It’s been a busy 24 hours of programming decisions for ABC Family.
On Friday (September 16), the cable network announced that “Make It or Break It” has been renewed for an additional season, while “The Lying Game” has been picked up for additional episodes to complete its first season.
The cable network also formally announced development on four new pilots, “Bunheads” and “Intercept,” and two comedies, “Baby Daddy” and “Village People.”
The “Make It or Break It” renewal is for a third season, while the “Lying Game” pickup is for an additional 12 episodes this season.
These moves came as ABC Family canceled “The Nine Lives of Chloe King” and the first-year comedy “State of Georgia.”
“ABC Family expanded its schedule to present three nights of original programming this summer, and we saw our most successful on record, one that gave us our very own ‘triple-threat’ — ‘Switched at Birth,’ ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’ and ‘Pretty Little Liars,'” states ABC Family President Michael Riley. “Joining this group of series will be another season of the gymnastics drama ‘Make It or Break It,” just in time to ignite Olympic fever, and a back-order of Warner Horizon”s ‘The Lying Game.” Our momentum continues to grow, and I”m thrilled with the strength of our schedule which includes a great mix of returning favorites, breakout series and what are sure to be new hits.”
Most immediately notable of the pilots in production is “Bunheads,” the story of a Las Vegas showgirl who gets married impulsively and moves to her husband’s small hometown and takes a job working at her mother-in-law’s dance studio. The drama comes from Amy Sherman-Palladino, of “Gilmore Girls” fame.
In the ABC Family release, Sherman-Palladino states, “I spent 20 years of my life with my hair in a bun. I was supposed to be a dancer. 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.”
While “Chloe King” may have been canceled, that show’s executive producer Dan Berendsen is behind “Baby Daddy,” which focuses on a twentysomething guy who becomes a father when an ex-girlfriend abandons a baby on his doorstep. Before you can say “Raising Hope,” the guy is learning to be a father with the help of his mother, his brother and two close friends.
Intercept comes from Ray Wright (“The Crazies”) and centers on a group of college students who start solving crimes when one of them builds a high tech surveillance device of some sort.
Finally, “Village People” was created by Meg LeLoatch and it’s another baby comedy, about a career woman who adopts a baby from a teen mom, but becomes close to the teen as well.
In addition to those series in development, ABC Family has “Jane By Design” already ordered to series and premiering in 2012.