Monday, November 14, 2005
Say it isn’t so. Fox have cancelled what I have no hesitation in saying is the funniest TV comedy I’ve ever seen – ‘Arrested Development’.
I came late to the party – the show is starting its third season (one that it won’t finish), and we started watching part of the way through the second – but it’s innovative and flat out hilarious.
It’s been honored with Emmys, and lauded by the critics, but it seems the viewing figures at the beginning of this season were poor. I partly blame baseball. Having moved the show from Sundays to Mondays, Fox then broadcast most of the playoff and World Series games, essentially wrecking the schedule for a month.
When things returned to normal last week with 2 back-to-back episodes, the viewing figures were down (unsurprisingly, as no-one knew where to find the show any more).
So to avoid losing viewers for ‘Prison Break’, which follows, they canned Arrested Development.
The only bright spot is that there are 40-odd episodes so I’d recommend doing what we’re doing: working through them at your own pace, and savouring the fantastic scripts and great acting.
Get ‘em while they’re hot (and if you’re in the UK or Ireland, just hope Channel 4 or someone still buys the episodes that did get made):