Un(!)-Arrested Development

Yaaaay! I finally hearing good news about the long-talked-about-but-never-realized Arrested Development movie. They've been considering making a movie, you say? Yes, buzz of a potential movie began soon after the show's untimely demise at the hands of the evil Fox network, and now it's finally in the works. Yay!

From what I'm hearing, just about all the original principle actors have expressed a willingness, if not a total giddiness, to be in the movie, so I fully expect the feature film to live up to the series' standards. I'm hopeful they don't do too much re-capping and establishing for new viewers. I realize some exposition will be necessary, but I don't need the entire concept to be re-hashed for the pathetic masses who have never seen the show. It's a problem that's faced by many TV serieseses that make the leap to the big screen. Although I thoroughly enjoyed Joss Whedon's Serenity (which was borne of his fantabulous series Firefly, which not-so-coincidentally also met its untimely end at the hands of the evil Fox network), it included a lot of backstory that had already been established by the short-lived series. Not so much as to ruin the experience, but I would have liked to have seen the movie pick up where the series had left off (not that that would have really been possible, but a girl can dream).

Anyway, here's what I'm hearing about Arrested Development, the movie:

Jason Bateman, aka Micheal Bluth, told MSNBC's Kieth Olbermann that, "It's in the works. The grown-ups are trying to work out the numbers." Oh, Micheal. How I've missed you!

He also told the Times of London the movie version — slated for a 2009 release — will have a different feel than the TV series: "When it was on TV, if you missed one word, the whole third act could be blown for you. And TV is a different experience. You come home and you've got to finish a call so you miss the first ten minutes or you get snacky and you go to the fridge and you miss another two minutes, so it's a different experience to film."

Okay, I love Jason Bateman. I'm going to start using "get snacky" on a regular basis. Awesome.

Anyway, no telling yet who all will be on board, but I've heard in the past that Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter, aka George Bluth Sr. and Lucille Bluth, have both said they would absolutely be on board with a movie. Buster and Tobias will more than likely be on board (and quite frankly, how could they have a movie without them?), and barring scheduling conflicts, I would certainly hope that Gob and Lindsay would be along as well. I think the real problem could come with George Micheal, played by the suddenly everywhere Micheal Cera, because, well, being everywhere really eats in to one's schedule, I would imagine... I'm hoping everyone can make it work. Yay!

Annnd, here are some season 1 clips to get you as giddy as I am about the forthcoming movie...



This clip cracks me up every time. Awesome.