Bunheads Canceled by ABC Family

The final piece of the ABC Family renewal puzzle has been put into place, as Bunheads has officially been canceled after one 18-episode season. The show hadn’t aired since late February due to the network wanting to see how new summer shows Twisted and The Fosters performed before making their renewal decisions. Those series will reportedly get orders for additional episodes in the coming weeks.

“Bunheads is a wonderful series that we are very proud to have aired. The series had amazing storytelling, the most talented cast and a passionate and loyal fan base. Recognizing all of this, we took extra time to try and find ways to bring the series back for another season, but in the end it simply wasn’t possible.  We wish the cast and crew the best in their future endeavors,” stated an ABC Family spokesperson.

The show is the second ABC Family drama to end its run in recent days, with mystery The Lying Game being canceled earlier this month. According to Deadline, the latter had the advantage over Bunheads in the younger demos, 2.2 vs. 1.4 in F12-34 and 1.7 vs. 1.3 in F18-34, while the ballet drama had strong critical acclaim and the most marketable star in Tony winner Sutton Foster. However, once both The Fosters and Twisted got out of the gates with solid ratings, none of that ended up mattering enough to win them a renewal.

Bunheads starred Foster as a Vegas showgirl who gets a quickie marriage and moves to a small town. When her husband dies in an automobile accident, she decides to try and adapt to her new life in California vs. returning to the sometimes unsavory dance world, but in doing so, she has to accept her new path and make nice with her (former) mother-in-law.

Do you think that Bunheads deserved to be canceled? Now that the show has ended, how does the last episode work as far as a series finale? Could ABC Family has feasibly brought all four dramas back using a different method of scheduling (programming at 10:00, beefing up spring and fall, expanding into another day)?