If there ever was a TV show that social media could’ve saved, it’s Arrested Development. And after months of rumors, today Will Arnett confirmed that an Arrested Development movie will hit the big screen sometime next year, written by Mitch Hurwitz himself.
AD, as the kids call it, aired its last episode in February 2006, just 5 months before the launch of Twitter. Facebook was still a rather niche platform. If AD were canceled in today’s social world, you can bet the backlash would’ve either saved the Fox show or given it a new life somewhere else. A few current numbers to ponder:
– The static Arrested Development Facebook page has over 1.2 million fans
– Will Arnett is one of Hollywood’s most active on Twitter, with 286,000 followers
– The Twitter account @bluthquotes is still spouting quotes to 40,000 followers
– AD is one of the all-time most popular shows on Hulu (and likely, Netflix, too)
Back in 2005, we wrote on Lost Remote that AD producers should embrace a “long tail strategy” and not torpedo the show if Fox kicked it off the air (especially given the DVD sales). We were just slightly ahead of our time.
Maybe somebody should buy back the domain, SaveourBluths.com, the fan site that tried to convince Fox to keep the show on the air. In today’s world, social media would’ve made that a lot easier. Just wait until you see the Arrested Development movie firing on all social media cylinders.