Arrested Development Fans: Don’t Be Blue, New Documentary Is All Green

Arrested Development fans, rejoice! The Bluths are finally coming back to town—well, at least two of their biggest supporters are. Neil Lieberman and Jeff Smith, the makers of the in-development Arrested Development Documentary Project, are coming to New York this weekend. It’s the latest stop on their quest to scour America for the biggest fans of what they call, in their movie’s trailer, “a show that would change the TV landscape forever.”

It all began just under five years ago, when the brainchild of creator Mitchell Hurwitz premiered on Fox. It was a story of family dysfunction, it was a tale of the absurdly materialistic upper crust, and after 53 episodes, one Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy win, and numerous other awards, it was all over.

Despite the massive critical acclaim heaped upon the show and its devoted (but small) audience, a general cultural apathy—demonstrated by poor ratings—ultimately did the show in. By 2006, halfway through Arrested Development’s third season, it was as if the higher-ups at Fox had decided to give their oft-moved-around show and its fans one last slap in the face. Like an unwanted domestic good, the final four episodes were dumped in an international landfill: aired back-to-back in a two-hour chunk against the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics. “I remember watching those last four episodes and being upset. You couldn’t even savor it,” said Lieberman.

The show suffered indignity after indignity before finally being taken off the air. At that point, Lieberman and Smith decided to take the matter into their own hands. At first, the documentary had two goals: to get the show back on the air, in some format, and to raise awareness of the show in general. Now the filmmakers are focused mainly on the latter, perhaps because series star Will Arnett, who plays Gob, recently said that an Arrested Development film may be in the works.

They’re also focusing on staying green. Lieberman and Smith keep track of all the carbon emissions their production is creating—in mileage by air and by car, electricity used during interviews and so on—and organize local efforts, such as tree planting and median rehabilitation on a stretch of LAX airport, in order to offset their environmental expenditures. “I also wanted to be the first, as far as I know, independently produced movie that doesn’t have a carbon footprint,” said Smith. “The green thing is new. I thought, if they [big Hollywood productions] could do it, why can’t we?”

Of course, the environmental endeavor is just a side project. The two have traveled around the country to talk to fans of the show. An eclectic bunch, one fan even purchased Gob’s original Aztec Tomb—a prop essential to the overall series’ arc, used in the show’s pilot and later episodes—off of eBay. “When you meet another fan of the show, you automatically have a connection,” Lieberman said. “If you disagree on everything else but you agree on Arrested Development, you can have some sort of friendship.”

How successful, though, can the Arrested Development documentary actually be? Since Arrested Development is peppered with in-jokes and glimmering winks to episodes past, it’s the kind of show that tends to inspire cult obsessions and rabid fandom. Columbia itself has no shortage of AD devotees—Jess Wall, BC ’10, has watched the seasons numerous times on DVD and even received assorted Arrested Development paraphernalia as a birthday present from her just-as-obsessed roommate. Still, perhaps it is naïve optimism to think that the documentary could really drum up significant awareness of the series. Perhaps it is also too much to ask for a fan documentary to actually galvanize the masses into watching a show that they rejected in the first place.

“I appreciate the goal of the documentary to ‘raise awareness,’ but I really can’t see why a non-fan would bother to go see it. If you don’t understand the inside jokes of the show, how would the documentary be entertaining to you?” said Wall. “As a fan though, I might go see it. After all, there’s nothing better than exchanging quotes and anger at the lack of appreciation for the show with a fellow fan.”