Taste the happy: "Arrested Development" doc on the way

While I expressed reservations about an "Arrested Development" movie based solely on one episode of Mitchell Hurwitz's now canceled "Sit Down, Shut Up," it's not like that misfire is going to stop me from going ga-ga over his previous genius.

Which is why a fan documentary about "Arrested Development" is so brilliant, so obviously a great idea, I'm really, really upset I didn't think of it first.

After all, "AD" fans are an obsessed lot.

A "Save the Bluths" campaign kicked up four years ago after Fox placed the show on one of its many death watches, and one of the first columns I ever wrote for the Press-Gazette was about how "AD" needed to be watched by the masses.

Obviously it didn't work. But organizers sent me a yellow foam banana inscribed with "There's always money in the banana stand" as a thank you for taking up the grassroots cause. It's a cherished item that sits proudly with my DVD collection in the basement.

For "AD" fans, there's always been a severe inferiority complex in play because of how the show was treated by Fox. But looking back, it was given three seasons -- albeit at varied time slots -- and really, reveled in such cerebral, obscure humor with its pyramid of jokes, was probably never destined to reach a huge audience like, say, "Seinfeld" (itself, a network anomaly that caught fire relatively late.)

So Fox did what it had to do. The show enjoys a second life on DVD and in G4 reruns. The entire cast knows how brilliant the work was. And I think "AD" fans are mostly comfortable with the show garnering cult status and staying a well-kept secret.

Still, that didn't stop two superfans named Neil and Jeff from making their own movie about the unappreciated brilliance of the show. According to ArrestedDevelopmentDoc.com, a quotefest at Yosemite led to the idea that more people needed to know about never-nudes, Tony Wonder's Hanukkah cookie, hot ham water and the intimidating wonder that is White Power Bill. So the two Bluth-heads got a camera out -- and what do you know, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, David Cross, Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Andy Richter, Scott Baio (who memorably played Bob Loblaw) and even "AD" uber-fan, Keith Olbermann, apparently took time to sit in the interview chair.

To paraphrase Carl Weathers, now that's how you get a stew goin'.

The clip below looks to be fun and totally in the spirit of the show. No hard release date has been set, but "AD" fans should be happier than Buster at an open juice bar when this lovefest gets released.

Now leave your best "AD" quotes below. I'll start.

George Michael: Ann just called. They had a pre-dawn mass. Then they were going to mass, so ...

Michael: Ann’s got a great deal of mass.



-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com

Sit down, shut off

Say it ain't so Mitch Hurwitz. Say it ain't so.

I'll make this relatively short since the pilot of "Sit Down, Shut Up" -- which I watched on DVR last night -- is SOOOOOOO not worth more than a few paragraphs. Instead, I'll just express my utter disappointment that something so directly tied to the "Arrested Development" family could not only fail to make me laugh once, but actually made me cringe a few times with its 7th grade style joke telling.

Let's run down the credentials, shall we?

Mitch Hurwitz, creator of "Arrested Development," which might boast the finest first season in TV comedy history.

Jason Bateman. Will Arnett. Henry Winkler. All from the "AD" tree.

Kristin' freakin Chenoweth looking super hot even as a cartoon character.

Oddball voices from the occasionally funny Will Forte and Cheri Oteri of "Saturday Night Live" fame.

Mind you, I didn't try to peg this show as the second coming of "AD." If I wasn't going to go that route with "Parks and Recreation," I certainly wouldn't do it for an animated show. Totally unfair.

Yet while the comparison shouldn't be made, there's too much familiarity with the "AD" crew to completely ignore the connections, as loose as they are in terms of the show's actual context. Ultimately though, it's about laughs. And "Sit Down," honest to goodness, deserves an F.

In terms of a premise, the show is set in a high school and revolves around kooky, unstable teachers and, at least for the pilot, a loose reality of layoffs and suspected drug use inside Knob Haven. The show relies heavily on meta humor (Bateman's character asks "Mitch" for a flashback at one point, Forte's character annoyingly mutters the line, "I need a catchphrase.") and stupid, sophomoric jokes like the literal search for a "sack of nuts."

Wink, wink character names like Willard Deutschebog (Winkler) and Larry Littlejunk (Bateman) add layers of stench to the steaming turd pile, while a bisexual drama teacher named Andrew LeGustambos (Nick Kroll) is a cliched abomination of epic proportions. Even the ease with which the show lobs softball after softball about Chenoweth's religious fundamentalist character, Miracle Grohe (OK, mildly amusing), seems way too cheap and familiar.

Sorry to be this harsh, but even "Family Guy" and its lazy "Oh, hey it's Dana Plato from the 80's!" pop culture references reaches for a higher ceiling.

Now judging any show by its pilot can be an exercise in futility, but it's hard to imagine anyone deciding to stick with "Sit Down" -- even for a cheap thrills animated comedy block -- based on the redundant, undeveloped riffs from Sunday. Say what you will about "AD" relying heavily on puns, insane randomness and yes, silly character names like Bob Loblaw and Maeby/Surely, but MY GOD, at least all the mile-a-minute gags felt connected to some kind of foundation -- the dysfunctional Bluth family -- that managed to be consistently funny.

"Sit Down" has none of that, and at least for this viewer, was so incredibly disappointing, I couldn't bare to give it another half hour investment. In fact, just watching the strained effort put forth by the pilot made me seriously, seriously give pause to an "Arrested Development" movie being made.

To paraphrase Gob Bluth, Mitch Hurwitz could be making a huge mistake.

-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com

'Arrested Development' movie: On Like Donkey Kong

It's true. At last, Mr. Michael Cera has signed on to "Arrested Development: The Movie."

After much hemming and hawing, Cera has finally caved into realizing his true George Michael Bluth-ness. (aka: the character he's played in every role since "Arrested Development.") His bandwagon jumping marks the last of the main Bluth characters who are ready to roll. Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor and David Cross all signed on shortly after the announcement of a movie was suggested.

So what was the hold up on young Pauly Bleeker? Cast members are mostly puzzled themselves, however Miss de Rossi says it sounds like it was just a matter of timing for Cera. I say, timing, schmiming. George Michael Bluth made Cera the star he is today, so he best not be thinking he's too good now to return to the banana stand!

As far as the movie hitting the big screen -- no official word on a timeline yet, but it looks promising. According to E! Online: According to insiders, the movie may go as early as the end of the year, if they can put it together in time. Mitchell Hurwitz is writing and directing the script, and Fox Searchlight is the studio.

And, as Ron Howard (the show's narrator) told King of the D-bags, Ryan Seacrest, at the Oscars:
"It's looking very much like we're going to make [the movie], but we've now been asked to stop offering any details. It's cloaked in a little mystery, but it's looking good."

Hallelujah! In the words of Tobias Funke, thank God we didn't overshoot our wad and end up with a mess on our hands. Had this movie not have been made, I would've required the help of an analrapist (an analyst and a therapist).

Here's a clip to thank Cera and remind him of the good ol days ...


-- Sara Boyd, sboyd2@greenbaypressgazette.com

TV Potpourri: Weekend updates

Catch up on the latest and greatest from the idiot box ... it's TV Potpourri! Mmmm, springtime fresh!

Go stuff yourself: The AV Club talked with the incomparable Rhys Darby, who dominated last night's Season Two premiere of "Flight of the Conchords" on HBO. It's a good interview, but really, I just wanted to usher in Monday with the above picture.

It's the ratings, stupid: "Pushing Daisies," "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Eli Stone" fans in search of closure may have to turn online.

It was reported last week that the remaining three episodes of "Daisies" and the final four of "DSM" and "Eli Stone" wouldn’t air until this summer so there'd be room for reruns of "Scrubs" and "Lost." But asked about the fates of all three cancelled shows, ABC president Stephen McPherson told writers at the Television Critics Association winter press tour that online might be the only place to stick them:

“I really loved the shows. The producers delivered what they promised,” he said. “For us it was a frustration that we couldn’t get a larger audience – or that Nielsen says we couldn’t get a larger audience.”

“We’d like to air the ending of those shows,” he says. “I wish we had been able to give the producers series-ending notice so they could really have a finale.”

More ratings talk: In happier -- though not all-too surprising -- TV news, NBC has renewed "The Office" and "30 Rock." Slumping "Heroes" is also "very secure," according to NBC Entertainment chief Angela Bromstad, and with Jay Leno set to take over the 9 p.m. time period every weeknight, the network will have five fewer hours for its other shows. That could mean curtains for critically-adored shows "Chuck" and "Life" -- with Bromstad specifically citing "quality and ratings" as a prerequisite for renewal. (Gulp.)

The return of Bob Loblaw: The "Arrested Development" movie is a go, right? Yes? No? Yes ... a thousand times, yes! Wait ... still no George Michael? Damn your ever-evolving celebrity profile, Michael Cera!

Yep, even a file for Nikki and Paulo: More fun reading for "Lost" fans: the New York Times has an awesome profile on the guy who keeps track of the show's story arcs and characters for continuity reasons. Somehow, I'm picturing this guy walking around with the entire file in a flimsy manila folder and getting knocked over in an office hallway so papers go flying everywhere ...

"Mr. Nations has noted each character’s sojourns on and off the island, mapped the research stations established by the mysterious Dharma Initiative and recorded the appearances and disappearances of polar bears, Smoke Monsters and an unhealthy array of guns.

“It didn’t take us very long to learn to rely on Gregg when we had to check out an issue of continuity,” Mr. Cuse said. “He had timelines, charts, dossiers. He took it into a dimension that exceeded anything that we could imagine.”

Keeping those details straight is likely to be increasingly important as the series speeds toward its climax, jumping both off and back onto the island and among the past, present and future. If Mr. Eko shows up alive or Jack’s chest hair reappears at an inappropriate time, for example, viewers will notice."

-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com

Tambor, Bateman both seem pretty sure about an “Arrested Development” movie

If this turns out to be true, then yes, Pop-Pop gets a treat.

Jeffrey Tambor, who played George "Pop-Pop" Bluth on the woefully underwatched and probably over-blogged-about "Arrested Development," gave some happy news to EW.com over the weekend regarding a possible movie version of the lamentably defunct sitcom.

“After months of speculation, I think we have finally figured out for sure that we are indeed doing an Arrested Development movie," Tambor said Sunday, while at the premiere of his new movie, "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army." "I am very excited about that. I love that cast and crew and I felt like we had more to say."

This follows similar confirmation-y sounding rhetoric from the show's star, Jason Bateman, who, while chatting up his new movie, "Hancock," dropped this in regards to show creator Mitch Hurwitz: "He's got a really, really good idea for the movie version that would not be just simply the equivalent of four episodes back to back to back. It's actually something that would be specific to the medium of film."

Channel Surfing bloggers (well, the two cool Channel Surfing bloggers, anyway) have been damn-near obsessed with these movie rumors ever since they surfaced — hell, ever since the show's series finale, when narrator Ron Howard made his first on-screen appearance during a scene with script-pitching Maeby and opined, "Maybe a movie?"

It's possible that the sudden popularity of now-movie-stars Bateman and Michael Cera, who played Bateman's timid man-child son George Michael, could be pushing this project closer to reality. If so, you can thank me later for sitting through "Juno" twice.

Thoughts, AD fans?

— Adam Reinhard, areinhard@greenbaypressgazette.com

An inevitable (arrested) development?

Rumors have been swirling -- here and elsewhere -- about a possible "Arrested Development" movie. It's an interesting wrinkle for a show that never found an audience on Fox even though it had some awards cachet and was critically revered to the point of exhaustion.

So what would the movie premise be? Well, according to the caged wisdom of Jeffrey Tambor, who played George Bluth Sr., the script hasn't been written. But it appears all cast members are just waiting for the green light to start working.

According to an interview with the AV Club:

"There are rumors that it's going to be done, and everyone just seems to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm ready, and everyone's on board, so I hope it really happens. Everybody I talk to is very excited about it. When I talk to people that decry that we're not on, I say, "You know, there are rumors, heavy rumors going around that there's going to be a movie." And they go crazy. A lot of "hurrahs" going on. But I know it's not written. Right now, it's just pure intention. But I think it will happen if the good people at Fox and everybody else just gets their act together."

You hear that? HEAVY rumors! C'mon good people at Fox! Now that "American Idol" is over, you have nothing better to do. Make it happen.

So, any ideas on what the Bluth family should do on the big screen? George Sr. building homes for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Steve Holt takes up the family trade and becomes a magician, sorry, illusionist? How about just airing Les Cousins Dangereux in its uncensored, scandalous form?

Man, I need me a trip to the Big Yellow Joint ...

-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com

An animated development for "Arrested Development" alums

As if the ever-increasing rumors of an "Arrested Development" feature film -- it's even got an entry at IMDb -- weren't cool enough, now comes word from the Hollywood Reporter that "AD" mastermind Mitch Hurwitz has recruited three of his former cast members to do voiceover work in his new animated comedy pilot for Fox, "Sit Down, Shut Up."

According to the article, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Henry Winkler have signed on for the cartoon, which focuses on high school staff members who are completely ambivalent to their students. It's based on a live-action Australian series of the same name -- which begs the question, why animate it? Prime-time 'toons have had a pretty spotty track record, especially on Fox. (Remember "The PJs," anyone?) It's possible Fox has an eye to squeeze "Sit Down" onto its Sunday-night animation block of "King of the Hill," "American Dad," "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy."

But I have another question: Why go back to Fox, the network that strung "AD" fans along for three tumultuous years, constantly switching air times and under-promoting the heck out of it? The unfortunate answer, of course, is that Fox is the only network that takes chances on non-traditional shows with any kind of frequency. It's just that once the show's on the air, they have no idea what to do with it, and it usually dies a slow death. ("Firefly," "Dark Angel," "Tru Calling," "Futurama," the list goes on.)

Still, the greenlight for "Sit Down" is welcome news for "AD" fans still mourning the loss of the Bluth family. And who knows, if the show is a hit, maybe we'll be treated to some special guest voices. Perhaps Jessica Walter as a domineering lunch lady? Jeffrey Tambor as a blowhard football coach? David Cross as the world's worst sex-ed teacher? Fingers crossed.

-- Adam Reinhard, lifeisfunnybutnothahafunny@gmail.com

There's always money in the banana stand.

Apparently not content to have "Teen Wolf Too" be his greatest film accomplishment, Jason Bateman is trying to bring together his "Arrested Development" castmates so the Bluth family can crazy-up the big screen.

Yeah, yeah ... I heard that collective yawn.

Why would there be interest in an "AD" movie when barely anyone watched the show during its three seasons on Fox? Yes, American public: I blame you for not supporting one of this decade's finest comedies! YOU! It's more "American Idol" you want! More "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" More "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and its eventual spin-off, "Blue Collar Comedy Tour Presents: Are You Smarter than Larry the Cable Guy?" (BTW: Did anyone flip past Larry the Cable Guy's Christmas Special on VH1 the other night? Tony Orlando? Vicki Lawrence? What year is this?)

For the rest of us "AD" fanatics still stewing over cancellation, we'll have to excitedly stow away these rumors like squirrels gathering nuts for the winter. While doing some promotion for his film, "Juno," also starring Michael Cera (George Michael on "AD"), Bateman told MTV, "The 'Arrested Development' movie is not dead, au contraire. (Over the weekend I had) a little phone call, just catching up, a little reaching out and touching."

That phone call was apparently to "AD" creator Mitchell Hurwitz, with Bateman saying, "This writers strike, it's a devil’s playground. The guy doesn’t have anything to do.

"[During the strike] you're allowed to write things you’re not being paid to do. I'm trying to talk [Hurwitz] into writing the 'Arrested Development' movie. And he could be coming around."

OK, this is more than rumor now. A prolonged writers' strike means more time for Hurwitz to work on fresh Cornballer and "Girls With Low Self-Esteem" jokes. And with "AD" selling well on DVD -- here's a bet more people watch it now than when it aired -- Ron Howard presumably on board, and Cera's decent bank-ability following "Superbad," there's a chance this could actually get made, and GASP, be successful.

Wow. This is so exciting, I'm almost tempted to dust off a Tony Wonder reference and see if anyone gets it (these folks definitely would). But instead, I'll show some restraint and ask, what other TV shows should pursue the movie route?

I've always thought a "Freaks and Geeks" movie set 10 years after the show's 1980-81 school year would be pretty awesome (especially with the cast, particularly John Francis Daley, realistically aging over that time.) Or maybe that's just because I picture Nick Andopolis still trying to play drums, this time with a crappy grunge band. A "Sopranos" movie has long been rumored, but I think a prequel following Johnny Boy and Junior would be better. The flashbacks with young Tony and his crazy mother always made me think there was an even richer backstory to tell. I'd also get a kick just watching young Paulie.

And finally, I think all of us would love to see the "Full House" gang get back together "Brady"-style for some type of feel-good Christmas reunion. As long as the Beach Boys showed up for some caroling around the ol' Tanner tree while Joey toasted some nog and talked about the time he killed on "Star Search," I know it would get me a little teary-eyed ...

-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com