Fox pulls ‘Arrested Development’ for November sweeps

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – In a move that will likely spell
the end of a TV show that critics love but never drew big
audiences, the Fox network said on Friday it pulled offbeat
comedy “Arrested Development” from its schedule for the rest of
the month.

Fox plans to air reruns of its popular new jailhouse drama
“Prison Break” in place of “Arrested Development” through the
end of November “sweeps,” when networks go all-out to boost
their ratings for the sake of local TV stations’ ad sales.

Removing a struggling show during sweeps, while falling
short of outright cancellation, is usually a sure sign a
network has given up hope on a series.

In addition, Fox, a unit of News Corp. Ltd., said it had
cut back its production order for “Arrested Development” to 13
episodes from 22 episodes for the season.

A network spokesman said the show would return to prime
time in December but the show’s future beyond that had not been
decided.

Insiders at the network and its sister production studio,
20th Century Fox Television, said it was doubtful the series
would be renewed for a fourth season next year.

“It probably does spell the end of the show,” one source
told Reuters.

The comedy, starring Jason Bateman as a widower struggling
to manage the affairs of his dysfunctional family after his
father, played by Jeffrey Tambor, lands in prison, has been a
darling of TV critics since its launch in 2003.

Despite winning an Emmy Award as best comedy last fall, the
show has continued to flounder in the ratings, averaging a
meager 4.2 million viewers through the five original episodes
that have aired this season.

“There was a very loyal and passionate audience that
unfortunately never did grow,” studio spokesman Chris Alexander
said.

Along with “Arrested Development,” Fox also is taking
freshman comedy “Kitchen Confidential” off the air for the
remaining three Mondays of the November sweep.

Elsewhere in prime time, the WB network said on Friday that
one of its top shows, family drama “7th Heaven,” will end its
10-year run in May in what one source said was a decision
determined in large part by economics.

The show, which averages 5.1 million viewers, will leave
the airwaves as the longest-running family drama in U.S. TV
history, outpacing two hit series from the 1970s and ’80s, “The
Waltons” and “Little House on the Prairie,” the Time Warner
Inc.-controlled network said.

Rising production costs for the ensemble drama and the fact
that “7th Heaven” was up for renegotiation with producers and
cast members contributed to the WB’s decision not to renew the
series for an 11th season, a person close to the program said.