"Arrested Development" - The Movie?

Life in TV Land is not fair.

Horrible comedies like "Two and a Half Men" or pretty much anything on Fox, are allowed to survive despite being contrived, hacky, gross for gross' sake, stale, horrendously unfunny pieces of crap. Meanwhile, shows that display a genius level of writing and acting are frequently sent to the gallows, because not enough Nielsen families tune into good shows (those would be the rubes in your neighborhood who religiously watch every "Law & Order" and "CSI" incarnation).

"Arrested Development," which was lucky to survive 2 1/2 seasons with poor ratings, was cancelled by Fox in 2006. I still remember how the network unceremoniously dumped the final four episodes all on the same night - the night of the Opening Ceremony for the Winter Olympic Games.

Why am I bringing all this up now? Because ever since the final episode aired, there has been speculation that someday an "Arrested Development" movie would be produced. And in the past couple of weeks, there have been multiple reports that such a movie is closer to becoming a reality. Plus, there is now an IMDB page for the movie.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I would be the first person in line at the cinema to see such film, and would probably see it at least twice. On the other hand, even though the show ended prematurely, it did end with a somewhat proper and satisfying finale. Plus, there always lies the danger of a television show not translating to the big screen. One of the funnier shows of the past decade, "Strangers With Candy" (starring Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert), led to a quite unfunny film five years after it was cancelled. And though I have yet to see the "Reno 911" movie, I have discerned from others that it doesn't match the series' best moments.

It seems that whether or not "Arrested Development" makes it into theaters will hinge on the series' creator and mastermind, Mitchell Hurwitz. Hurwitz has just one writing credit to his name post-AD, and it appears to have been a show that was never picked up. Hopefully that is a sign that he has been busy at work completing a fantastic script for "Arrested Development: The Movie."

At any rate, all of this speculation gives me the opportunity to post some funny moments from one of the greatest TV shows: