It's official: FOX hates Arrested
Development.
How else to explain this scheduling decision? They've scheduled the final four episodes to run in a 2 hour block (so far, so good...) on Friday, February 10...against the opening night of the Olympics. [Insert heavy sigh here.]
This is bad on so many levels. First of all, even without the whole Olympics thing, it's a Friday night, one of the least-watched nights of TV during the week (next to Saturday). And it's also up against NBC's coverage of the Olympics opening ceremonies. It's as if FOX said, "you're a really funny, high quality, critically-adored show that we won't support, and now we'll kick you in the genitals!"
I can understand cancelling a show because it doesn't get good ratings. That's a business decision (though I would think the network would understand the value of critical success, fan fervor, and buzz). But why do they treat the show like it has cooties and they have to keep it away from other shows, or hide it like it's they're embarrassed by even having it on the schedule?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-13-2006 @ 7:12PM
Evadne said...
Not sure they can be expected to privilege a show they've already cancelled.
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1-13-2006 @ 8:07PM
kirk said...
SAVE THE BLUTHS! HELP SAVE ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT! VISIT www.savethebluths.org AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!!
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1-13-2006 @ 8:10PM
Matt said...
I'm fairly numb to this crap by now. I'm just hoping Fox will officially cancel the show so we can finally find out if Showtime or ABC will pick it up.
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1-13-2006 @ 11:06PM
Scott said...
Actually, this could be a lot worse. I'm sure that Fox is thinking that this show is a loss, but there is a strong fan base that would be upset if they didn't show the last four shows. I mean, there was at least an episode of Firefly that they didn't show.
So in reality, we should probably be lucky to even see these.
Given that the opening night of the Olympics is pretermined to be a loss for them, this is probably a win-win situation in their mind.
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1-13-2006 @ 11:11PM
Andrew said...
Fox strikes again, they canned Firefly and Family Guy now they are going after Arrested Development. I'm just wondering when they will try to drop 24.
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1-13-2006 @ 11:11PM
LC said...
It's been moved around so much that I missed so many episodes. I'm done with it and will wait for season 3 to come to dvd to enjoy it.
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1-14-2006 @ 12:53AM
Tim said...
When "24" starts getting a 5 share, you can bet FOX will cancel it. If "ARRESTED" got numbers like "24" or "HOUSE" or even "BONES" it would be renewed for season 4.
Be grateful that FOX showed any sort of patience with this show. The numbers were simply never there. Any other network would have canned it halfway through the first season.
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1-14-2006 @ 12:59AM
Joshua Stein said...
It does really seem like they are trying to do as much harm to the show as possible. Perhaps they are afraid another network will pick it up and market it correctly into a hit, making the fox execs look stupid (again).
But I agree Scott that at least they are going to show the last four episodes. At least they are giving us that (for now).
In my fantasy world, the Thursday night linup on NBC has Scrubs, The Office, Arrested Development and My Name Is Earl.
Ah well, a guy can dream, can't he?
Anyone know how I can get my hands on a Nielson box?
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1-14-2006 @ 2:35AM
Natrino said...
A bump on Adult Swim Thursday evening:
"Arrested Development
Genius.
Cancelled.
Maybe we should pick it up? We've gotten a few things from the Fox bargain bin before."
-Adult Swim
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1-14-2006 @ 6:30AM
Manda said...
Adult Swim? Yes, please! Personally, I haven't had much interest in the Olympics since they switched to every 2 years and destroyed the anticipation factor.
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1-14-2006 @ 8:41AM
Byron Karmopolis said...
Good grief! Why don't they air the show overnight so that they can squeeze two more hours of House or Prison Break in prime time? Shame upon the house of Murdoch for treating a quality show so horrible. I think the execs at Fox all need to run post haste to the nearest anal/rapist and have their heads examined.
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1-14-2006 @ 12:09PM
Natrino said...
HAHA!!!
Well said Byron, well said.
Fox just keeps knocking AD down, then repeatedly kicking it.
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1-15-2006 @ 2:46AM
bgdc said...
Love AD. But for god's sake, let it die! I'm so sick of the constant "save our show" crap: it's like living with a relative on the cusp of death...just f*&king die already!
I'll buy season 3 on DVD. I've even taken the show off my tivo. I simply don't care anymore.
As for the olympics, do people watch that crap?
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1-15-2006 @ 3:30AM
Frightened Inmate No. 2 said...
Personally, I don't think Fox has done so terribly by Arrested Development. Remember Wonderfalls? That was a good show that got yanked after just four episodes. AD ran for most of its life right after the SImpsons, which I would have thought the best possible time slot.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there who simply don't like Arrested Development. I think that's because the show is so genuinely innovative that some people just haven't figured it out right away-- but they have their reasons, whatever they may be.
I just read an article in the Chicago Tribune that says AD still hasn't been officially cancelled by FOX. (The url for the article is ridiculously long, and I don't know if I can post HTML here, so I'll just let you google it if you like) It also says that not only Showtime, but ABC has expressed interest. So I'm not giving up hope yet... A premium cable venue might be the perfect home.
The "SAVE OUR BLUTHS" grassroots movement does have a sort of "Get A Life" quality to it. If the worst happens, let's not get so distraught that it didn't last forever that we lose sight of what we have. Three seasons of Arrested Development, even with the one short , represents a lot of excellent television that stands up admirably to repeated viewings. I'm gonna keep buying those DVDs. And one's for certain, at my house, nobody's gonna be watching the damn Olympics!
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1-15-2006 @ 8:00AM
Micky said...
Well at least if fox drops it there's a good chance that showtime or abc will pick up the show for a 4th season and it will be good to see the show go to a network that will advertise it properly and give it a good slot.
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1-15-2006 @ 8:21PM
ladysugarwalls said...
i fing hate them y friday that fing suxs the fans are going to be looking for it on a monday
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1-16-2006 @ 5:37AM
Chris said...
The thing is if "AD" moves to ABC or Showtime that they will have to know if Fox is going to renew "AD" for another season or not because they have to announce their fall schedules (atleast ABC does) in the spring and will need to give "AD" a timeslot if Fox doesn't pick it up.
Personally I'd like to see NBC pick up "AD" and put it on Thursdays.
8:00 "My Name Is Earl"
8:30 "Arrested Development"
9:00 "The Office"
9:30 "Scrubs"
10:00 "E.R."
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1-16-2006 @ 4:07PM
Alex said...
Listen up NBC!!!
Count my vote in also for a killer NBC thursday night.
I don't care what order they are in but as long as these four shows are on NBC, it's TV's version of Baseballs Murderers Row.
8:00 "My Name Is Earl"
8:30 "Arrested Development"
9:00 "The Office"
9:30 "Scrubs"
10:00 "E.R."
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1-17-2006 @ 10:29PM
Dustin said...
At least with the death of Arrested Development doesn't come the death of the talent from the show. Hopefully the show lasts but if it doesn't people like Will Arnett are sure to find a niche elsewhere. If you haven't seen him on Conan he was genius.
You can watch it here:
http://thankgodimanutsack.blogspot.com
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1-22-2006 @ 8:38PM
mattmedia said...
it does seem perfect on NBC.
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