Arrested Development
Arrested Development is an American television satirical sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It aired on Fox for three seasons from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006, followed by two seasons on Netflix, season four being released in 2013 and season five being released in 2018 and 2019.
This article is about the television show. For the medical term, see Arrested development. For other uses, see Arrested Development (disambiguation).Arrested Development
United States
English
5
84 (list of episodes)
- Victor Hsu
- Barbie Feldman Adler
- Brad Copeland
- John Amodeo
- John Foy
- Joe Russo
- Anthony Russo
- Michael Cera
- 22 minutes (seasons 1–3)
- 23–48 minutes (seasons 4–5)
November 2, 2003 –
February 10, 2006
May 26, 2013 –
March 15, 2019
Arrested Development follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family. It is presented in a serialized format, incorporating handheld camera work, voice-over narration, archival photos, historical footage and maintains numerous running gags and catchphrases. Ron Howard served as both an executive producer and the omniscient narrator and, in later seasons, appears in the show as a fictionalized version of himself. Set in Newport Beach, California, Arrested Development was filmed primarily in Culver City and Marina del Rey.[3]
Arrested Development received critical acclaim. It won six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, and attracted a cult following.[4] It has been named one of the greatest TV shows of all time by publications including Rolling Stone,[5] Time,[6] Entertainment Weekly,[7] and IGN.[8] It influenced later single-camera comedy series such as 30 Rock and Community.[9]
Despite the positive critical response, Arrested Development received low ratings and viewership on Fox, which canceled the series in 2006. In 2011, Netflix licensed new episodes and distributed them on its streaming service.[10] These episodes were released in May 2013.[11] Netflix commissioned a fifth season of Arrested Development, the first half of which premiered on May 29, 2018, and the second half on March 15, 2019.[12][13][14] The show was due to be removed from Netflix in March 2023 but will remain on the service until 2026.[15]
Production[edit]
Conception[edit]
Discussion that led to the creation of the series began in the summer of 2002. Ron Howard had the original idea to create a comedy series in the style of handheld cameras and reality television, but with an elaborate, highly comical script resulting from repeated rewritings and rehearsals. Howard met with David Nevins, the president of Imagine Television, Katie O'Connell, a senior vice president, and two writers, including Mitchell Hurwitz. In light of recent corporate accounting scandals, such as Enron and Adelphia, Hurwitz suggested a story about a "riches to rags" family. Howard and Imagine were interested in using this idea, and signed Hurwitz to write the show. The idea was pitched and sold in Q3 2002. There was a bidding war for the show between Fox and NBC, with the show ultimately selling to Fox as a put pilot with a six-figure penalty.[16]
Over the next few months, Hurwitz developed the characters and plot for the series. The script of the pilot episode was submitted in January 2003 and filmed in March 2003. It was submitted in late April to Fox and was added to the network's fall schedule that May.[17]
Reception[edit]
Television ratings[edit]
The show, while critically acclaimed, did not gain a sizable audience.[4] According to the Nielsen ratings system, the show's first season was the 120th most popular show among households and the 88th among viewers aged 18 to 49, averaging 6.2 million viewers.[100]
U.S. ratings in the second season averaged about six million viewers, while the third season averaged about four million viewers.[101] Fox announced that it would halt the production of the second season at eighteen episodes—four episodes short of the planned season.[102]
For the third season, Fox positioned the show on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET.[103] Ratings dropped further than previous seasons.[104] On November 9, 2005, Fox announced that the show would not be airing in November sweeps, and that they had cut the episode order for the third season from 22 to 13.[104] Fox ended up showing the last four episodes in a two-hour timeslot—directly opposite the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics.[105] The series finale episode received 3.43 million viewers.[106]
Controversies[edit]
Lawsuit[edit]
In November 2003, the producers of the show were sued by the hip hop group Arrested Development over the alleged use of their name.[128] Rapper Speech from the group said "The use of our name by Fox is not only confusing to the public, but also has the potential to significantly dilute what the 'Arrested Development' name means to our fans".[128] The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum.[128] This incident was alluded to in the episode "Motherboy XXX". The narrator claims the show is "legally required to make a distinction" between the "Motherboy" event happening in the episode and a band called "Motherboy".[128]
Tambor's misconduct[edit]
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in May 2018, Tambor apologized for actions that led to sexual misconduct accusations against him by co-workers on the TV show Transparent,[129] and mentioned one "blowup" he had with co-star Jessica Walter during production of Arrested Development.[130] Walter was asked about the incident during a cast interview with The New York Times. She became emotional, stating that "in almost 60 years of working, I've never had anybody yell at me like that on a set and it's hard to deal with, but I'm over it now ... [Tambor] never crossed the line on our show, with any, you know, sexual whatever. Verbally, yes, he harassed me, but he did apologize. I have to let it go."[18]
Bateman stated that "in the entertainment industry it is incredibly common to have people who are, in quotes, 'difficult' ... [acting] is a weird thing, and it is a breeding ground for atypical behavior and certain people have certain processes." Hale said that "we all have bad moments", while Cross suggested that Tambor's outbursts were a "cumulative effect". The Daily Beast criticized Cross's comment as suggesting that Walter had "asked for it".[131] Shawkat came to Walter's defense, saying that being difficult "doesn't mean it's acceptable" to treat someone badly.[18] After outlets criticized the men's statements, Hale, Bateman, and Cross issued apologies to Walter.[132][133][134] Netflix cancelled the show's UK press tour. Cera, who was not part of the group interview, stated that "obviously I have to give a lot of consideration to whether I take jobs with anyone and think about how it affects people".[135]