Whedonesque : Comments on 8746 : Arrested no, Prison yes.

:(

Well, can't say I'm surprised. When I didn't see it return after the baseball playoffs and World Series were all done I kind of figured it was gone for good. Figures though, it was just starting to find it's footing so of course Fox had to yank it before it can find an audience.

Firefly Flanatic | November 11, 01:38 CET

Interestingly you can watch an unaired ep at myspace.

zeitgeist | November 11, 01:42 CET

Bad luck for Nick, good luck for Xander in the Spike movie!

lone fashionable wolf | November 11, 01:46 CET

Well you know, if perhaps they AIRED some episodes, they might get people to watch it.

Oh wait, Fox. Nevermind.

Mal'sGal | November 11, 01:50 CET

This sucks. I can deal with Kitchen Confidential's demise, i haven't really had that long to get attached as they only got to air 3 episodes, but Arrested Development!!!
AD is the best show on tv, DAMN YOU FOX, DAMN YOU TO HELL.
Maybe some other network can take Arrested Development, its 4mil viewers aren't much on FOX, but try FX or UPN or anywhere. And i wonder how much their episode order was cut, i hope it is like last year and it was only cut from 22 to 18, but i have a feeling that since it is so early in the season it might have just been cut in half or something. This sucks.

Dhoffryn | November 11, 02:04 CET

Variety is reporting that the episode order has been cut to 13 (for Arrested Development).

MattM | November 11, 02:08 CET

Damn, according to Variety AD's ep order was cut from 22 to 13!! My gut was telling me, but my gut was also very....no, i can't even finish my reference now, i am to upset/mad. First they kill one of my favorite characters on Lost last night, and now they just about kill AD, i am waiting for the announcement that the world is ending any second now.

Dhoffryn | November 11, 02:10 CET

I've seen 25 ads for Prison Break for every one I've seen for AD or KC.

Long hiatus, no promotion, relying on the ridiculous Nielsen numbers. That's our Fox.

lycoming | November 11, 02:11 CET

No No No, not Arrested Development.

It's just so annoying that such a brilliant show, doesn't get the audience it deserves, and I really can't see why, it's a very funny show, Monday's episodes were hilarious, why don't more people watch it.

Think it's in one of the outtakes in season 2 where Tobias has a rant about how when a show is critically acclaimed and wins loads of awards, maybe the fault lies with the network, and not the showrunners.

Sad news about Kitchen Confidential, but if Arrested Development is facing the chop the KC really doesnt stand a chance. Maybe now we might see Will in Alias one day again.

[ edited by Ghost Spike on 2005-11-11 00:38 ]

Ghost Spike | November 11, 02:18 CET

So the only shows i have left now are HIMYM, Lost, Alias, and CSI, and only 1 of those is a comedy. (i have the Office and SVU as well, but those i am going to watch when they come out on DVD, so i dont really have them from week to week).
And if this does turn out to be Alias' last season, and then whenever Scrubs does return this is supposed to be its last season also, so next season i will have a whopping 3 shows: HIMYM, Lost, and CSI. At least i know that CSI and Lost are same from any of this cancellation nonsense.

Dhoffryn | November 11, 02:22 CET

Well Fox you never surprise I must say. This is par for the course and not stunning news when it comes to their track record. Kitchen Confidential never had a chance.

Desilu | November 11, 02:32 CET

This is off topic for Whedon site but I think a campaign to the WB or UPN to pick up Arrested Development is in order. Its by far a much better comedy than any of their other shows. Sorry about Nick on KC. I'm hoping he gets a part on the SciFI movie of the Dresden Files. I wrote to them suggesting he be considered.

angel fan | November 11, 02:38 CET

I can't entirely blame FOX, though I would like to. HIMYM is getting nominated for a People's choice award which kind of gives a clue as to what kind of TV people are watching. This is in no way a knock on that show, yea for them, but it does have a rather formulaic premise and delivery...

I think it's just that the masses aren't really looking for something at all different from the 'norm.' People tend to be comfortable with what they know. Both AD and KC tried NOT to be a typical sitcom and look where it got them. :( I'm sad for both shows.

[ edited by Grace on 2005-11-11 00:45 ]

Grace | November 11, 02:43 CET

Fox TV....where we let people guess when their favorite shows are on (except for American Idol).
Will these chumps at least give "Arrested Development" a chance to wrap up its series? Sheesh!

impalergeneral | November 11, 02:48 CET

Agree with Grace about HIMYM being rather formulaic. I can't seem to stomach it. AH is certainly cute, but all the characters have been done to death and I just don't find anything with a laugh track funny. Also sad about Arrested Development since it's one of my favorite shows. But I kind of expected it. Hopefully, somebody else can pick it up, it sure seems like a good candidate to me.

spikeangellover | November 11, 03:04 CET

Dhoffryn. Regarding the Lost situation. I'm totally with you on my anger for the demise of my favourite character in the show, which is why I created a thread entirely dedicated to it on Whedonesque.org. Its unsuprisingly not under the heading "Thankyou Lost producers for all you have done" but actually under "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!". You cant miss it. Join us in fully venting your anger.

R.E. AD and KC. I love AD. Its my favourite comedy programme after Nighty Night, and surely is the most original thing on TV at the moment. I've only seen that online ep of KC, but I liked the show and its a shame that they wont be getting anymore.

Thankyou Fox yet again. They currently have beaten the WB to the post as my "Least Favourite Network Ever!" Congratu-bloody-lations

Apocalypse | November 11, 03:05 CET

What?! They have only aired three episodes for god's sake! How could anyone possibly judge anything based on that?!?!

Djungelurban | November 11, 03:29 CET

I think out of anyone they could kill on Lost, the character they took was the one which would least annoy most of the audience (or maybe it's just me *shrug*)

But who cares about that lol, and really, I'll miss you Kitchen Confidential, we had a little over an hour of good times. The slow death of Arrested Development however hurts bad, especially after showing two brilliant episodes in a row after a fairly long haitus.

Arrested Development is imo the most brilliant comedy/sitcomish show ever, better than Seinfeld, much better than Friends. To not be able to see the bluths at least 16 times a year, well that's painful. I highly doubt we'll see the rest of those 13 episodes before the DVDs.

rabid | November 11, 03:46 CET

FOX is MRF -- Mentally Retarded Fuckers

AD is the best and funny show out there. I really hope someone gets this show. We want to see more of them. even Annyong!

[ edited by Mr Universe on 2005-11-11 02:03 ]

Mr Universe | November 11, 04:02 CET

Hey, maybe, um, some invisitext for them there Lost spoilers? I just started the first season, and while I now know that a character died, I didn't read any farther, so I don't know whom it pertains to, but still.

Remember, people...spoilers are for squares...

Anyway, sad to hear that about Kitchen Confidential, but I knew from the beginning this was bound to happen, especially considering it was airing on Fox. I love Arrested Development, and I really really hope it stays on the air for longer than this...

UnpluggedCrazy | November 11, 04:25 CET

Noooo! Not AD.

Arrested Development is the funniest sitcom since... since... since... I don't know any sitcom that is actually funnier than AD. Well, no American sitcom anyway. Those cunning Brits have been genuinely funny on occasion.

Fox sucks. But who I am telling that? This is the site with five million posts on the subject of Firefly after all.

para | November 11, 05:17 CET

What?! They have only aired three episodes (of KC) for god's sake! How could anyone possibly judge anything based on that?!?!

Uh, this is Fox. This is typical programming decision-making. Just ask Jaye Tyler...and her wax lion.

impalergeneral | November 11, 05:22 CET

Oh bollocks! AD is by far the funniest show on tv, with this season managing to keep the quality up so far. After the joy of the Joss post I'm brought crashing back down to earth by this :(

Paul_Rocks | November 11, 05:47 CET

I think that KC 's first ep. was good but the next two were just not funny. The B plot lines were much funnier then the main plot lines. The last episode that aired before the playoffs with John Laroquette was bad. It was predictable how he was gonna die and it wasted Laroquette's talents. The story with the Nick buying the young chef for a hot dog from the dishwaser got me to laugh but that was it. With that said i was very much looking forward to seeing it improve and especially with Vartan making a guest appearance as I'm sure there would have been some Alias references thrown in. The show had potential and it didnt help with a lead in like AD that was already hurting for ratings.

I'm not suprised that AD is getting cut short. How many shows, whether they are great shows or not (Firefly, Wonderfalls), get two seasons plus to find an audience? Granted AD IMO is the funniest show since Cheers (oh how i loved Cheers). I hope they still bring it back next year and keep it with 13 episodes and run them uninterrupted til American Idol comes on. AD will never get many fans cause its a show not like other sitcoms, if you miss an episode you miss alot.

I also noticed that more online fans hate laugh tracks then those that i come across at like work or the gym. I dont like laugh tracks myself but some of the greatest sitcoms ever all had laugh tracks Seinfeld, Friends, Cheers, Raymond, Cosby etc. HIMYM is indeed a funny show and I look forward to seeing AH and NPH as they make the show funny every week. Now the lead is not funny and comes across as very annoying and desperate.

Gunn 2 N's | November 11, 07:27 CET

Gah! Don't take my Arrested Development away!

At least we can't blame FOX too much for this decision; they've given AD a fair chance to find its audience. It's a shame that such brilliant humor has gone largely unnoticed by the general public.

As for Kitchen Confidential, at least I didn't get my hopes up.

Galvatron | November 11, 07:39 CET

I'm disappointed for Nick. I tried to watch KC but it just never clicked for me. I hope he finds something new.

Silent Night | November 11, 07:49 CET

This makes me very, very sad. And it's already been a bad day. Gorram Fox executives.

einral | November 11, 08:40 CET

Nooooooooooooooooooo!
I love AD! I cannot believe they are doing this again?! Someone should seriously sack the guy who makes these descions.

nixygirl | November 11, 08:54 CET

Arrested Development should be on HBO anyway... it's way too good for FOX

Hjermsted | November 11, 08:58 CET

I'm so cynical about FOX that I'm just not surprised. Poor Wonderfalls, poor Kitchen Confidential, so many shows never given time to find their feet. Grrr, Argh. Arrested Development won an Emmy, you stupid network gits. Don't cancel it!

chickenbird | November 11, 09:35 CET

AD is too good for America!

Mort | November 11, 12:39 CET

I wish I could be surprised any more. Ah well. I'm sad KC might go, but I truly mourn the loss of Arrested Development. It deserves so much better.

kishi | November 11, 13:30 CET

Well at the end of the day, Fox is there to make money and if Arrested Development and Kitchen Confidential aren't getting the ratings then what choice do they have?

Simon | November 11, 13:32 CET

I do tend to think that Arrested Development has had plenty of time to prove itself now. For once, Fox has played fair and given a show some breathing space to improve it's ratings. It hasn't happened to their satisfaction and so it's getting canned. Fair enough, from a business point of view.

However, it's treatment of Kitchen Confidential is the standard "if it isn't a winner in the first week then it never will be" kind of thinking that cost us a proper run of Firefly. Typical Fox, in other words.

WhedonTrivia | November 11, 14:09 CET

I agree that AD has been given many chances to prove itself, which is why I'm not angry or surprised. Frankly, I'm shocked it had anything a third season, and the only thing I feel right now is resigned. Still doesn't change my opinion that it's the best thing on TV right now. Or that the major networks are the worst places for good TV.

If Buffy:tVS or Angel:tS had been on any of the major 4 networks, the former would've been gone after the abortive first season, and the latter would not exist. The treatment of Firefly is not asymptomatic of FOX's pathology: great quality shows, trigger-happy cancellation finger, and great DVD sales. Both shows, Firefly and AD deserve a format somewhere.

dottikin | November 11, 14:38 CET

I'm cheered up a little bit today thanks to the news that 7th Heaven is on the way out.

I realize that Arrested Development is really lucky to have lasted this long, I just can't understand why it doesn't get good ratings, it's great TV.

How Fox have decided after airing 3 episodes of Kitchen and then about a month of not showing any, not to air it during sweeps and to probably cancel it, I really don't know.

Ghost Spike | November 11, 15:38 CET

Wonder wonder wonder falls...

Great TV doesn't always equal great ratings, unfortunately. I'm sure it'll get replaced by Real Life Dancing Ants, or similar.

gossi | November 11, 15:49 CET

Well at the end of the day, Fox is there to make money and if Arrested Development and Kitchen Confidential aren't getting the ratings then what choice do they have?

AD is a great dvd seller. Its first season has been out for a year and it's still in Amazon's overall top hundred and in the top twenties of dvd sales. AD is also a show that stands to make a lot of money in syndication - which should interest FOX since they produce the show and the syndication/dvd money goes directly into their own pockets. AD isn't half as unprofitable as its Nielsen ratings make it look, because it has found its audience, which isn't too well-represented in the Nielsens, but obviously are affluent enough to afford buying the dvds by bucketloads. If FOX sticks with it, it could become profitable enough in the future to make up for its not-so-great current ad rates.

But alas, earwax. It's FOX. Foresight is not one of their strongest suits.

para | November 11, 16:51 CET

earwax?

Um... ew.

Willowy | November 11, 17:56 CET

Arrested Development won an Emmy, you stupid network gits

AD has been nominated for 18 Emmy's and won 12 of them...

zeitgeist | November 11, 18:11 CET

From what I understand the main problem is the way Fox has it's various companies seperated. While Arrested Development may be making Fox a lot of money on DVD, the money goes to the production side of Fox not the network sides of things. So while Arrested Development might be very profitable for Fox on DVD, the network side of Fox doesn't care since it's not helping that side of the company. Unless the sales are huge like the case was apparently with Family Guy, the two sides don't seem to work together. Fox needs to re-organize their branches to work out a business model so that they don't cancel shows that they are making money off of.

Also with iTunes video really taking off, selling a million videos in just 20 days (this is with very limited selection of videos and only available in the US) hopefully it won't be long until the business model of tv changes even more. It seems that a lot of great shows don't find a huge audience but manage to find a loyal fanbase who wants to buy the tv show on DVD or buy it online to watch it again and again. More formula and generic type shows don't generate these types of loyal followings as while they might get good ratings, they are very disposable to most of their audience. Unfortunately tv networks aren't exactly known to adapt quickly and it might still be a few more years before things really change.

Bringing this back to a whedonesque topic, if the Spike movie does become a direct-to-DVD movie and is a big success it could be one of the things that shakes things up a bit, as that could be another way to go.

[ edited by Matt_Fabb on 2005-11-11 17:12 ]

Matt_Fabb | November 11, 18:54 CET

I am not surprised by the news about KC and AD, but I am upset.

I was hoping since Arrested got picked up for a 3rd season they could at least *finish* the season, I hate when series drop off in the middle of nowhere- particularly when you've already had a season or two.

They've made a huge mistake.

nna_funk | November 11, 18:55 CET

DVD sales go to 20th Century Fox, which is not Fox Broadcasting Corporation. Unless the show moves network, it won't survive. Mind you, more importantly it needs to find an audience. Add chickens! And monkeys!

gossi | November 11, 19:09 CET

I'm Still Eating At Fat Ammy's.

*sigh*

God I love that show. REALLY hate to see it go off the air. I dunno, it may be time for The Bluth Brigade!

Inara's Spongebath | November 11, 19:19 CET

Does this mean we can expect to see an Arrested Development or KC movie in the next few years? ;-)

WilliamTheBloody | November 11, 19:21 CET

Yes, it's Fox, so hardly surprising, but I'm bummed out nonetheless.

I love AD and KC was really starting to hit it's stride. Gunn 2 N's, I had the opposite reaction to KC -- I thought the pilot was just eh, while the last two eps have been actually lively and funny. John Larroquette's character showed up announcing he was dying -- the typical lame sitcom plot would've kept him alive and turned his life around with the help of his friends and healthy eating! No thanks, I'd rather have the death by hotdog scenario, much funnier.

punkinpuss | November 11, 19:55 CET

If I were Angelus in one of his crueller moments I would say:

Hey but there is also good news - Meanwhile, another first-year sitcom, ABC's "Freddie," has received a back-nine episode order for a full-season 22.

But I won’t. Because I don’t have leather pants and because I don't want to go to that special hell.

miranda | November 11, 20:01 CET

My gut tells me that another network may make a play for "Arrested." We can only hope.

As for "Kitchen" -- eh, who cares? If Darren Star wasn't involved, it probably wouldn't have been picked up in the first place.

rbt | November 11, 20:07 CET

I'm OK with the loss of Kitchen. The writing was on the, um, er, whatever long ago. But we won't see Will on Alias, because if there's a show that deserves to die. . . (unless it's going to be ALL AMY ALL THE TIME).

But Arrested Development? Sob. I lurves me some AD.

GrrrAargh | November 12, 04:11 CET

I just thought of something: this site is so good that I found out about the cancellation of a totally unrelated show that I watch and love.

Arabchick | November 12, 09:43 CET

November 11 2005