ArrestedDevelopment-related stories
Posted Jun 21st 2009 10:22AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
Fathers' Day should be a time of deep reflection and appreciation for the man who brought you into this world, whether you asked him to or not.
Oh sure, the old man may seem like
the worst father of all time sometimes. He yells and screams. He gets on you for growing your hair too long because he knows he couldn't grow hair if he had a Chia Scalp. He constantly walks around the house in his underwear and then scolds you for not eating the sausage Mom made for breakfast.
But a few minor flaws doesn't mean that he's a bad guy. So go out and get him that witty card with the pipe smoking Dad on the cover, pick out a paisley tie that you'll never see him wear and give him a big hug to remind him
he's the best. Because he's your old man and he's not one of the seven bastard sons of hell below.
Continue reading Seven TV dads we're glad aren't ours
Posted May 13th 2009 9:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, Animation, Reality-Free
Fox must be really disappointed in this show. Not only is it incredibly unlikely to get a renewal beyond this horrible first season, but now
Fox won't even air Sit Down, Shut Up's finale this weekend. Instead, they're going with a rerun of already canceled
King of the Hill. While Fox is notorious for yanking a show before it gets a chance to find its audience, I think it's safe to say that
Sit Down, Shut Up had found about as much audience as it was going to.
In four short episodes, it managed to undo all the work that Fox had done in the past two decades proving that quality animation could be made for prime time. I don't know why the formula didn't work, but I think Mitchell Hurwitz would have been better off trying it live action, like the Australian original.
Continue reading Fox won't even air Sit Down, Shut Up's finale
Posted May 4th 2009 12:22AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Animation, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E03) I'm still not completely sure what I think about
Sit Down, Shut Up yet. This is the third episode, and this is what I have so far: it's funny enough that if I were flipping channels and came across it, I'd keep it on FOX, but if I didn't have to review it, I wouldn't set my DVR.
This week's episode, in which Knob Haven High was up for a distinguished school award, definitely had its funny moments -- the very end where Ennis realizes that he slept with Miracle's mother made me chuckle. However, it wasn't consistent enough to keep my mind from wandering in the middle. I had to rewind a couple of times because I completely spaced out and missed a few scenes.
Continue reading Sit Down, Shut Up: World's Greatest Teacher
Posted Apr 27th 2009 1:47AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E02) Last week, when I rewatched
Sit Down, Shut Up for my review, I said that while I still wasn't enthralled by it, the show was much better upon the second viewing. Since I thought episode 2 was much better than the pilot, I expected to like it even more upon rewatching. Oddly enough, I didn't.
As stellar as this cast is, I'm trying to separate my feelings about this show from my feelings about them. I love
Kristin Chenoweth on
Pushing Daisies, so I don't really want to admit that her work on this show reminds me of a more grating
Amy Sedaris with none of the humor, but it kind of does. I don't know if it's the way her character is written, or the fact that Chenoweth's particular brand of pixie cuteness doesn't translate unless you're looking at her, but she just sounds shrill to me.
Continue reading Sit Down, Shut Up: Miracle's Are Real
Posted Apr 20th 2009 3:03PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Reality-Free
What do you call an animated show whose premiere is sandwiched between two other highly-rated animated shows yet still
manages to be third in its timeslot? You could call it a lot of things. You could call it "poor" or "slow". You know what I call it? A one-season show.
Seriously, I watched the premiere of
Sit Down, Shut Up (and it was
reviewed here on TV Squad), and while I thought some bits were funny, I don't see it lasting more than a season on Fox, if that. This is a network that is quick to pull the plug on many quirky shows (including Hurwitz's previous work,
Arrested Development).
I could be wrong.
Arrested Development lasted three seasons and animated shows are only a fraction of the budget of live-action ones. If his last show is any indicator,
Sit Down, Shut Up is probably one of those shows that rewards loyal viewers with various Easter eggs and hidden double-meanings. Hopefully Fox will give it time.
Posted Apr 17th 2009 5:02PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Animation, Early Looks, Reality-Free
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has been breathlessly anticipating
Sit Down, Shut Up (premiering on FOX Sunday at 8:30 PM ET), the newest series from
Arrested Development creator
Mitch Hurwitz.
SDSU is an animated series based on a live-action Australian show by the same name. It follows a group of under-performing teachers at a Florida high school.
The teachers are all flaky, disinterested in their students, and with the exception of Larry Littlejunk (
Jason Bateman), highly under-qualified for their positions. An example? Miracle Grohe (
Kristen Chenoweth), the science teacher, beat Larry out of the job by stripping off all her clothes and yelling, "I ain't come from no monkey!"
The humor manages to be both broad and subtle at the same time, much in the way
Arrested Development managed to be. However, though Bateman himself calls this show an animated version of
AD, that's overstating it a bit.
Sit Down, Shut Up, is more like
Arrested Development's annoying younger brother.
Continue reading Sit Down, Shut Up -- An early look
Posted Apr 16th 2009 10:04AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: OpEd, Animation, Reality-Free
I don't know about you guys, but I've been super-excited about the premiere of
Mitch Hurwitz's new animated show,
Sit Down, Shut Up. It seems like I've been hearing about it forever, but it finally premieres this Sunday night on Fox. Recently, the screener came up for grabs, so naturally I jumped at it. What I didn't realize is that I would be getting the whole press kit with it.
All press kits are not created equal: I'd definitely enjoy a
talking Barney bobblehead from
How I Met Your Mother, but a busted picture of
Eliza Dushku's face from
Dollhouse really wouldn't do a whole lot for me. The press kit for
Sit Down, Shut Up is kind of low-rent, but it
is for a Mitch Hurwitz show on FOX. The low-rated
Arrested Development didn't exactly make FOX a boatload of cash while it aired, so they're probably waiting to see how the ratings go for this one before they shell out any more dough on fancy tschotkes for the press.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: Sit Down, Shut Up
Posted Apr 10th 2009 2:25PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, Animation, Interviews, Casting, Reality-Free
With
Arrested Development, Mitchell Hurwitz went through the ringer with critical support, winning awards, and grassroots campaigns to convince Fox to keep the show on the air that ultimately failed. So what does Hurwitz do for a follow-up? He takes some of the same cast (Will Arnett, Jason Bateman), goes back to the same network (Fox), and back to an idea he had before
Arrested hit the airwaves.
The new show is
Sit Down, Shut Up, an animated series that debuts April 19th at 8:30 PM, in between
The Simpsons and
Family Guy.
"It's funny, this is a show that I actually wrote in the year 2000, and it was an adaptation of a live-action show from Australia," Hurwitz said in a recent conference call. "I kind of kept it in the drawer for a long time, and finally brought it out, mostly because I needed money, which - I enjoy money, and I also use it for all sorts of different things in my life, but mostly for food and shelter."
Continue reading Mitchell Hurwitz talks Sit Down, Shut Up and Arrested Development
Posted Apr 3rd 2009 9:05AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Cancellations, Ratings, Reality-Free
According to industry scuttlebutt,
My Name Is Earl is on the ropes and at risk of being canceled by NBC. Nikki Finke is reporting that it's practically a done deal at NBC, but
Earl could be moving to Fox.
It's not just the lousy Nielsen ratings that have done the shaggy-dog sitcom in, it's also the rising production costs. NBC has an entire line-up that's bleeding in the ratings, so surgery is required. It is very likely that
Earl will get the ax.
Continue reading Could My Name Is Earl jump to Fox?
Posted Mar 11th 2009 12:15PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Video, Animation, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Reality-Free
The fact that
Will Arnett may not actually be the father of wife
Amy Poehler's baby is just one of the shocking tidbits you learn from
Jason Bateman on the soundstage for
Sit Down, Shut Up,
Mitch Hurwitz's upcoming animated comedy in which he and Arnett both lend their voices. We heard about the
mini Arrested Development reunion almost a year ago, and while the series doesn't premiere until April 19th, FOX has given us a taste of what to expect.
The video is great because it's not even a preview of the show, nor does it talk about the animated series in any way. Instead, it's three minutes of Jason Bateman and Will Arnett talking about height, "hair hats" man boobs, and intelligence (or lack thereof). It's blatently aimed at rabid, drooling
Arrested Development fans who are clamoring for any smidgen of a hint of the show's former glory-- and it works.
Continue reading Amy Poehler is "surprisingly promiscuous" - VIDEO
Posted Jan 18th 2009 2:03PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Animation, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
The long, drawn-out cancellation of
Arrested Development was one of television's greatest crimes against humanity. It ranks right up there with the approval of a new
Knight Rider when the original was already one too many, the spinoff
Baywatch Nights, and the made-for-TV movie
Knight Rider 2000. That's right, I just hassled the Hoff. If any of you want a piece of me, I also come with a side of "whoop-ass."
But with the
Arrested Development movie clawing its way inch-by-inch towards the big screen, Mitchell Hurwitz will at least have one other project on the horizon and on the very same network that tried to destroy him. Either he's showing he's a good guy and can take rejection in stride, or he's trying to bring down the place from the inside. You make the call.
Fox announced that Hurwitz's new show,
Sit Down, Shut Up, will air sometime next fall. Critics also got an advance screening at
the Television Critics Association conference last week.
Continue reading Arrested Development creator returns to the network that killed him, possibly for vengeance?
Posted Nov 21st 2008 12:23AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Cancellations, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
Look, this isn't my first time at the rodeo. I knew going into this last year, that the chances of a quirky fairy tale about death having long-term success were slim-to-none.
I've seen the signs; I've known that
this day was going to come. That doesn't mean that I couldn't hope that ABC would decide to keep
Pushing Daisies; my favorite new show from last season. I've held out hope, and today,
that hope was dashed. What's worse, is I can't even focus all of my anger on ABC; some of it is pointed directly at
Daisies creator, Bryan Fuller.
I'm trying to be mature and diplomatic about this, but seriously: Bryan Fuller can suck it.
Continue reading ABC cancels Pushing Daisies, and I hate everyone
Posted Oct 30th 2008 11:05AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Ratings, Reality-Free
30 Rock has been the little show that could for two years. Like
Arrested Develoment a few years back, it has a rabid fan following and the critics just adore it. Unfortunately, it also has the same problem that plagued
AD: low ratings. While those numbers did tick up during last year's strike-shortened season, the show still only averaged 6.4 million viewers, good enough for 94th place among all shows. It's also proven it does well with alternate viewing methods like online streaming and DVR recording but the networks are still struggling with how to account for that.
If ever there was a time for Tina Fey's little show to find that bigger audience, this would be it. Sure winning the Emmy for Best Comedy for the second year in a row is great. Hell, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin took home awards for Best Actor and Actress as well this time. But even that doesn't mean anything when the ratings numbers come in. What does matter right now is Sarah Palin. Thanks to John McCain picking the one woman on the planet
who looks exactly like Tina Fey, suddenly she's the most famous comedian on the planet, and that could just save her show.
Continue reading Will Sarah Palin make 30 Rock a success ... finally?
Posted Sep 11th 2008 3:00PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Where are the family comedies these days? They're a rare commodity on the big three plus Fox, and even if you include the animated clans on
The Family Guy and
The Simpsons and
American Dad, you can count the family-type comedy shows on one hand.
However, TBS has a throwback family comedy, one in
The Cosby Show mode, and they're sticking with it.
TBS's The Bill Engvall Show has just been given a third season renewal. The sitcom will be back in the summer 2009 with ten new episodes.
I've watched
The Bill Engvall Show and enjoyed it. It's meant to evoke
Cosby, but I also found a lot of
Everybody Loves Raymond and
Home Improvement in it as well, and that's a good thing. Engvall's a funny guy, and he's greatly aided in the show by sitcom vet Nancy Travis as his smart, attractive spouse.
Continue reading TBS loves Engvall
Posted Sep 5th 2008 10:02AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, Arrested Development, Casting, Reality-Free
Aside from a couple of TV shows in the 1990s (
Drexell's Class and
Total Security -- ever heard of them?), most of
Jason Biggs' career has been in the film industry -- most notably as Jim Levenstein in the
American Pie series.
Now it looks like he might be headed back to TV with a
CBS comedy about a family that "loves too much." He's in final negotiations to
headline the as-yet-untitled project, which has received a pilot commitment and an order for six additional scripts.
The show revolves around adult siblings and their parents, all of whom are over-involved in each others' lives.
Continue reading Jason Biggs heading to CBS?
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