Any fans of Arrested Development already have heard the bad news: the show’s season 3 order has been cut from 22 episodes to 13 – effectively signaling the end of the show after this shortened season. Arrested Development is easily my favorite TV show right now, and quite possibly my favorite of all time – even eclipsing Seinfeld. However, this show really has been doomed for failure from the start – really for the same reasons that it is such a great show to begin with.
AD relies on self-refernces and heavy plot development that makes it hard for a casual viewer to ‘jump into’. I can attest to this personally as I’ve tried to get many of my friends to sit down and watch the show, and most did not really enjoy the episode they saw with me. However, I usually offered to let them borrow the season 1 dvd and after they had watched it, were hooked. While this is great for fans – it makes the show a blast to watch – it’s what is leading to it’s demise. New fans just aren’t tuning in now that the story and characters are as deep as they are now.
Too bad. Anyhow, I believe there are 8 episodes left in the abbreviated Season 3, so it’s going to be interesting how they try to wrap everything up. I’ve read a lot of crazy ideas and rumors that the show may find new life on another network, but I highly doubt it. Most estimates I have read have the show costing around 1.5 million per episode, thus making it tough for a smaller network (FX, UPN, etc) from trying to pick up the show (although I’m sure THEY would like the 4-5 millions viewers a night that AD would bring). My guess is the show will simply wrap up season 3 and hit the dusty trail. However, there is always hope that FOX will pick up the show for another season and perhaps move the time slot or something along those lines.
If you’re a fan of the show like I am, take a few minutes and write one (or both) of these executives at FOX Broadcasting – they are in charge of the scheduling of the content on the network. A nice, professionally written letter from tons of fans may help bring the show back for another season. (from [link] Peter Liguori President of Entertainment FOX Broadcasting 10201 West Pico Blvd. Building 100, Room 4450 Los Angeles CA 90035 Marcy Ross Senior Vice President of Current Programming FOX Broadcasting 10201 West Pico Blvd Building 100, Room 4150 Los Angeles, CA 90035 In any event, be sure to catch the rest of season 3 Mondays on FOX.