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We get it already. “Breaking Bad” is exhilarating. Who cares, right? We’re all tired of hearing this:

“You watching ‘Breaking Bad’?”

“No.”

“Whoa. You gotta watch ‘Breaking Bad.’”

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic show, but it’s also a heavy one. Sometimes I don’t want to watch the deterioration of a marriage. Sometimes I just want to watch dancers quip at each other. Cue: “Bunheads.”

ABC Family is hardly a haven for quality shows. “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” deserves only “hate-watching” for how absolutely awful it is, and I refuse to lock eyes with anything based on the idea of “Switched at Birth.” But surprise, surprise, the network’s “Bunheads” quickly became a cute and fun summer gem.

Michelle Simms, played by Broadway favorite Sutton Foster, is an ex-ballerina (‘bunhead,’ for those following along at home) who now works as a Vegas showgirl. Disappointed with the turn her life and career have taken, she impulsively marries longtime admirer and probable stalker Hubbel Flowers.

The two move to his quaint town, Paradise, where Michelle’s mother-in-law, Fanny, runs a dance studio. Then, quite abruptly, Hubbel is killed in a car accident and Michelle is left alone to figure out her small-town life while helping out at Fanny’s dance studio.

OK, so the car crash isn’t exactly “light,” but the creators of “Bunheads” have a knack for fast and pop culture-laced dialogue. At one point, Michelle rallies around her students screaming, “No one takes Khaleesi’s dragons,” a “Game of Thrones” reference, for those who don’t know. If a gag or joke slips by, there are probably two or three more in the same sentence. It’s one of many similarities the show shares with the underrated “Gilmore Girls” by the same creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino.

Any fan of “Gilmore Girls” knows that the show’s greatest strength was its small-town charm. Stars Hollow had so many characters, quirks and troubadours that it was just a nice place to be for an hour every week, Lorelai’s conflicts aside.

“Bunheads” has no Stars Hollow, but Paradise is fast living up to its title. And in only 10 episodes, the show has filled itself out with a cast of memorable side characters. There’s Bash, the world champion coffee barista who examines every individual bean. The one-eyed plumber, Davis, who the entire town agrees not to use. The mercenary-like ballerina who is known only as “The Ringer.”

It can sound trite and cliché to reduce them to a single sentence of definition, but each of these characters puts the world of “Bunheads” just a little bit off-center. Right now they’re one-offs, in for an episode and gone, but Sherman-Palladino loves populating her world with these types. If the show continues, they’re sure to return.

I should also qualify the show as not really a “dancing show,” per se. Though the studio, and in particular four of its female students, centers the show, the song and dance numbers never dominate. Dance fans looking for talent will surely find it here, and the restriction of an hour keeps all the ballet tight, curt and modern.

I’m slowly realizing that I’m doing a lot of defending. “Bunheads,” at first glance, should not be a show worth watching — that could temper my arguments. Maybe the show merely exceeds some low-set expectations.

But there’s no getting beyond that small-town feel that has been missing from TV for so long. Other shows can feel urgent, but “Bunheads” is relaxed. The quirky town of Paradise and all of its dancers made for some of the most enjoyable summer fare, some light TV to sit down to and take the edge off. You know, entertainment.

Published on August 27, 2012 at 1:30 am

Contact Jeff: jswucher@syr.edu