With the return of "Switched at Birth," to ABC Family, I've had some old feelings reawakened. I don't watch a lot of ABC Family shows. As a matter of fact, the only one I watch now is SaB, because they cancelled the best show they've ever put on the air - "Bunheads."
I should probably preface this with a disclaimer: I've seen the full series of "Gilmore Girls" at least 6 times. Translation? I'm a huge Amy Sherman-Palladino fan.
When I heard that ASP was bringing a show to ABC Family, I was overjoyed. It had been 5 years since I had been able to enjoy new hijinx from the the quirky characters she creates and I didn't realize how much I needed more than the residents of Stars Hollow. And then to find that it was starring Broadway's Sutton Foster and was going to be about dancers...I was ecstatic.
The series began and it was quirky and charming, and the end of the pilot was completely unexpected but took the show to a completely different emotional level and I was in love, so much so that I made my house watch it every Monday that summer while I was living in California for an internship.
After 10 episodes or so, it went away, as all ABC Family shows do (they run such weird seasons over there), but I knew it would be back. It was charming and hilarious and Sutton Foster was a shining star, so how could it not? And I was right, when it returned in January with my other ABC Family favorite, "Switched at Birth."
It took me through spring and the quirky, lovable characters had their ups and downs and I tuned in every week anxious to know what was up with the residents of Paradise. And then the spring finale came and I knew it would be back for season 2. It had to be. It was witty and charming and better than most the shows they had on air, so how could it not?
So I waited. And summer passed with no news of renewal. Pilot season passed without any of those cast members able to do anything. And then in the fall, I got the most unbelievable news: "Bunheads" had been cancelled by ABC Family.
Surely this was some sort of mistake. This is the network that had a show on the air for 5 or 6 years about teenagers getting pregnant in high school that made me question if I had the wrong kind of secret life as a teenager. The network that has a show about pretty little teenagers that have been lying for longer than I can remember about who knows what. Surely they didn't cancel the brilliant, witty, sophisticated show they had on air.
But they did. And they replaced it with an edgy show about a lesbian couple raising their foster kids, all of whom have troubled lives for one reason or another that I'm not quite clear about. And now every time I watch ABC Family, and I see a commercial for one of their insipid programs, I wonder what ever happened to those lovely girls in Paradise and their crazy ballet teachers.
And sadly, I'll never know.
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