Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Hurwitz, Sarandos: “Arrested Development” Will Be Back

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One of the many pleasures of last night’s Mel Brooks AFI tribute was meeting “Arrested Development” creator Mitch Hurwitz. He was sitting at the same table as Netflix chief Ted Sarandos. And the two very creative guys told me that, if they can pull everyone together again, “Arrested Development” will be back on Netflix with  more episodes.

Their recent launch of 15 new episodes is a big hit, Sarandos says. Netflix doesn’t release figures or ratings, but suffice to say that the two guys are very very happy with the experiment that brought the cult series back.

“And to think the ratings that cancelled it were like 7 million,” Hurwitz said of Fox’s cancellation of the show a couple of years ago. “Now everyone would kill for that number.”

Take the “Arrested Development” poll on the home page.

Hurwitz told me that making the new series was a total pleasure. “Jason Bateman only had three weeks for us. He filmed all his scenes at once. And he was great. Michael Cera is a star. Jessica Walter– how funny is she? That she would do the things we ask her–” Hurwitz had praise for the whole cast, believe me.

We talked about binge viewing. Initially fans were skeptical of the first few new episodes. But then watching the whole season to the end was very satisfying. “You saw how the last episodes answered the first ones,” Hurwitz said. “We never tried anything like that before. But it worked.”

Sarandos is very stoked about “AD,” “House of Cards,” and the new Netflix series coming imminently– “Orange is the New Black” from “Weeds” creator Jenji Kohan. I am too. I have my Roku box all set and ready to go! Nice guys by the way.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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