'Arrested Development' luck changes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

As "Arrested Development" wrapped up its first season this spring, there were encouraging predictions.

Then again, some Fox people hinted that "Arrested Development" would be shelved until midseason or later. "They lowered our expectations," says Mitch Hurwitz, the show's creator and producer.

Then all the best things happened. Not only was "Arrested Development" — an off-kilter comedy about a dysfunctional family — renewed for next season, it was given a cozy slot Sunday behind "The Simpsons." The Television Critics Association also named it as the best comedy and best new show. Plus it got seven Emmy nominations, including best comedy.

The Emmy nods caught some by surprise. Jeffrey Tambor was in a hotel when he heard he'd been nominated as best supporting actor.

"When they called, I actually thought it was room service," Tambor says. "So it was a very pleasant surprise."

Hurwitz had convinced himself that the show couldn't be nominated for best comedy. Surely, four of the five nods would go to shows that had just concluded ("Friends," "Frasier," "Sex and the City") or "Everybody Loves Raymond."

Still, Hurwitz couldn't resist watching the nominations being announced on TV.

"I was up at 5:15 (Pacific Time) and watching," he says. "And my little daughter came out crying, because I woke her up ... finally, I saw 'Arrested Development,' which was just shocking and thrilling."

His show had been nominated alongside "Sex," "Raymond," "Will & Grace" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm." It had made the list while "Friends" and "Frasier" didn't.

That's for a show filled with off-center characters. "We play every moment with sincerity," says actress Portia de Rossi of "Ally McBeal" fame. "We're sincere in absurdity."

The dad (Tambor) was sent to prison for shady accounting. His wobbly real-estate business was left in the hands of his semi-clueless wife (Jessica Walter) and kids.

Gob (Will Arnett) is a would-be magician, Buster (Tony Hale) is a permanent grad student and Lindsay (de Rossi) is a big spender whose husband (David Cross) thinks he's an actor. The token normality comes from Michael (Jason Bateman), his son (Michael Cera) and Lindsay's daughter (Alia Shawkat).

Hurwitz had planned to use Tambor and Cross only briefly but decided they were essential.

"That also came from (Fox executives)," he says, "saying, 'If you can get these guys to be full time, that would go a long way to getting the show picked up."

Cross resisted at first. "I was being a big baby about it," he says. "I didn't want to move to Los Angeles."

Then he realized this was a rare chance. He could be on a top-quality show, in a large cast that leaves no one overworked.

When Cross co-created and co-starred in HBO's "Mr. Show," he was working constantly.

"I know the writing process and I know how brutal that is," he says. "(Now I) get up in the morning and ... get a mustache glued to my face, and that's it. My work is over."

As a star of the much-praised "State of Grace," Shawkat spent all her time working or studying. Now she rarely works five days a week, she says. "Sometimes (it's) two days. But it's really fun."

Bateman had starred or co-starred in seven previous situation comedies, three while he was still a teenager. At 35, he is settling into a strong show and a steady life, married to Amanda Anka.