The Demise of 'Arrested Development'

Written - Sunday, February 12, 2006

How do great television series continue being cancelled and yet shows like ‘Skating With Celebrities’ run for far more seasons than they are worth? Of course, I am referring to the recent cancellation of Fox’s brilliant yet greatly underappreciated series ‘Arrested Development’. What was potentially one of the smartest and funniest shows ever put on TV has now receded into the halls of cancellation, and possibly worse, syndication.

I am being melodramatic. However, one has to wonder how these types of things happen. Some may say that the explanation can be related to the exponential dwindling of the average viewer’s attention span. Others may say that Fox did not have enough faith in the show and because of that, did not focus enough attention and money on its advertising. Personally, I believe it is a combination of both.

Currently, the attention span of the average viewing audience member is shorter than ever before. It is no wonder that typical shows with a focus on lowbrow comedy get high ratings and are signed on season after season. The viewers need these shows because they have a steady supply of tasteless jokes, often occurring at a specific interval so that the audience member’s short attention span can keep up. You can set your watch to it. The days of smart, original and actually very funny comedies are gone. We are waiting for the next ‘Seinfeld’, ‘Cheers’ or ‘Murphy Brown’. ‘Arrested Development’ was that missing link. It had an original taste in comedy, unlike anything we had ever seen before. Often times the jokes were not shoved in the faces of the viewers. We had to think about them and it often took a while until some realized why exactly it was funny. However, once it was figured out, it was hilarious. In addition, many jokes were so subtle that you may not notice them until repeat viewings. As my good friend, 'Animal' (everyone calls him 'Animal', I'm not sure why) says about the show: “Arrested Development has the kind of funny that you can laugh at while you watch, think about it more and laugh more. Then you’ll watch again and get more and laugh more and think about it more and laugh more.”

Another major problem that contributed to the show’s demise is the fact that Fox put maybe a third of the money they put into other shows, into advertising ‘Arrested Development’. Fox had no faith in this series, despite the numerous Emmy’s it attained. Would it not seem logical that if a show garners this much attention from its peers that audiences may thoroughly enjoy the show? Fox should have seen these signs and contributed more money into promoting and supporting the show.

I understand that my raving about this show is strictly a matter of my opinion, and in fact, I have met people who did not like ‘Arrested Development’, and that is fine. However, love it or hate it, you cannot deny how sharp and well written the show was. My point in all this is to illustrate how it is a sad thing that intelligent and genuinely funny shows like this often get the axe, and shows who sink to the lowest common denominator in order to achieve their laughs (‘The War At Home’ being one) get signed for multiple seasons and go on to find success. Maybe it is a statement on what exactly the viewing public enjoys. ‘Arrested Development’ was a brilliantly written and acted comedy series, with an almost ‘Monty Python’ style of dry wit and charm. It never sank to using racial or toilet humor in order to get its laughs, though it very easily could have gone in that direction. The sad fact may be that if it had gone that way, it probably would have had higher ratings and been kept on the air longer. I am glad it did not go down that road. I would rather see it cancelled and enjoy the episodes again on the DVD seasons, then to see it compromise and sell-out. I also loved how, for once, a great series was able to end with a fantastic final episode. After many disappointments such as the final episodes of ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘The X-Files’, this show ended with an episode that was just as good as every other.

‘Arrested Development’ was the best comedy series since ‘Seinfeld’. It was the show that every comedy series should try to be. It is so sad that so many will not be able to see it unless it is on DVD. Oh well, at least we still have ‘Skating With Celebrities’ and ‘The War At Home’ to keep us entertained…