ocean, with a magnificent view of the ocean, is just what Michelle needs. Plus, Hubble is kind and loving to her. Hubble's introduced as her stalker, someone who brings her flowers after every show; but, of course, Hubble isn't an actual stalker. The women around the dressing room refer to him as such because he's ready with flowers and a smile after every performance. One night, he gives Michelle an expensive necklace, so she accepts dinner, and then she opens up about her lousy day and how she feels worthless and alone. Hubble picks her up with a kind speech, and they marry soon after, followed by a move to sleepy Paradise in California.
Michelle's drawn to his kindness, and she event thinks she could love him someday. Someday won't come, obviously, as he dies. It would've been easy for the character if Hubble remained around. Bunheads is about this woman and her path. Michelle's absolutely lost in "For Fanny." There's a delightful scene in which Michelle is speaking with her Las Vegas friend and states she's lost, like, literally lost. The town has its own rhythms, intricacies, histories, and Michelle's not part of any of it. The townspeople don't trust her. The only people who do are the foursome of teenage girls. Throughout "For Fanny" she's without a place to rest her head. Fanny plans the memorial for her son. Michelle just sits around, feeling sorry for herself. Everyone sits around because it's hard to do much else after a loved one dies.
The tonal differences between "Pilot" and "For Fanny" aren't vast. The tone in the latter is understandably more somber. The beats of the story are obvious. Fanny's a Buddhist, so she believes in celebrating her son's life; the things she orders for the memorial are ridiculous and impossible to attain in a timely fashion. Fanny attempts to meditate for sixteen hours. Fanny's simply (but there's actually nothing simple about it) trying to put the fact that her son's no longer alive out of her head, attempting to forget how broken her heart is and will forever be. Sasha, the talented but mean ballerina student, is the one to rouse Michelle. Sasha just wants to do something. Michelle arranges a memorial in the dance studio. The students perform a dance for their teacher, which is just what Fanny needs.
The memorial scene seems to represent Bunheads well. The scene is meaningful and light yet a product of serious emotions and an instance of what the town will do for someone who's in pain. The scene connects Michelle and Fanny, and it connects Fanny with her students. The scene connects the students with Michelle. The harmony between Michelle and Fanny is short-lived. An old friend of Hubble reveals he left everything to his new wife; and I'll bet the students gravitate more towards Michelle than Fanny in the coming weeks.
I think many people will enjoy Bunheads. The charm of the series is addictive. Sutton Foster is terrific as is Kelly Bishop. The young actresses who portray the girls in the teenage foursome are quite good, too. There are random small-town quirks that are great and too numerous to detail, but my favorite one was the old man who saw Michelle walking and asked her to take his dog along for the walk. Bunheads is a good show for the beginning of one's week, especially if one had a particularly bad Monday. Bunheads, in a few words, will cheer you up.
THE YOUTOUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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