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.”
Fox tried to hail “Sit Down, Shut Up” — the new animated series that debuted on Sunday night — as the heir to “Arrested Development,” and it was totally right in one regard: the ratings sucked.
Debuting at 8:30 p.m., Sit Down (5.2 million viewers, 2.3 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) fell 23% from its Simpsons (6.5 million, 3.0) lead-in, then audiences jumped up 65% for Family Guy (7.4 million, 3.8). American Dad (5.8 million, 3.0) filled out the block. The Sit Down opener also was down 15% from the time period’s average performance (typically King of the Hill).
If you missed it, you’re welcome to watch the pilot on Hulu, but… well, let’s put it this way: I wanted to like it. I tried to like it. I did not like it. There are some brief moments of wit and humor, but mostly it was easy, obvious gags and WAY too much of Kenan Thompson’s voice. Kenan Thompson killed this faster than a Saturday Night Live skit. And that’s no easy task.
Next month, FOX will add “Sit Down, Shut Up” — about teachers and staff at a small-town high school — to its Sunday night all-animation programming. The show, a re-make of a short-lived Australian sitcom, was set up by the creator of “Arrested Development” and features the voices of Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Kristin Chenoweth (rowr!), Will Forte, Nick Kroll, Cheri Oteri, Kenan Thompson, and Henry Winkler. (And for those of you with toddlers: the characters were drawn by Mo Willems, author of an excellent series of children’s books about a bratty pigeon.) Hard to imagine Will Arnett and Jason Bateman signing on for something that sucks, but with Kenan Thompson, you never know.
Below is a video of Arnett and Bateman describing each other in a promotion for the show. Hey, remember “Arrested Development”? Really cool of FOX to cancel that.
