Netflix Revives 'Arrested Development'
LOS GATOS (CBS SF) - Break out the blue paint, denim cutoffs and your best chicken dance - "Arrested Development" is heading to Netflix. The series is resuming production and will be available for instant viewing by Netflix subscribers in 2013, the Los Gatos-based company announced late Friday.
READ MORE: "Arrested Development" to return for new series, film
The quirky, Emmy-winning show featured Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera and Jeffrey Tambor as members of the dysfunctional, formerly wealthy Bluth family. Netflix didn't specify which original cast members might be returning or say how many new episodes were planned.
"Netflix is gassing up the staircar! I don't think I've ever been happier to wear a pair of khakis," Bateman tweeted.
Ron Howard, who served as the show's executive producer and narrator, also shared the news on Twitter: "Gotta warm up my throat and start practicing.... "it's Arrested....Development"
"Many thanks to you ever-so-vocal Arrested Development supporters Wouldn't have gotten here without you," he added.
Twentieth Century Fox Television and Imagine Television will produce these new episodes for the online subscription service, reviving the series five years after the Fox broadcast network pulled the plug.
Imagine Entertainment co-founders Howard and Brian Grazer noted that 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," they said.
Last month, series co-creator/executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz told attendees at the New Yorker Festival's "Arrested Development" cast reunion panel that he wanted to shoot nine or 10 episodes that would catch fans up on what the Bluth clan has been up to since the series ended. That season will be followed by a movie.
Earlier this year, Netflix announced that "House of Cards," a new political drama starring Kevin Spacey, will be produced for viewing on the service in 2012.
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