Now that Arrested Development ...
Question: Now that
Arrested Development is gone, does Fox have any promising new comedies set for its fall lineup? I read that they have a
Brad Garrett show, but that doesn't really feel like the kind of cutting-edge comedy they have attempted for so many years now. Have they finally given up after canceling most of their best comedies too soon, or have the cutting-edge comedies gotten tired of being jerked around by Fox?
Answer: It's true that this season Fox is going more mainstream in its comedy choices. Fox Entertainment chief
Peter Liguori says the network did develop a few single-camera (read: cutting-edge) pilots that didn't work out. I think it's a mistake, though, to assume that just because a comedy is done the old-fashioned way (with multiple cameras on a soundstage before a studio audience) it's automatically not as worthy or as funny as a more stylized, filmed piece (à la
Arrested Development, Scrubs or
My Name Is Earl). Some terrific work can still be done in this format. Sadly, that work isn't showing up on Fox this fall. Brad Garrett's
'Til Death is passable, thanks to him and
Joely Fisher as an irascibly long-married couple, but it's also kind of forgettable. Which is still miles above its pathetically uninspired companion piece on Thursdays, the unhappy
Happy Hour. (At least Fox still has its animated comedies on Sundays, setting it apart from its competitors.)
