For over five years, fans of “Arrested Development” have been both angry at the show’s cancellation and extremely hopeful of a return.
Like “Family Guy” before them, fans will get their wish. Creator Mitch Hurwitz announced plans for a short season of nine or 10 episodes to lead-in to a feature-length film of the show.
They won’t get actors Jason Bateman and Michael Cera to stay for good like some got Peter Griffin, but fans will take what they can get. This has been a long time coming.
“Arrested Development,” an odd but satisfying mix between the randomness of “Napoleon Dynamite” and constant hilarity of “Office Space,” started out great in its 2003 debut, stayed great through three seasons, and sadly, ended great upon it’s untimely 2006 finale.
It was a brilliant show doomed to FOX network, which has seen enough show debuts and cancellations in its revolving door of television broadcasting, one would assume they never show anything worthwhile and lasting. And they would be wrong. “Arrested Development” deserved a better fate.
But still, the oddball comedy following the riches-to-rags Bluth family lived in old storyville, and it thrived to the tune of 22 Emmy nominations, winning six, and a Golden Globe award, among many others.
And yet, for some reason, they couldn’t quite win the same support from television audiences. Stuck on the fence between the Minor Leagues and the Majors – too good to go away completely, but not enough to become a television fixture.
The show featured an up-and-coming, brilliantly awkward 15-year-old named Michael Cera, whose incredible character acting led him to be type-cast in every role that would follow. Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and David Cross (the awkward principle from “She’s the Man”) are just some of the pieces of an incredibly well-rounded cast of characters.
An eccentric, self-aware comedy, “Arrested Development” deserves another shot at airtime, and fans deserve a chance to enjoy a show regrettably washed away by the tides before it developed its sea legs.
The new episodes and movie should do just that before the show is once again lost at sea. I hope to enjoy it while it lasts.
