Dance Drama From 'Gilmore Girls' Creator Gets Series Order at ABC Family

Amy Sherman-Palladino's "Bunheads" joins "Baby Daddy" as pilots receiving series orders from the youth-skewing cable network this year.

7:08 PM PST 2/6/2012 by Lesley Goldberg

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Amy Sherman-Palladino

Amy Sherman-Palladino has all the right moves for ABC Family.

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The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the youth-skewing cable network is moving forward with a drama pilot from the Gilmore Girls creator set in the world of dance.

Titled Bunheads, Sutton Foster stars in the project as Michelle, a Las Vegas showgirl who marries a man on a whim and moves to his sleepy coastal town where she winds up working alongside her new mother-in-law at her dance school.

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ABC Family ordered the drama pilot in September, with Sherman-Palladino noting that the project hits close to home. "I spent 20 years of my life with my hair in a bun. I was supposed to be a dancer,” she said at the time. “My mother was a dancer. Her greatest heartbreak was when I got on Roseanne. So, while writing this will never equal playing Rumpelteazer in a bus and truck tour of Cats,’ it does let me to tip my hat to a really special time in my life."

Bunheadswas one of four projects -- two dramas and two comedies -- ordered to pilots. The network last week picked up comedy Baby Daddy, a half-hour from The Nine Lives of Chloe King executive producer Dan Berendsen that revolves around Ben, a twentysomething who becomes a father overnight after his ex-girlfriend leaves their daughter on his doorstep. Chelsea Kane and Tahj Mowry star.

A formal announcement is expected to come from the network later this week as to the fate of the remaining pilots, Intercept and Village People.

Bunheadsand Baby Daddy join other scripted fare on the network including Secret Life of the American Teenager, Pretty Little Liars, Switched at Birth, The Lying Game, Make It Or Break It and Jane By Design.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit