May 18, 2005
RENEWED DEVELOPMENT:
Low ratings? Not a problem: Networks spare low-rated sitcoms "Arrested Development" and "The Office." (Scott Collins and Matea Gold, May 18, 2005, LA Times)
To regular viewers of Fox's "Arrested Development," blue paint has special meaning. It furnishes one of the many running jokes that have helped make the comedy about a loopy Orange County clan a long-standing favorite among critics and select fans.Make that very select fans. Showing a tenacity uncommon among network executives — famous for squelching TV shows that don't deliver high ratings in their first nanoseconds — Fox this week renewed "Arrested Development" for a full third season, even though shows with its ratings history typically receive nothing but a speedy trip to the trash heap. The news came just two days before the network will lay out its complete fall prime-time lineup for advertisers.
"It's one of the best comedies on television in recent years," Preston Beckman, executive vice president of strategic programming for Fox, said Tuesday. "We're hoping to see the kind of growth 'Seinfeld,' ['Everybody Loves] Raymond' and 'Murphy Brown' saw by being patient and keeping it on.... We just have to figure out ways to broaden out the audience." [...]
When it comes to devotion, though, few networks can match Fox's for "Arrested Development." According to data from Nielsen Media Research, average ratings this season for "Arrested" fell 5%, to 5.9 million viewers, compared to last season's numbers, which were themselves disappointing. And yet the series has key backing from Fox's former top programmer, Gail Berman, as well as her successor, Peter Liguori, who took over as entertainment president last month. Media buyers asked Tuesday during the upfront presentations about the show's return couldn't resist taking a good-natured jab at its ratings.
"Six people will be very happy," joked Jason Kanefsky, vice president and account director at MPG, of "Arrested's" renewal. But he and other media buyers agreed it was a smart move.
"Any time that you've got a show that's different and quirky on the air, it's a good thing," Kanefsky said.
"It's got upscale numbers, it's got high 'stickiness.'
It's not even on the air here, but it's so funny The Wife let me buy the DVDs. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 18, 2005 8:41 AM
The camerawork and editing give me motion sickness.
Best comedy on TV is Curb Your Enthusiasm BTW.
Posted by: Ali Choudhury at May 18, 2005 8:53 AMAmen to "Curb." Far and away the best thing going.
Posted by: SP at May 18, 2005 9:33 AMThe American version of The Office is a VERY pale imitation.
For me, it's the BBC's version or nothing.
"Arrested Development" may just not be a Sunday night show to follow "The Simpsons" because it's trying to appeal to a different audience. Fox might try putting it on a weeknight, if they can find a semi-cynical live-action comedy to pair it with.
Posted by: John at May 18, 2005 10:26 AMArrested Development is a very funny show, but it will never have mass appeal. Too cynical.
Steve Carrel (sp?) does an excellent job in a role that's nearly impossible on The Office. Nobody who's seen the BBC version will ever like the US version, but I have to give Carrel credit for inhabiting the David Brent role without impersonating the original Ricky Gervais version. It's the rest of the characters who are off for me.
Posted by: NKR at May 18, 2005 10:38 AMCurb is way to painful to watch.
Posted by: Joe at May 18, 2005 11:21 AMThey also renewed 'House.' Despite some obviously putrid programming, Fox seems a lot smarter about a lot of things than the big three.
Posted by: Timothy at May 18, 2005 11:52 AMArrested is the best show on network televsion but it will never appeal to large audiences - Fox will just have to sacrifice this one time spot to bad ratings as a trade off to garner some emmys. House, Curb YE, and Numbers are the only other shows I watch regularly.
Posted by: Shelton at May 18, 2005 12:50 PMToo bad about Office. Why can't the BBC do more than six episodes in a series and flood the market to discourage the inevitably inferior American knockoffs? And, yes, Steve Carrell is inspired casting--too bad he has no help, from the cast or the writers.
Posted by: AC at May 18, 2005 4:43 PMSpeaking of the Beeb, do we have any 'League of Gentlemen' fans here?
Posted by: joe shropshire at May 18, 2005 5:32 PM