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mac4drew

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 4, 2003
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California
In a very depressing bit of news for my fellow Arrested Development fans, series creator Mitch Hurwitz has decided not to return to run the series, despite Showtime's offer to pick the show up. This move very likely means that the chances of the series continuing are over.

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/698/698881p1.html

It's a shame, but it looks like this may be the final nail in the coffin for Arrested Development. Still a chance for a movie, or that the show will continue on with Mitch as a consultant, but it's doubtful.

RIP to the best show ever.
 
cgratti said:
They announced that this was the last season months ago, alot of shows getting canceled, do a google search for canceled shows 06.
Yes, FOX was done with the show, but Showtime has had an offer on the table for some time now. They wanted to pick up the show (from FOX) for two seasons, with the stipulation that Hurwitz came along for the ride. Fans of the show have been waiting to hear what Mitch's decision was going to be, and unfortunately (for us) he's decided not to go forward with it.
 
I'm a huge fan of the show and think this is great news. Judging from the last several episodes in the third season, it only could have gotten worse. Imagine how great it would have been to have the Simpsons end around the 8th season.
 
I kind of agree, itcheroni. The middle of the third season was not so good. Nothing like the first and second seasons. Sorry to see it go, but it wrapped up pretty well.
 
turbopants said:
I kind of agree, itcheroni. The middle of the third season was not so good. Nothing like the first and second seasons. Sorry to see it go, but it wrapped up pretty well.

It also means Hurwitz can put his efforts into a new project with lessons learned. More self contained jokes, a likeable character or two, and a title less than 7 syllables.
 
angelneo said:
Crap, why do all the good shows on Fox always get cancelled???

Well I think it's because fox is always wanting to be "cutting edge" so they tend to try new shows with a shot gun approach, occasionally they get a good show (simpsons, family guy, arrested development) but because their too busy trying to make the next celebrity boxing the good shows fall through the cracks.
 
itcheroni said:
It also means Hurwitz can put his efforts into a new project with lessons learned. More self contained jokes, a likeable character or two, and a title less than 7 syllables.

Meh, we've got enough crappy US sitcoms. Arrested was the only thing truly unique on TV.
 
I really don't see how they could have continued given how they ended the third season anyway.

While I will miss the show terribly, I think it's best they're ending it while it was still good and we should just be happy that we were given three seasons worth of this outstanding show.
 
MattG said:
I really don't see how they could have continued given how they ended the third season anyway.

While I will miss the show terribly, I think it's best they're ending it while it was still good and we should just be happy that we were given three seasons worth of this outstanding show.
You have a point, I dislike it when networks start squeezing popular shows to milk as much money as possible. However, for arrested, they could have done better for season 3, it felt rushed and everything seems to be squeezed to a few episodes.
 
I have to disagree with all this Season 3 hating going on! I like the episodes of Season 3 just as much as those in 1 and 2. Making a Stand (the one where Michael and GOB teach George Sr. a lesson) is one of my favorite episodes. The Rita story arc was great. And I would say that the season (now series) finale was the most satisfying one I have ever seen for a show I loved.

I just can't see where Season 3 is lacking anything that was presented in 1 and 2 except for the fact that it was about nine episodes too short. :)
 
For anyone interested, Season Three is available for pre-order on Amazon.
 
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sad to see AD go...

however they will always be with me in re-runs.


I love when GOB says "Michael" all breathless and also when Buster says "Hey Brother"...always cracked me up.

also portia... :cool:
 
Chundles said:
Meh, we've got enough crappy US sitcoms. Arrested was the only thing truly unique on TV.

Is it that hard to have a good show with some self-contained jokes, a likeable character, and a title with less than 7 syllables?

In the third season, based solely on jokes, not quirkiness and self-references, it wasn't very funny at all. And when you compare the first season to the third, the characters went from soft and endearing to simply sarcastic and callous. (Every time Michael interacted with George Michael, it seemed less and less sincere) Combine that with the inability to make a joke without a set up that takes several episodes, I don't know how they ever thought they would gain more viewers.

You don't have to make a crappy, Friends type show to be successful, but it almost like AD didn't even want new viewers.
 
itcheroni said:
Is it that hard to have a good show with some self-contained jokes, a likeable character, and a title with less than 7 syllables?

In the third season, based solely on jokes, not quirkiness and self-references, it wasn't very funny at all. And when you compare the first season to the third, the characters went from soft and endearing to simply sarcastic and callous. (Every time Michael interacted with George Michael, it seemed less and less sincere) Combine that with the inability to make a joke without a set up that takes several episodes, I don't know how they ever thought they would gain more viewers.

You don't have to make a crappy, Friends type show to be successful, but it almost like AD didn't even want new viewers.

Well, I can't speak for season three but as for season one and two that's what I liked about it. It didn't cow-tow to the lowest common denominator, it didn't dumb itself down to be more popular.
 
I agree, I absolutely loved the first two seasons. The third almost feels like they stopped trying, especially after they knew they were cancelled. The probably already plotted out the rest of the season and just crammed it all in somehow; just going through the motions.
 
itcheroni said:
I agree, I absolutely loved the first two seasons. The third almost feels like they stopped trying, especially after they knew they were cancelled. The probably already plotted out the rest of the season and just crammed it all in somehow; just going through the motions.

Well don't forget though...you're saying they "crammed it all in," but that's sort of what they had to do. I mean the episode order got cut by 9 shows after all.
 
MattG said:
Well don't forget though...you're saying they "crammed it all in," but that's sort of what they had to do. I mean the episode order got cut by 9 shows after all.

What I was implying was that instead of trying to make the remaining episodes as good as possible, they just said F it and crammed what they were already planning. I mean, I understand where they're coming from. They do all that hard work to make a great show and just keep getting dumped on. My guess is Hurwitz gave up and is hopefully going to make another show sometime soon.
 
itcheroni said:
What I was implying was that instead of trying to make the remaining episodes as good as possible, they just said F it and crammed what they were already planning. I mean, I understand where they're coming from. They do all that hard work to make a great show and just keep getting dumped on. My guess is Hurwitz gave up and is hopefully going to make another show sometime soon.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I wasn't crazy about the couple of episodes that were sort of "tongue in cheek" making fun of FOX throughout the whole thing. Parts were funny, but it was probably lost on most people anyway and the time could have been put to better use.
 
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