This is another great example of a journalist who wants to write the AD is dead story so bad that he damages his craft in the process.

Check out the first sentence: “It now looks as if ‘Arrested Development’ is officially dead.

If it was officially dead, it wouldn’t “look like” it was officially dead. There would be no need for equivocation. It’s kinda like saying “I usually always do such-and-such.”

And note the gradual lightening of the show’s status as the article goes on. In the title, it’s the end of Arrested Development. No way to misinterpret that, right? But then the first sentence is “it looks like” it’s officially dead. (Michael: “Wait, you mean he is dead, or it just looks like it?” Literal Doctor: “No, it just looks like he’s dead. He’s got blue paint all over him or something.”) And then by the third paragraph, we’re down to “it now seems highly unlikely the show will get another season.”

By the end of the article, the show is renewed, and outlasting The Simpsons. (Just kidding.)

A+E Interactive: The End of “Arrested Development”
by Charlie McCollum

It now looks as if “Arrested Development” is officially dead.

Just days after sources said that a deal to move the Emmy-winning comedy from its old home at Fox (which pulled it off the air earlier this year) to Showtime was all but finished, show creator Mitch Hurwitz pulled out over what were reportedly creative and financial differences. Hurwitz confirmed his departure in interviews late Monday.

Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox, the comedy’s producers, could go ahead with “Arrested” minus Hurwitz. But since Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt has said repeatedly he wouldn’t take the series unless Hurwitz was involved, it now seems highly unlikely the show will get another season.

Since making its debut in fall 2003, the often-brilliant satirical take on the lives of the Bluth family of Orange County has been widely viewed as television’s best comedy. It won the Emmy for best comedy in 2004 and was nominated again last season.

But the series never found an audience, despite heavy promotion by Fox after its Emmy win and again last fall. (This is one case where you can’t blame the network for not backing a good show.) At the end, “Arrested” was attracting barely 5 million viewers a week and often finished last in its time period.


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