Save Our Bluths
January 15, 2006 3 Comments
While we’re on the subject of excellent TV, the long-term future of Arrested Development is even less clear following the news that Fox will be airing the final four episodes of the cut-down third season after all. They’ll be going out in a two-hour finale on February 10, which means they’ll be competing with the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Way to go Fox. Previous rumours had indicated that the show would be cancelled by Fox and swiftly picked up by either Showtime or ABC. Either could still happen, of course, but it’s unclear quite what Fox are playing at. Still, at least we’ll get to see the episodes. Here’s hoping there’s a future for the Bluths one way or another.
trendthrift 
I’d have thought Fox were just chucking something they don’t really care about into a slot they’re not expecting many people to tune into – the equivilent of what (say) Channel Four would be showing while an England v Brazil World Cup Final was being broadcast on BBC One and ITV. Quite why that many Americans are bothered about the opening ceremony of the winter olympics, I’m not sure. They only ever involve stage-school brats dressed as snowflakes, anyway. It’s like a BBC One xmas ident with a bigger budget.
(Hang on, aren’t the winter olympics in Italy this time round? If they’re live in the ‘States at peak-time, that would mean they’re happening at about 2am local time. I bet the locals love that.)
As long as the usual bunch of four million loyal viewers still tune into AD, that should prove it’s worth to any potential buyers. Possibly more of interest to Pay-TV outfit Showtime, who’d only really want AD to glean more subscribers to their service. Good news for us freeloading foreign downloader types, eh?
Oh, I think you’re right. It’s the final insult for the show, really. I’m just pleased I don’t need to wait for the DVD release to see the last four episodes.
I think it’d be a good (and smart) pick-up for Showtime for the exact reasons you mention. The fans that have been so loyal so far are likely to do what they can to secure its future.
Incidentally, I’m not sure I used the word ‘Fox’ enough in that initial post.
Oh, and your .be link doesn’t seem to be working, by the way. No idea why — it’s fine if I type it in manually.
EDIT: I think it’s because there’s an extra forward slash actually. Just call me Columbo.