Arrested Development

^ "its the oldest trick in the book. You go to a tattoo parlor and they give you something totally different then what you asked for"
 
Hahah, bah, dont worry, i still love arrested development, and I never said wild boys was better. but thats like saying something like, E.R. is better then family guy or something
 
My girlfriend (Who I turned into a AD fan) just got her "And Thats Why You Always Leave a Note" License Plate Holder today.
 
we should put all the episodes on that public access channel, what is it, channel 77? right before mike hunt, is he still around?
 
hahahahaha

I don't have cable, but few years ago(maybe still i dunno) on sunday nights there was a show called "Know It All Floyd" that was this guy Floyd that would make things and show you things... god it was so funny.
 
another article.....

R.I.P., 'Arrested Development' -- critics' fave not given room to grow

Tim Goodman

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

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The Bluths are out of business.

"Arrested Development," the critically praised but low-rated Fox show that won an Emmy for outstanding comedy series, as well as Emmys for writing, will not be resurrected on Showtime as rumors circulating for months have suggested.

A source close to the negotiations said that creator Mitch Hurwitz had decided after a lengthy period of debating an offer from Showtime that "Arrested Development reached its end, creatively, as a series."

Reached on his cell phone while filming a movie in Toronto, star Jason Bateman said he had mixed emotions about the news, saying he was sad for the series to end but happy that the beloved series will live on DVD for people to enjoy.

"I'm so proud of it and so like it as a TV fan that I'm happy we're not going to get a chance to screw it up," he said, in the deadpan style of his character, Michael Bluth, about the only sane member of the dysfunctional Bluth clan. "Our luck wouldn't have held. There would have been cast fighting. We would have messed it up."

Part of the reason Bateman can joke about it now -- and perhaps it will sting a little less painfully for diehard fans -- is that the fate of the series has been in limbo for so long. Though Fox hasn't even officially canceled the series, Fox entertainment President Peter Liguori said months ago that the network was moving on -- and the last four episodes from this truncated third season were burned off in February up against the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, a sure sign of not being wanted.

Despite the Emmys, the audience never showed up to make "Arrested Development" a hit. Though Fox renewed it for a second season, it ended up cutting the order to 18 (a move spoofed in a later "Arrested Development" episode). When Liguori took over as entertainment president of Fox, one of the first things he was told, according to a source inside the network, was "You don't want to be the guy who cancels 'Arrested Development.' "

But risking a critical backlash was apparently easier to do than making the show profitable, so even though "Arrested Development" was brought back for its third and final season, it was moved to Mondays and limited to 13 episodes.

"Arrested Development" premiered in November 2003 and quickly became a critical darling for its brilliant writing, superb cast and multilayered jokes. Narrated by Ron Howard (whose company produced the series), "Arrested Development" had a faux-documentary, cinema verite style that traced the sorry path of the Bluths from the glory days of their home development company to their cash-strapped existence thanks to a government fraud bust.

The series mined hilarious performances from Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, David Cross, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Portia de Rossi and others, plus a string of memorable guest stars.

Bateman, who's in Toronto filming "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" alongside Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman, said "Arrested Development" opened a lot of doors for him. "The people who hand out jobs in L.A. were basically the only ones who watched the show, which worked out great for me. I'm getting a lot of flattering opportunities." Bateman said the reason he got the role in his latest film is "a direct result of 'Arrested Development.' "

Everyone involved in the series benefited, Bateman said, including Fox. "At least they had a presence at the Emmys, which was new for them."

For a series that never attained more than cult status, "Arrested Development" set off one of the strangest behind-the-scenes bidding wars when it was clear Fox had given up on it. The Chronicle first reported that Showtime was interested in picking up the series and moving it to pay cable, where it would not only add significant value to the Showtime lineup but also be immune to the ratings pressure of broadcast television. Then word came that ABC wanted to get into the bidding (probably because "Arrested Development" would have been a good stylistic match for that network's midseason comedy "Sons & Daughters"). Once the ABC interest surfaced, sources inside Fox said the network became worried that it would suffer great embarrassment if it lost the series to a rival that managed to make it a hit. That's partly why no official cancellation came from Fox.

But 20th Century Fox TV, the studio that made "Arrested Development," was clearly pursuing a home for the series. The Showtime offer was reportedly for two 12-episode seasons, with the entire cast coming back. Though the deal was on the table for some time, Hurwitz sounded out cast members about whether it made sense for the show to continue.

Noted for his work on getting all the details right (not just the writing, but the visual humor and the ceaseless references to past episodes and previous punch lines), Hurwitz ended up putting an inordinate amount of time into the series, and no doubt that workload played a part in his decision to pass on the Showtime offer.

Though the demise of one of television's most devastatingly funny comedies deals a blow to the hopes of a diehard audience (not to mention the sitcom genre), Hurwitz and his writers deserve credit for a tremendously effective wrap-up of the myriad story arcs in "Arrested Development." The series would have had to change gears on Showtime.

And as Bateman said about the three-season DVDs: "It's nice that there's a medium to preserve it."
 
I can't believe this. This is the saddest T.V. related news i have ever heard in my life. Literally, a tear came to my eye reading it....(I didn't even cry when my dog died....) I mean, I have had more laughs with this show than any other combined, and I'm not joking. I have had everyone down here in New Zealand falling in love with it. My girlfriend's family adore it after I forced them to watch, and all my friends watch it whenever they get the chance. Even though I have seen the first season like 5 times over, I think it is funnier every time! I can't believe it. I was disappointed when family guy was cancelled, but that Family Guy can't compare to this show, in any way. This show has the best writting ever. Oh man, I think my heart is broken.....someone remind me why it is still worth living?
 
Oh wait, never mind. I remember! I'm living in New Zealand and get to ski at Snowpark and Treble Cone and explore quite possibly the most beautiful country ever.... But, other than that....I'm crushed..... life will never be the same.
 
It's so nice to hear there's other people out there like us. I am NOT a TV watcher at all, I hate tv shows.... but this show was like..... it was like they were part of my family, and they all just died. Wierd feeling such a strong connection to a fricking tv show.

But yes, best show ever, and you can just keep watching it over and over again and it just gets better, so its not COMPLETELY the end of the world.
 
''Arrested Development'' creator Mitch Hurwitz tells us why he's ending his involvement with the acclaimed comedy -- and all but ending fans' hopes for further ''Development'' by Dan Snierson

When Fox canceled its critically acclaimed sitcom Arrested Development after three seasons of low ratings, the show's loyal fans had reason to hope: The pay cable channel Showtime was considering picking up the series. That glimmer of hope faded on Monday when the show's creator, Mitch Hurwitz, announced that he was ending his involvement with the series, thus virtually guaranteeing that AD would go off into the syndicated limbo of series that shoot fewer than 100 episodes. We caught up with Hurwitz and asked him to explain what drove his decision.

Why did you decide to bow out?

You know I really wrestled with the decision for a long time, and what I discovered was that I love wrestling, and I think I want to go pursue professional wrestling.

But seriously...

In truth, I had taken it as far as I felt I could as a series. I told the story I wanted to tell, and we were getting to a point where I think a lot of the actors were ready to move on. My instinct was that it was over when Fox pulled the plug. I considered continuing the show because I felt I owed that to the fans. But I am determined to give them some other kind of entertainment that will satisfy them at some point, I hope.

Were you worried about disappointing fans who just want more episodes?

I'm more worried about letting down the fans in terms of the quality of the show dropping. For whatever reason, because it's certainly not a large fan base, I've been devoted to delivering what these fans have come to expect. So it's really just the opposite. I know what it's like to love shows and have them go away, and I really feel for them, and I'd be very happy if there was a way for someone else to pick up the slack and deliver the show for them.

Could the show really go on without you?

I'm open to anything that isn't a weekly series commitment that I have to make to producing this, because I've creatively exhausted the story I wanted to tell. I really gave my life to this. I mean, I am not exaggerating when I say that it was seven days a week, and on an average until four or five in the morning. I'm okay with any kind of future for Arrested Development, whether it be a movie or a special now and then even a Saturday-morning animated series, like Arrested Development Babies. Wouldn't that be good? I have a feeling the merchandising on Buster alone would be just enormous. Everyone would have a little stuffed Buster. Or a series of Burger King cups, or I could see it working well in the context of a Colorform game.

Is there anything Showtime could have done?

Showtime was great. I really did not want to give [Showtime entertainment president] Robert Greenblatt a lesser version of Arrested Development. There were a lot of advantages of going to Showtime. If I had had that opportunity last year or the year before, I would have jumped at it. I was just convinced the ship had sailed a bit on Arrested.

I did look into whether there was enough financial incentive to say, ''To hell with health, to hell with my family, and to hell with fans' expectations for quality. Is there enough money to let me sell out and do this?'' And I'm happy to say there wasn't. I say that a little tongue-in-cheek.

Was it tough breaking the news to the cast?

I think they knew. And I think we're all really proud of the accomplishment, and we really feel privileged to have gotten the chance to do it. And at least so far, we have all been able to feel very fortunate about it. We never had an expectation that this unusual, dense show that required an audience to really pay attention was going to be a hit show. It was instead a really meaningful creative exercise that we all gave our lives to, and we always knew it was going to be a temporary endeavor.

We all feel that the work we did on the show has put us in this privileged position to be able to attract other work. Even though Arrested Development had a record low viewership, the main demographic appears to have been movie-studio executives, so hopefully the cast will be able to benefit from that.

If the show had stayed on Fox, would you have kept doing it?

I don't think it would have been much different. I think if it had stayed on Fox, there would have been a willingness to let me take more of a background position on the show. It really got a little too onerous to deliver this on a weekly basis. It's hard to say maybe there was an element of being discouraged on all of this, particularly on the third season, where we did our most ambitious work and we never had a chance to have it seen or really have it promoted or even aired consecutively. So the cast and the writers and all of us felt discouraged by the experience of the third season, so it may very well have been psychologically detrimental to this whole thing. My honest feeling right now is that it played out creatively. We told the story.

It seems like it's never really over, doesn't it?

It's the determination of the fans and the determination of the critics that has kept this thing alive. It's truly an audience-driven experience. And for me, anyway, if there's a way to continue this in a form that's not weekly episodic series television, I'd be up for it.

What are you up to next?

Well, at first I have to think of a professional wrestling persona. I mean, I can't just go out there as Mitch Hurwitz and take on some guy that calls himself the Exterminator. I need an angle and I need a look. Also, I'm not in great shape.

Other than that, I really don't know. I'm going to take a little time and figure out what the next story I want to tell is whether it's in TV or movies or other forms. It's less about the medium and more about the story.
 
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