Cancelled too soon: Arrested Development

Every Wednesday of this term, The Yorker will be remembering great shows that were cancelled too soon. To start us off, here's a look at Arrested Development:

It was a few years ago now, whilst I was up late one night attempting to complete a year’s worth of work for my AS-Level Art, with nothing but the TV for company, that I came across an eccentric American comedy on BBC Two at half one in the morning. For the rest of the week I tuned in at various ungodly hours to watch this hilarious show about, as the narrator says it best in the titles of each episode, “the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together.”

The show I’m talking about is Arrested Development, which follows the chaotic ‘riches to rags’ story of the Bluth family. The family are loosely held together by their second eldest son Michael who, when his father is imprisoned for fraud (and possibly “mild treason”) due to his dealings for the Bluth’s real estate company, decides to live with the rest of his family in their show home, so that he can stop his useless relatives from getting into any further trouble with the company’s expenses account.

That is an extremely brief summary of what is a vast and joyfully nonsensical show. It is the show’s huge scope and incredible imagination that had me wonder why it was poked away on BBC Two in the early hours of the morning. I was even more surprised to hear that Fox had similarly maltreated the show, cutting the length of its run from 22 to 18 to 13 episodes across its three seasons (whilst also giving it poor time slots) before it was eventually cancelled. Despite 6 Emmy wins, a Golden Globe, and a stream of seemingly endless superlatives from critics, the show didn’t have the viewership that the network expected.

Which is a shame. The term laugh-out-loud funny is a lazy cliché, especially nowadays when we’re all “lol”ing at an hourly rate, but I am awfully lazy and the show is laugh out loud funny. Its style of comedy is incredibly varied, ranging from childish innuendo to slapstick to satire, whilst always remaining sharp and sophisticated. The show is one of the most layered I have ever watched, with back references, forward references, recurring jokes, recurring characters and a ridiculous level of detail which will reward any avid freeze-framer.

Although some people believe the show is almost too dense, with some of the insular jokes going over the head of the occasional watcher, I would argue that any episode has enough in-your-face-funny to satisfy the causal viewer, whilst still rewarding the devoted fans it has rightfully earned. Much of this is due to its excellent cast (which includes a young Michael Cera perfecting his doe-eyed stare), who all bring something different to the table. A testament to the show’s brilliance (I’ve gone well beyond sycophancy now) is the quality of the actors who have made guest appearances: Zach Braff, Ben Stiller, Liza Minnelli and Charlize Theron to name but a few.

With three seasons under its belt, Arrested Development didn’t have the shortest run and you could even argue that its premature ending meant it never became stale. Nevertheless, you get the feeling that it had so much more to give. If any show had the writers and cast to keep it fresh it was this one. This is why, almost four years on, the internet is still awash with hopeful rumours about an Arrested Development movie. While I feel the pain of my cyber-brethren, I remain comforted by the fact that the show holds so many jokes I haven’t noticed, running gags I didn’t spot and brilliant moments I have forgotten that it will keep me entertained for many years to come.

Arrested Development will be shown from the beginning on FX at 9PM from the 8th of February.

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