Last month, “Arrested Development” creator Mitch Hurwitz announced that there would be a 9- or 10-episode season of the show that would serve as a primer for the long-awaited, forever-germinating “Arrested Development” movie. Late on Friday afternoon, Netflix announced that it would stream the new season in early 2013. (Good call on making the announcement Friday afternoon, by the way. That way it has all weekend to fall out of Monday’s headlines.)

Netflix said on Friday that it had struck a deal for new episodes with the makers of the show, 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television. The episodes are to start appearing on the service in 2013. “Bringing a series back from cancellation almost never happens, but then, ‘Arrested’ always was about as unconventional as they get, so it seems totally appropriate that this show that broke the mold is smashing it to pieces once again,” the founders of Imagine, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, said in a statement. Streaming episodes of the critically acclaimed show have remained popular among Netflix subscribers, giving the company the confidence to make more. [NYT]

So it’s really happening. This is fantastic news, if only because it shows that years of fanboy whining has finally paid off. That means we could get a fourth season of “Community” in 2018.

“Arrested Development” was canceled in 2006 after only three seasons on the air, something that the series’ devoted fans have loudly bemoaned approximately every day since then. But after five years of complaining and wondering if the long-discussed “AD” movie would ever happen, the clouds have parted to give us this ray of sunshine: the entire cast will reunite next summer to film a 10-episode season AND a movie. Series creator Mitch Hurwitz announced the news at this weekend’s New Yorker festival, and stars Jason Bateman and Will Arnett confirmed the plans on Twitter.

Short version for you ADD types: 20th Century Fox TV will produce the episodes, with Netflix and Showtime emerging as the early frontrunners to air the miniseries, which would serve as a sort of catch-up/primer for the movie. The long version:

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Alternate headline: The “Arrested Development” movie is never coming out.  Show creator Mitch Hurwitz told Digital Spy that he is currently working on a script and wants to expedite this C-word before everyone turns on him.

“We’ve started that process and it is our sincere hope to shoot it this year and get it out this year.  That’s what we’re hoping, but a lot of things have to fall into place for that to happen.”

He continued, “I don’t like to toy with the affections of our fans. They’ve been so supportive and we’re so grateful, so I kind of hate to answer the question until I can say, ‘Yep, we’ve shot it, it opens next week’. Otherwise it feels like we’re toying with people and we do not mean to do that. It has just taken a while to get it going.”

You know, I don’t want to be that guy, but Jessica Walter is 70-years old and Jeffrey Tambor is pushing it, if you guys don’t hurry up and make this movie they will be dead and it will be an impossibility.  Oh, who am I kidding, Michael Cera is 22, do it before he dies of old age.

[Digital Spy]

Three of the driving forces behind “Arrested Development” — creator/executive producer Mitch Hurwitz, actor Will Arnett, and co-executive producer Jim Vallely — have teamed up to make another sitcom for Fox.  Hold on, hold on — be sure to read everything before you go Twitter all your friends about it:

The project, which has received a script commitment, is being written by Hurwitz (right), Arnett and Vallely. It stars Arnett as a rich Beverly Hills jackass who falls in love with a charitable tree-hugging woman who can’t stand his lifestyle or values.

Okay, Will Arnett as a rich jackass sounds promising… so why am I hesitant to be excited about this?  Four words: Sit Down, Shut Up.  That’s the other project these three guys have worked together on, and it BLEW.  Granted, animated shows seem to have a harder time gaining traction in a network’s lineup, but this had nothing to do with the animation — it was the lousy writing and unfunny jokes that killed it.  How bad was it?  About as bad as “Arrested” was good.  Put the two sitcoms together, average them out, and you get slightly better than “According to Jim.”