It's Not My Trick...It's My Illusion! (The Arrested Development Thread)

[EdenMaster]

This just in from Sudden Valley:

http://www.tv.com/story/story.html&story_id=3475

<b>Showtime to pick up Arrested Development?</b>

Will the Showtime go on?

<i>The New York Post's</i> Page Six gossip column reports that cable network Showtime has picked up 26 episodes of the canceled cult sitcom Arrested Development. The show was axed by Fox after three seasons of Emmy-winning hilarity due to perennially low ratings. Neither network had anything to say officially.

In January, Showtime president Peter Greenblat told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour that his network was seriously considering picking up the show.

"I always thought it was probably a better fit on a cable network than on a broadcast network," Greenblatt said. "And you know, in fact, I think it really does fit in with a lot of the things that we're doing."

The deal was contingent upon the involvement of show creator Mitchell Hurwitz--at the time, he was having reservations about continuing with the show after three years of stressful dealings with Fox.

"I think he's the genius behind it, and he hasn't yet come to that decision to continue the show," Greenblatt said of Hurwitz.

Arrested Development averaged around 4 million viewers a week in its third and final season, paltry by broadcast TV standards but huge for a cable network like Showtime. In contrast, Weeds, a popular Showtimes series, averages less than 500,000 viewers a week. Even king of the cable hill HBO commands only a few million viewers per week for its non-Sopranos shows--the Mafia-inspired drama, which returns March 16, garners 10 million to 11 million viewers a week.

The wheels on the stair-car seem to moving...lets hope it's true.