Arrested Production

March 29, 2006 2:04 PM

Arrested Development is officially over. 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."
posted by empath (58 comments total)

Fine fine. Whens the box set coming out? I still haven't seen the last episode.

Also, I know it's the theme for today, but can we avoid the single-link FPP please? kthxbye
posted by Parannoyed at 2:07 PM on March 29, 2006

People certainly love television.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 2:08 PM on March 29, 2006

.
posted by ktoad at 2:09 PM on March 29, 2006

Does this mean there were be no more MeFi AD threads? Because I don't know what I'm going to do without them!
posted by you just lost the game at 2:10 PM on March 29, 2006

'Mr. Wendal' was their only good song anyways.
posted by jimmythefish at 2:10 PM on March 29, 2006

You know, I think I'll reserve my periods for when an actual human dies. Kinda means more that way.
posted by Parannoyed at 2:11 PM on March 29, 2006

Give me a breaksville.
posted by sonofsamiam at 2:11 PM on March 29, 2006

Jimmythefish FOR TEH WIN!!~~11!
posted by Parannoyed at 2:12 PM on March 29, 2006

This FPP blows but this:

Also, I know it's the theme for today, but can we avoid the single-link FPP please?

Blows even more.

Please bring back the quality single link FPPs and lose all the friggin' annoying EssayFilter crap. Thanks!
posted by dobbs at 2:17 PM on March 29, 2006

In before jonmc.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:17 PM on March 29, 2006

What a fun, sexy time this should turn out to be.
posted by docpops at 2:17 PM on March 29, 2006

.
posted by jrb223 at 2:19 PM on March 29, 2006

Sorry to hear that. On the bright side, the show won't ever experience the pitfall of hanging around for too long like so many others...
posted by 27 at 2:20 PM on March 29, 2006

posted by stenseng at 2:22 PM on March 29, 2006 [1 favorite]

From what I saw of it, it reach it's end, creatively, immediately upon its creation.
posted by Kickstart70 at 2:23 PM on March 29, 2006

.
for parannoyed
posted by eyeballkid at 2:23 PM on March 29, 2006

I watched four episodes last night and four the night before. I'd already seen the first and second seasons, but I was still pretty amazed. I've missed out on the Sopranos, Freaks and Geeks, etc., but I can't think of any TV show I've seen (including Singing Detective, Simpsons, etc.) that's this dense and formally complex.
posted by kensanway at 2:26 PM on March 29, 2006

I see your point Dobbs.
posted by Parannoyed at 2:28 PM on March 29, 2006

From what I saw of it, it reach it's end, creatively, immediately upon its creation.
posted by Kickstart70 at 2:23 PM PST on March 29

You're a smart one, Captain Its.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:29 PM on March 29, 2006

.
posted by allen.spaulding at 2:37 PM on March 29, 2006

First season was great, second season was bad enough for me to skip the third season. Ah, well.
posted by notmydesk at 2:37 PM on March 29, 2006

C'MON!!!
posted by boo_radley at 2:37 PM on March 29, 2006

Kensanway -- Can you give an example of what you mean?
posted by empath at 2:38 PM on March 29, 2006

Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

Narrator: In an effort to "hip" up his act, Gob had briefly introduced a puppet.
[Gob is acting as a black puppet named Franklin in front of the family]
Gob: [as Franklin] Can I tell you something, my man?
Gob: [as himself] Sure, Franklin.
Gob: [as Franklin] You are one cool
[bleep]
Gob: . Speaking of mothers, let me give that oatmeal some brown sugar.
[the puppet 'kisses' Lucille]
George Sr.: Get off my wife, you bastard!
[strangles Franklin]
Gob: [as Franklin] What's the matter with you?
Gob: [in the present] Franklin said some things Whitey wasn't ready to hear.
Michael: Gob, weren't you also mercilessly beaten outside of a club in Torrance for that act?
Gob: He also said some things that African-American-y wasn't ready to hear either.
posted by killdevil at 2:40 PM on March 29, 2006

.
posted by found missing at 2:43 PM on March 29, 2006

I for one loved the show, and I'll miss it.
posted by rollbiz at 2:51 PM on March 29, 2006

.
posted by dig_duggler at 2:56 PM on March 29, 2006

While I am glad to read the news (well, not glad, I'm sad. Just glad to finally know. Sort of.) I wish it hadn't been posted here so that we get the usual chorus of "your favorite ______ sucks" posts.
posted by papakwanz at 3:10 PM on March 29, 2006

*looks at fox executives*
caaaw cawcaaaaw cawcaaaaaw caaaaaw
posted by qvantamon at 3:13 PM on March 29, 2006

Wouldn't officially over mean that it has been announced by the people in charge? The article mentions "sources close to... blah blah blah", but it's not a press release. I therefore remain incredulous.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:28 PM on March 29, 2006

Fuck the haters. It was a great show. Far and beyond the best comedy on television (and I suspect most of the haters are not comedy fans...and if they claim to be, they never gave this show a chance), if you don't count "Scrubs."

MICHAEL (in prison): And you can tell my brother I have a hard cot in here with his name on it.

HIS MOTHER: You'd do that to your own brother?

MICHAEL: I said 'COT'.

(That's from memory, so it may be slightly paraphrased.)
posted by ColdChef at 4:04 PM on March 29, 2006

I will say, as someone who LOVED the show:

It lasted just long enough. The arc was completed. I'd rather it end as it did then beat a dead horse for a few more seasons.
posted by ColdChef at 4:10 PM on March 29, 2006

Nick@Nite for reruns? Nick@Nite gave the Bluth's a "Future Classics" award at one of their TVLand awards ceremony. A standing ovation from an audience of illustrious television stars from yester year.
posted by _aa_ at 5:10 PM on March 29, 2006

It was a great show, while it lasted.
posted by graventy at 5:32 PM on March 29, 2006

Thanks for posting. I hadn't heard this sad news yet. Sadder still is the slew of AD-inspired sitcoms currently hitting the networks: quickly-paced, multiple plot, quasi-documentary shows about dysfunctional families that play up referential intricacy without the well developed characters and better-than-average tv acting. (At least from the few minutes I've seen.)

Kid who played George Michael Bluth: elevating the awkward pause to staggering levels of understated artistry.
posted by imposster at 5:36 PM on March 29, 2006

posted by NedKoppel at 6:37 PM on March 29, 2006

Awesome show, but I always felt they were holding back. Maybe it's because it was a network show. I wonder how different it would have been on HBO or similiar.
posted by formless at 6:57 PM on March 29, 2006

Parannoyed writes 'You know, I think I'll reserve my periods for when an actual human dies. Kinda means more that way.'

Nah, they're still fucking meaningless and lame.
posted by signal at 7:24 PM on March 29, 2006

It did really feel like they wrapped things up that last episode. Sad to see it go, but I don't see where else it could have gone from that last episode.
posted by rafter at 7:29 PM on March 29, 2006

Here's an article from Variety, too. It is a shame to see the show one step closer to being gone. I've kept the finale on my TiVo for the last month or so, but haven't watched it again yet. I think it will just stay there so I have the option to watch...until the DVD comes out.
posted by pithy comment at 7:35 PM on March 29, 2006

And thank you for the images in the comments. I'm still chuckling at those.
posted by pithy comment at 7:36 PM on March 29, 2006

Thanks for posting. I hadn't heard this sad news yet. Sadder still is the slew of AD-inspired sitcoms currently hitting the networks: quickly-paced, multiple plot, quasi-documentary shows about dysfunctional families that play up referential intricacy without the well developed characters and better-than-average tv acting. (At least from the few minutes I've seen.)

How funny that post comes from someone named "imposster"...

Anyway, what shows do you mean?
posted by papakwanz at 7:37 PM on March 29, 2006

Formless, I think it was a better show for being network- a great deal of humor came from toying with that line of allowed/unallowed, and resulted in jokes that were subtle and witty instead of in your face and unfunny. There's something to be said for restrictions bringing out artistry. Plus, they'd never be able to have a pun like George Bluth crawling through the airducts trying to "slip past the sensors" if they were on motherfuckin' HBO, or the constant incest innuendo. On HBO, they'd have the license to be more forthright, which wouldn't be remotely as funny as the constant dodging and weaving.

Arrested Development was absolutely the best show on television in the past 10 years, bar none. Brilliant, multi-layered, and incredibly dense, it showed the writer's genius when it used call-forward humor and even puns/allusions to events literally seasons in advance. A rarity in that it grew better the more you watched it, the more you gained a sense of the depth of the writing and dialogue and the non-pareil performances, and appreciated the background humor, recurring gags, and often very subtle visual gags that you'd never catch on casual or first-time viewing. Even of the fans, how many caught every single bus-stop-bench joke, such as "Wee Bra" and "Wee Brain", etc, etc? Even if you laughed at Henry Winkler jumping over the shark, Scott Baio replacing him in the 3rd season, or Buster dancing to "Mr. Roboto" in the stairtruck... did you notice things like Tobias wearing a hindu-patterned shirt... you know, with little "blue men" on it? Or how the neon sign changed at Swallows family restaurant/pansexual bazaar just as a woman and her grandma walked in? It's the little things...

It's a goddamned shame there won't be any more episodes, with all the dreck out there... but on the flip side 3 seasons was just about perfect- the premise can only stretch so long, and it was a pretty tidy wrap-up in the end, if too rushed. I just wish the cunts at Fox had not robbed us of 13 total episodes by cutting both seasons 2 and 3 short.


Also, I'd like to say that pre-emptively, that jonmc is a jackass. You just know he's dying to tell the fans how stupid they are for liking AD, and how real Americans watch "King of Queens" for all their tired 3rd-rate recycled sitcom 101 joke needs. Yeah, that flannel wearing poseur can laugh the next time some sitcom character has two dates to the prom (gosh, what will those writers think of next?!) but I like my TV comedy to be witty and dense and to last longer than the microwave burrito I ate while watching it.
posted by hincandenza at 7:38 PM on March 29, 2006 [1 favorite]

papakwanz Anyway, what shows do you mean?

How about the awful "Sons and Daughters", which feels like a total ripoff and attempted hybrid of AD and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"? I gave it a chance but it's rarely funny and seems to be overplaying the whole "unscripted dialogue" bit, which any savvy viewer knows is hardly a novelty.

Of course, at least ABC is promoting that show, something FOX didn't think was necessary with their multi-award winning sitcom.
posted by hincandenza at 7:40 PM on March 29, 2006

...I like my TV comedy to...last longer than the microwave burrito I ate while watching it.

Apparantly, it didn't!

*rimshot*
posted by Snyder at 8:14 PM on March 29, 2006

I'm sorry, it was just such a straight line.
posted by Snyder at 8:20 PM on March 29, 2006

papakwanz Anyway, what shows do you mean?

I'm trying to avoid taking the time to look them up (embarrassing enough that I'm staying up to comment on the end of tv show.)

I definitely agree with hincandenza. Perhaps instead of "slew" I really meant "two shows that I saw for a couple of minutes and a third, at most, that I think I saw a commercial for."
posted by imposster at 8:29 PM on March 29, 2006

There's a terrible show on Fox called Passing Through, or Along For The Ride, that's trying damn hard to rip off a lot of AD, especially its aesthetic. At least that's what I gleaned from the thirty seconds I watched before throwing the television out the window, SCTV stylee.
The kicker?
It's on FUCKING SUNDAY NIGHTS.
Not like there was another, far superior show that could have benefited from having a timeslot between The Simpsons and Family Guy.
Nosiree.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:43 PM on March 29, 2006

Is this where I make my usual hipper-than-thou reference to Grand? It is? Oh good.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:21 PM on March 29, 2006

Hinc sez it all.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:34 PM on March 29, 2006

There's a terrible show on Fox called Passing Through, or Along For The Ride, that's trying damn hard to rip off a lot of AD, especially its aesthetic. At least that's what I gleaned from the thirty seconds I watched before throwing the television out the window, SCTV stylee.
The kicker?
It's on FUCKING SUNDAY NIGHTS.
Not like there was another, far superior show that could have benefited from having a timeslot between The Simpsons and Family Guy.
Nosiree.

In fairness, arr dev used to have that time slot (or pehaps a 1/2 hour later) and did poorly. It just never caught on. Everyone I know who watched it once didn't care much for it. Everyone I know who watched at least 3 episodes in a row thought it was the best show.
posted by dig_duggler at 5:22 AM on March 30, 2006

hincandenza said everything I wanted to say. Especially the part about how it was so great BECAUSE it had to fool the censors.

(Except the part about jonmc being a jackass for not liking my favorite show. His taste in television and his taste in snackfoods are equally bad, but I still gots love for him.)
posted by ColdChef at 5:36 AM on March 30, 2006

Hincandenza, you hit it. A.D. was a brilliant show, and one of the most clever features about it was the way its outrageous humor slipped below the censors in a way that viewers had to be at least moderately sharp to pick up on. A.D. was, bar none, the funny show I have seen since BBC's Absolutely Fabulous in the 1990's. Sigh. Now I flip past formulaic filler like King of Queens, Everyone Loves Raymond, That 70's Show, et. al. and it takes me 10 seconds to roll my eyes, snap off the idiot box, and go read a book. ....Oh well, TV was fun for a while there, thank you Arrested Development.
posted by applemeat at 6:11 AM on March 30, 2006

I liked AD as much as the next guy, but it's just television, not worth getting angry or indignant about.
It's especially odd to read about how Fox didn't promote enough, etc. They're a business, they spend money selling their products according to a set of criteria we're not aware off, and their goal is to make money, not to cater to the midbrow obsessions of a few people.
If you think a TV-show being cancelled is anything other than a mild dent in your amusement, you need a library card.
posted by signal at 6:37 AM on March 30, 2006

Will Arnett is the sexist man on earth. I'll miss him so.
posted by hellameangirl at 12:04 PM on March 30, 2006

If you think a TV-show being cancelled is anything other than a mild dent in your amusement, you need a library card.

This seems to be putting out a Books > TV hierarchy I'm not sure I agree with. The point isn't that one medium is better than another, but saying so ignores the value of specific works. A lot of us think AD is far more literary and dense than most fiction nowadays.

Hey, does anyone know when the season 3 dvd set comes out?
posted by kensanway at 1:48 PM on March 30, 2006

hellameangirl, Of course you know he is still alive and well AND busy?
posted by jaronson at 5:33 PM on March 30, 2006

Tobias sounds off. In a bra.
posted by Feisty at 6:34 AM on April 1, 2006