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"DEVELOPMENT" HALTED
November 18, 2005
It seemed the end was near mere episodes after "Arrest Development" debuted on Fox in November 2003. Middling ratings for the premiere quickly dropped to numbers normally frowned upon by the major networks, and the show quickly established itself as a critical darling that couldn't produce anything more than a small, cult audience.
Still, the show -- a loopy, off-kilter tale of the most dysfunctional of families -- was undeniably hilarious, as anyone with a modicum of comic taste would tell you, and despite the odds, Fox kept putting it on the air, perhaps afraid of the howls of protest from the faithful few who watched weekly. (The Emmy for Best Comedy probably didn't hurt either.)
The show was moved to Monday nights this season and paired with "Kitchen Confidential," a comedy similar in style but with 100 percent less laughs. Ratings continued to be lackluster, and now it seems Fox has finally thrown in the towel. It was announced last week that season three of "Arrested" would be pulled during November sweeps in favor of "Prison Break" reruns. Even worse, season three was slashed from a full order of 22 episodes down to 13, to be aired at a later date. The "C" word (that would be "cancellation") wasn't mentioned, but it really didn't need to be. "Arrested Development" looks to end its run sometime later this TV season.
The Bluth family will certainly be missed, although, I must admit, I really don't feel like joining in on all the howling. (And the belly-aching is in full force. Petitions are already underway on the Net.) After all, the network did leave it on for two and a half seasons, trying to build an audience. The show suffered the usual bit of Fox mishandling - poor promotion, scheduling changes, etc. - but, hey, at least stayed on the air. Just ask fans of "Tru Calling" or "Firefly" or "The Tick" how they would have felt about their shows making it to the two-and-a-half-season mark. The answer would come in the form of cheerful whooping and hollering. It's hard to argue against Fox pulling a show that's been given that much time to catch on with the general public but still can only draw a bit more than four million viewers each week. They are running a business, you know.
Yet another reason I can't get too outraged is this: "Arrested Development"'s laugh quotient has been noticeably down this year, signaling that perhaps the show's best moments had already come and gone. Fox got a lot of press for the addition of Charlize Theron in a recurring role this season, but I never took to her character or the whole British spy story arc. (In fact, I wanted to smash my TV by the seventh time the little "For British Eyes Only" James Bond-ian song spoof was played as a punch line.) That's not to say the show was bad this season. Certainly not. "Arrested Development" easily remained one of TV's top comedies, but it quickly fell below some shows it inspired, like the brand new "My Name is Earl," in the quirky laughs department.
Speaking of "Earl"…in my TV fantasies, NBC decides to pick up "Arrested" and immediately schedules it for their all-improved Must See Thursday, featuring "Earl" at 8 p.m., "Arrested" at 8:30, and the soon-to-return "Scrubs" at 9. That, my friends, would be a night of sheer comic bliss. Unfortunately, there's probably a better chance of poor Buster Bluth getting his hand back than there is of another network taking a chance on a consistently low-rated comedy that used to be brilliant and is still pretty darn funny.
Just be glad a true original like "Arrested Development" ran as long as it did. Those two and a half seasons should enjoy a healthy life on DVD, and this intelligent yet absurd little show will be remembered for pioneering a new kind of TV comedy, one that didn't rely on laugh tracks, easy punch lines, and feel-good storylines.
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