# Understood Arrested Development is history, how can I make FOX pay? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 12, 2005, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-arrested-development-is-history-how-can-i-make-fox-pay/330692 "2005-11-12T07:30:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-arrested-development-is-history-how-can-i-make-fox-pay/330692/21 "2005-11-12T20:19:20Z")
> [@Operation Ripper](#): > > In other words, how can I annoy the hell out of FOX for same? You can’t. They’re network programmers. They have no souls or emotions. Your cries of anguish will not be heard. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-arrested-development-is-history-how-can-i-make-fox-pay/330692/22 "2005-11-12T20:58:23Z")
I tried to give AD a chance. I really did. I watched the whole first episode. And at the end, I asked myself, “This is supposed to be funny? Huh?” I literally never found a single thing funny about the entire show. And yet I have several friends, whose tastes otherwise are remarkably similar to mine, who think it’s absolutely wonderful. So I suspect the reason the show never took off was because there were more people ike me than people like you. Which is not to say there’s anything wrong with either liking or disliking it, just that apparently the latter group vastly outnumbers the former. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-arrested-development-is-history-how-can-i-make-fox-pay/330692/23 "2005-11-12T21:17:57Z")
I rented one of the discs of the first season of Arrested Development, and we watched every episode. I liked it. I laughed fairly often. But after I dropped the disc off, I found that I couldn’t be bothered to rent another one, and even though we have a PVR, I never bothered to set up a recording for the show. I don’t know why. Part of it may be that none of the characters are particularly likeable. It might also be that, while I find the show funny, I don’t find it particularly compelling. I don’t find myself pining for another episode to watch, or thinking at all about the show any time other than when I’m watching it. It’s not particularly quotable, so we don’t talk about it at work the way we talk about the Simpsons or Family Guy. It just flies below the radar. I feel the same way about Malcolm in the Middle. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Shroud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@The\_Shroud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Shroud)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-arrested-development-is-history-how-can-i-make-fox-pay/330692/24 "2005-11-12T21:23:15Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Yes it was pre-empted a whole bunch That’s what I was getting at. Pre-empted by baseball, reruns of other shows, etc. I practically had to mark my calendar to remember when to catch it. I don’t think it’s just Fox, but TV in general these days. Gone are the days when a show would run for 36 weeks straight (including reruns) in the same time slot. It seemed worse than usual with _AD_, but maybe it’s because I was always desperately seeking it out. I’ve probably missed a lot of great shows over the past few years because of networks’ schizophrenic scheduling. Whenever the heck _Scrubs_ comes back, I’ll need a billboard to remind me that it still exists. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-arrested-development-is-history-how-can-i-make-fox-pay/330692/25 "2005-11-13T12:25:09Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > There’s also the possibility that someone in the Fox hierarchy didn’t like the show and was intent on its death. > > I’m surprised they didn’t put it on Friday nights - where the majority of shows Fox wants to kill end up. This **Bernie Mac** fan has been hoping for an exception to that rule. But who am I kidding? Look at this season’s **Family Guy** premiere, where Peter listed the twenty or so shows that all had to die so FG could return. And they all did. I don’t know who’s smoking what at Fox. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-arrested-development-is-history-how-can-i-make-fox-pay/330692/26 "2005-11-13T12:36:51Z")
I tried to watch it a few times but the shaky camera technique pushed me to the edge of motion sickness and I had to change channels after a few minutes. Did they do that on every show, through out the entire show? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-arrested-development-is-history-how-can-i-make-fox-pay/330692.md?page=1)