Audrey Reed
Editor in Chief
America is in love with Orange County. It’s a beautiful place with even more beautiful people. Best of all, the problems that arise squarely within county lines can be solved in 30 or 60 minute intervals. That’s why the Orange County-based television show, “Arrested Development,” is holding its breath until Fox announces next season’s line-up.
While no television networks have spoken on whether it will air the show next season, “Arrested Development’s” final four episodes of the season will be compressed into a two-hour marathon.
This sounds like a good idea, until one considers that at the same time the opening ceremonies of the Olympics will be airing, evidence that Fox is not promoting the critically acclaimed show as David Cross, who plays Tobias Funke on the show, alleges.
Recently, several TV shows have made their home in Orange County: MTV’s reality spectacle “Laguna Beach,” FOX’s less-fake-than-“Laguna” drama “The OC,” and FOX’s comedy “Arrested Development.”
The first two exonerate the chic county. “Arrested,” winner of five Emmy awards, takes a far different approach, and this approach has proved deadly to the series.
As we have learned through FOX’s cancellation of the show, America is not ready for a less than Edenic view of Orange County.
“Arrested” follows the crumbling Bluth family. The Bluths are developers in Newport Beach, but the family company almost goes under when father, George Sr., is accused of building houses in Iraq and having ties with Saddam Hussein.
With George Sr. under investigation, the least dysfunctional sibling, Michael, takes over the company and relentlessly tries to piece the business and his madcap family back together.
The third season carried over the solid comedy of the first two: Lucille’s excessively Freudian relationship with son Buster, Gob’s power struggle with Michael over the family company, and Tobias and Lindsay pretending to succeed at an open marriage.
What differentiated it from the other O.C. series, is that it de-classified Orange County as a fantasyland. The family for the most part is unattractive and live in the first and only home in the subdivision they are attempting to develope. The land surrounding them is barren after being cleared for construction that may never happen. This is not Casey Reinhardt’s home in Laguna Beach.
In “The OC,” a mother’s drinking problem carried the season, and in “Arrested” it provides a few witty dialogues. In “Laguna Beach” boyfriends and girlfriends are the center of the drama, whereas with the Bluths parentals consistently forget the names of their children’s love interests.
“Arrested” created a reality of Orange County no one wanted to accept: the people aren’t all ethical, or good-looking, or rich, or even really that cool. (Think Tobias as the understudy for the Blue Man Group and painting himself blue.)
Admittedly, viewership for “Arrested” is not as high as “The OC.” The Cohen family brings in more than 6 million viewers a week while the Bluths usually attract around 4 million. However, MTV, though not a network, has a little more than 3 million viewers each week for “Laguna,” and that was only after intense marketing to the formidable teenybopper audience since last season. (Last season the show was grabbing about 2.2 million.)
But not all is fair in network television. Even though “Arrested” is critically acclaimed, smart and original, it cannot compete with Kristen’s manipulative ways or Marissa’s poor selection of friends.
What can be done to fix this television wrong? Maybe “Development” is too big of a word for viewers and the title should be shorted to “A.D.” mimicking the “O.C.” Maybe Tobias should get a wavy black toupee a la Sandy Cohen. Maybe the narrator, Ron Howard, should be credited in the show. Everyone loves him, right?
But for now all “Arrested Development” and its slew of cult fans can hope for is to be picked up by a cable channel or wait for Orange County lose its sparkle in America’s eye.
01-19-2006
