The New York Times has said it on the front page of the Style section, and regular Slate-ster Alyssa Rosenberg has said it eloquently at ThinkProgress. I'll add my voice: ABC Family needs to renew Amy Sherman-Palladino's fantastic ballet dramedy 'Bunheads,' the best original, scripted show on TV. Yes, the best. I say this as someone who owns a copy of The Walking Dead #1, and benefits handsomely from that show's success. I say it as an employee of a magazine that covers 'Mad Men' the way vintage Nintendo Power covered the release of Super Mario Bros. 3.
The premise of 'Bunheads' is simple, and a little unsettling. (So's the name of the show, which might explain why it hasn't taken off.) Michelle Sims (Sutton Foster) is a Las Vegas showgirl who's fallen permanently into the background, even though she's gorgeous and cracks jokes like an Amy Sherman-Palladino character. When we first see her she's dressed skimpily, smiling knowingly through a set, and then snarking when the topless dancers rush to the front of the stage.
"It's a great message we're sending to the girls of America," she tells her fellow struggling friend, Talia. "Hey, girls! Forget about learning to dance! Just take off your top and stand there!" Keep in mind that Michelle is dressed like Princess Leia on Jabba's sand-ship when she says this.