Following in the footsteps of the resurrected (in proper half hour form) Futurama, producer Mitch Hurwitz has apparently confirmed that we will see a truly viable follow-up to the beloved cult classic sitcom Arrested Development.
Ever since the show went off the air, rumors and promises of an upcoming film based on the show have periodically surfaced. I always kind of doubted this, for a number of reasons.
First, the huge and quite busy cast would be hard to get back together. (Although a myriad of failed TV and film projects in the interim no doubt has helped this situation.)
Second, although the more ignorant and spiteful of fans wish to dun Fox for ‘mishandling’ the show or something, the fact is that no network has EVER strove as hard or quite possibly has lost as much money trying to foster an audience for a show that very, very few people ever watched. I was one of those people, and I dearly loved the show, but that doesn’t change the facts. AD had a very, very specific sense of humor that just was never going to appeal to a mass market.
Third, as with Firefly (and Futurama), there was the issue of whether they could possibly turn a show, especially one who dependent on plot and intense continuity density, into a satisfactory two-hour, standalone movie.
Happily, we seem to be getting a very good solution to at least the latter of the problems. Hurwitz has announced that AD will be resurrected first as a series of around 10 episodes, playing…somewhere (or sponsored and available through Netflix streaming), and only then followed by a movie. This would allow them to play catch-up on where the characters have gone in the five years since the show ended, and then set up some plot stuff designed to be culminated and wrapped up in the subsequent movie.
Barring just a return to ongoing series status, this is really more than you could have hoped for. Great stuff.
