Okay, you guys, please tell me you liked the Bunhead pilot because I LOVED it. To be completely honest, I walked into this show knowing nothing about it. I only decided to watch it because of all the buzz it was creating and all people on Twitter going, “WATCH IT.” And I’m glad I did. It was a breezy episode – as light as any show WB aired in the past and I shouldn’t be surprised since the show was created by Gimore Girls’ (which aired on WB) Amy Sherman Palladino.
And here I have to confess that I’ve never watched Gilmore Girls except for a few random episodes I caught on TV. (I’ll catch up soon, I promise.) So I’m gonna need you guys to point out any Gilmore Girls’ parallels or references! Thanks.
And now let’s get on with the review, shall we?
Michelle Simms, played by Broadway vet Sutton Foster, is a showgirl in Vegas who wants more. She’s sick of being in the background for so long. (OMG, the conversation between her and her friend during the opening number was SO hilarious) So she gets an audition for “Chicago” pretending she’s 25 (Foster is actually 37), but the director doesn’t even let her do her number before saying no.
Depressed and desperate (who can blame her?), Michelle finally agrees to go on a dinner with Hubbell, a man very infatuated with her that he asks her to marry him right then and there. After a lot of drinks, they actually get married. He promises her that he’ll take care of her and tells her that he has a house in a town called, “Paradise,” with a great view that he knows she’ll love.
When she finally goes to her new home, she discovers that Hubbell actually lives with his over-bearing mother, Fanny, and that the town is, as Fanny puts it, “a sleepy town.” There are no movie theaters, but there is a library the kids can sneak into and the skating rink is opening soon, yay!
Fanny, stunned by her son’s marriage, decides to throw Michelle a “welcome to the family” party but the fact that Michelle and Hubbell slept together through it pisses Fanny off and drives her to tell Michelle to shut up in-front of everyone – they all think she’s a stripper; Fanny screaming at her isn’t gonna help at all.
But Hubbell gives his mother a hard time. She’s his wife and they should respect her – even though he knows she doesn’t love him, as we see in the scene before that. He and Michelle finally have the conversation I wanted to happen since I learned they got married. He tells her he believes she’ll love him because he understands her like no one can. I loved the scene. It’s the first time I actually started rooting for them – at first I was just creeped out by their fast marriage.
Trying to get away from the party, Michelle hides away in the ballet room where Fanny’s 5 advanced students are trying to kill time. One of the students, the very Drew Barrymore-ish Boo, wants to audition for the Geoffrey Summer Program but she’s afraid she won’t get in – she’s very heavy-boned and very insecure. Her friend, Sasha, the bitch in the group, doesn’t think she can get in either.
During that scene, as well, we got to discover more about the young characters. Sasha doesn’t seem to like dancing and doesn’t seem to do it well unless it’s synchronized ballet; she has a hard time free-styling and just having fun – unlike Boo who actually excels at it and Michelle notices that. She tells her she’s going to do great in the auditions, and I’m really hoping she does because she’s just adorable! (There are still two more ballet students: Ginny & Melanie. But we learn nothing about them in the pilot. Hopefully, we’ll get to know them better in the episodes to come.)
Fanny decides to take Michelle out for a drink after seeing her blow the kids away. And they discover that they have lots in common: they were both dancers who wanted to make it big but never did. One had a child and had to quit ballet and the other went to Vegas to dance as a show-girl.
They dance together and it’s just an awesome scene because they both can dance really well, but then Truly, a girl who’s just obsessed with Hubbell, walks into the bar and tells them that Hubbell got in a car accident while searching for them.
Dam da dam!
What’s next? I’m really looking forward to the upcoming episodes because I really want to see how the relationship between Michelle & Fanny and Michelle & the kids evolve. There’s gonna be lots of bickering at first – just like any other show – and then they’re gonna become a family and we’re gonna enjoy watching them. Right? Whatever course the show decides to take, I’m sticking to it for now. I enjoyed the pilot and the actors – they’re all very heartwarming. And we all need a lighthearted drama to enjoy the summer, don’t we?
What did you guys think of Bunheads? Will you keep watching the show?
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I heard good things about it. Michelle is hilarious. It was entertaining. If it's only family/small town drama or only ballet drama then I wouldn't watch but if it's funny, I care a bout the characters and it tells a entertaining tale with appropriate levels of drama then I'll watch.
So far it does. The pilot wasn't enough to explore everything about the show because it needed to establish a legitimate back-story. But I think as of episode 2, the show will be on the right track towards defining itself.
Wow, you need to watch Gilmore Girls NOW. It is the most smart, hilarious show hands down. Amy Sherman Palladino is a genius, so I have no doubt that Bunheads is going to be equally good, especially since Kelly Bishop is in it. Expect a lot of quirkiness, crazy people, fast talking and random pop culture references. You will not be sorry, my friend.
"Expect a lot of quirkiness, crazy people, fast talking and random pop culture references."
I look forward to that! I love shows that are just down-to-earth and NORMAL.
I loved the pilot, but I was disappointed with the ending. I liked Hubbell so I'm bummed that he's apparently killed off...
I think it was necessary for them to kill him off because the show would have to take a different course otherwise: the woman trying to live a happy marraige with a man she doesn't love instead of a story about a woman teaching kids how to dance in a small town.
But yes, I grew to like him by the end of the episode.
I liked the pilot, I love michelle. She's so awkward and funny :p 'You should drink stuff from Belgium' This woman was instantly 100 % more awesome!
Hahaha!
She said a lot of cool things!
It was a pretty well-put-together pilot, actually. I don't know what's next — if Hubbell is sort of the catalyst for getting the story moving, but it hardly makes sense that she'd stay there if he dies right? Or perhaps there's some Will thing we don't know about. Well, anyway, the point being that it did remind me of that Gilmore Girls cadence (right down to the ACTUAL mother) and had most of the same charm that I think people will resonate with.
That said, like you, I've never really watched Gilmore Girls. Just a few episodes here and there.
It's gonna be interestingly weird if she stays in the town of the man she married but does not love and be friends with his family and friends.
Michelle reminds me of Lorelai Gilmore A LOT even though I barely know her.
I didn't instantly fall in love with this show. I enjoyed the hilarity of pretty much everything that came out of Michelle's mouth, but I had a really hard time getting behind what exactly was supposed to be the driving force for him to need to marry her and bring her back to his home.
There wasn't enough of a background laid out for me to feel like it was reasonable for him to be THIS in love with a girl who basically blew him off every chance she got. The fact that they never really ever discussed much about his life in the year he'd apparently been coming to see her, didn't help to put me on board that plot train. It all felt like the writers just said "we need this girl from vegas to end up in this town, so lets be lazy about how we make it happen" idk...
I only watched the pilot because I read your opening paragraph to this post and you compared it to Gilmore Girls which is one of my all time favorite shows, but this show doesn't come close to touching Gilmore Girls. I don't know that I'll continue to watch the show. I may go set a recording for the next episode and see if anything changes but I dont see myself jumping into this fandom. Which kind of sucks because I wish I felt like you did about it! ://
I did like it more than I expected to. First promo a few months ago made me go, "eh, not for me." But the writing is good and Sutton Foster is funny! Loved the speech at dinner about Godzilla. I also liked their "love scene." Nice to know she's at least attracted to him.
I didn't see the ending coming, but everything else about the show seems (pleasantly and entertainingly) predictable.
Oh, and yes, you should watch Gilmore Girls. I still enjoy reruns. The teenage Rory drama can get tedious, but Lorelei (and so many other characters!) are great.