‘Bunheads’ season 2 still awaiting fate, despite Sutton Foster awards buzz

ABC Family has put “Bunheads” fans in a very weird position while the show awaits its fate. Basically, what they’ve told fans over the past several months, to paraphrase to a certain degree, is that they are waiting to see how some of their other shows fare this summer before deciding whether or not to pick the series back up for a second season. So basically, we correlate this almost as the network discouraging fans of the Sutton Foster series to take in new programming, since the success of this very thing could mean the end of their longtime favorite. We don’t agree with that strategy, mostly because it pits shows against each other … not exactly the sort of thing that you want to do when you have “Family” in the title. (Oh, and we’re also still bitter about what happened to “Make It Or Break It.”)

While it has appeared for some time that the show’s chances of being renewed are slim to none, the recent news about the series receiving one of California’s Film and Television Tax Credits is good, right? It reduces the cost, which is something that almost all networks look at when it comes to the projects they continue to fund.

Unfortunately, a spokesperson for the network still told Buzzfeed this week that nothing has changed:

“The tax credit selection does not correlate to a pick-up of another season of Bunheads. I have nothing new to report on that. Any show that is in the program, that may be returning for a subsequent year, must submit an application prior to June 1 and the allocation is grandfathered in. We are not making a decision about a pick up until we know how our new summer series premiere. I promise I will let you know when I have news to share one way or the other.”

Regardless of what happens with “Bunheads,” what we really hope moving forward is that ABC Family and other networks revise the system of forcing some shows to wait around while they see if there is something better out there, mostly because not all of these actors are wealthy, and this is employment that they are hoping to secure. We know it’s the way that this has always been done, but it does not make things any less frustrating for fans (and likely people on the show).

Also Foster is a dark-horse candidate for some awards-show consideration this summer, and there’s not really anyone else on the network that we can say that about. We’ll have more news on the show one way or the other as soon as it breaks.

Photo: ABC Family