And now the story of one hilarious TV show that lost its spot on the air, and the millions of fans who had no choice but to keep the show alive. That's right, it's Arrested Development. Most of you have heard of the Emmy Award-winning ex-Fox show, but not because of its popularity on TV -- rather, because of its massive cult following that has grown among 18- to 24-year-olds across the country (and the world).
Arrested Development, the brainchild of Mitchell Hurwitz and produced (and narrated by) Ron Howard, aired on Fox Sunday nights from November 2003 to February 2006. Despite its loyal viewers, critical acclaim, numerous awards and recognition by Time magazine as one of the top 100 Greatest Shows of All Time, the ratings failed to climb, and the show was cancelled without being picked up by another network. (Although Showtime showed interest, it entailed a deal that would mean an overhaul in the writing, something Hurwitz wasn't comfortable with.)
How could this happen? Many fans speculate that AD's home network, Fox, was an inappropriate match for the show's type of comedy. The Bluth family is brilliantly written and superbly cast. Loaded with witty banter, innuendo and multilayered jokes, the comedy of AD set the show miles apart from other Fox families (like the Simpsons and the Hills) and shows (like Cops and House). Jason Bateman, who plays the main character, Michael Bluth, is strikingly different from the random comedy of Peter Griffin, and few NASCAR fans would stick around after the race to watch AD. Fox's specialty in sexy comedy, rather than witty satire, may have helped force the show's premature demise.
The failure of the show on TV can only be complemented by its success on DVD. All three seasons are available on DVD and loaded with extras, behind-the-scenes footage and commentary by cast and crew.
Curiously enough, the DVDs, not the show itself, were what helped the show gain its popularity and cult status. If you know any AD fans, you've heard them quote the show ad nauseam. Since the episodes are all on DVDs, it means constantly rewinding to catch hilarious G.O.B. lines and continuously watching favorite episodes over and over again to see what was missed. This habit, not unique to AD fans but paramount nonetheless, reinforces the clever writing and colorful cast of characters, thus instilling a deeper sense of appreciation for the show. No matter how many times you've watched Buster get his hand eaten off by a seal, or how many times Tobias paints himself blue to audition for the Blue Man Group, it's still really funny.
So funny, in fact, that you can find applications on Facebook that generate random AD quotes to put in your profile, and whole Wiki pages just for popular AD quotes. Even on paper (or a computer screen), G.O.B. Bluth yelling "Lookit banner Michael!" is still hilarious.
The end of 2007 brought some promising news: A movie is still in the works. AD fans will recall that the show ended with Maeby approaching Ron Howard with pitch for a show, to which he suggested a movie. In December 2007 Bateman told MTV that the movie is not dead. And, since the writers' strike has officially ended, development on a script may not actually be arrested after all.
The funny thing is, to a diehard AD fan, this is pretty good news, but nothing to hold our breath about. Sure, we'll take some new material, but even if a movie doesn't come out, we'd be just as satisfied watching the same episodes over and over again (and again and again).3
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