ABC Family's 'Bunheads' Has Soft Debut

"Bunheads"

Amy Sherman-Palladino's return to television wasn't as splashy as ABC Family may have been hoping for.

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ABC Family Releases 'Bunheads' Pilot Early

Launching on the same night as Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals on NBC between eventual victor Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils, Bunheads drew 1.7 million total viewers at 9 p.m. following the season five premiere of Secret Life of the American Teenager.

To compare, that's well below the series launch of Switched at Birth last year but above the debuts of Jane by Design and The Lying Game.

In ABC Family's key demographics, the ballet drama averaged 326,000 in women 18-34 and 626,000 in women 18-49 for the hour. Among adults 18-49, Bunheads drew 735,000.

Elsewhere on the dial, the hourlong faced MasterChef and the second hour of The Bachelorette.