Apparently the rumors were true and Arrested Development really is coming back to TV … via Netflix.

Last month it was rumored that new Arrested Development episodes were coming, but after so many false starts on the movie, it was hard to put in faith in this report.  Luckily I was very, very wrong this time.

Netflix announced yesterday that it had struck a deal with Twentieth Century Fox and Imagine TV for new episodes of the cult series to air exclusively on its Watch Instantly service.  The new season is scheduled to air in early 2013, and while the movie wasn’t mentioned, this fits in with the previous rumor, so that too may still be on the table.

By the time this airs it will have been nearly seven years since the series was canceled, and anyone who remembers the show knows we were left with several cliffhangers.  As the two youngest actors have aged – Michael Cera as George Michael and Alia Shawkat as Maeby – one has to suspect they will have to say at least some time has passed, and they will probably just tell us the resolutions to those cliffhangers in flashbacks where they can avoid showing those two.

Of course, this is all assuming that the entire original cast returns, but that seems pretty likely as all of them, with the exception of Cera, have been saying for years they would come back at a moments notice.  (Cera has softened as of late, but that’s what happens when your movie career has become a bad joke.)

With such a long break in production it is natural to wonder if they will be able to capture the same magic they had for the three seasons they were on, but I’m fairly confident that they can.  Because, just like there was always money in the Banana Stand, there will also be a million jokes you can do about the Bluths.

Joining the growing ranks of rehashed TV shows being brought back is growing today with the announcement that NBC has ordered a pilot for The Munsters.

Originally airing from 1964 to 1966, which was at the same time as  The Addams Family, The Munsters has had a cult following ever since it went off the air.  Seeing as the television networks are trying to resurrect just about everything these days, Bryan Fuller – the creator of Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies – has sold a pilot for a new version of the series to NBC.  There’s no word yet if it will go to series, but it looks somewhat likely from the talent being put together.

Reportedly Fuller is looking to go darker with the series than the original sitcom and remove the camp aspects from it.  I’m not quite sure why it would still go by the same name at that point, but oh well.

Considering how other rehashes of old series has gone as of late, I imagine this will go just well, which is sad since I like Fuller.

It took only about 24 hours for the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to name a new host for the 84th Annual Academy Awards, and it’s the one they probably should have gone with in the first place.

Eddie Murphy stepped down yesterday amid controversy with Brett Ratner who was set to produce this year’s show, but then left over stupid comments he made in various locations.  While Many, including myself, called for Crystal to host this year’s show should go back to a tried and trued solution after last year’s debacle.

While Crystal may not appeal to the younger views, he’s a wise and safe choice for this year, and it really doesn’t matter who takes the gig as no one will even remember who won, let alone who hosted, come the following Monday.

Good luck, Billy, we’re counting on you.

Apparently the 84th Annual Academy Awards is on the hunt for a new host as Eddie Murphy has dropped out after Brett Ratner had to step down as producer.

After a week of saying insanely stupid things, director Brett Ratner has been removed, or stepped down, from his role as the producer of the next Academy Awards. Showing unity with his friend, Eddie Murphy has stepped down from his role as host a mere two months after being named to the job.  He issued the following statement in regards to what happened:

First and foremost I want to say that I completely understand and support each party’s decision with regard to a change of producers for this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I’m sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job.

In response, American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ (AMPAS) Tom Sherak said, “I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well.”

Considering I questioned the choice of Murphy for the job, I’m not too depressed to see him go, and Ratner did this to himself.  (You can see what got him in trouble here)  Good riddance to both of them, now actually book someone for the hosting gig who should actually be doing it.

And the lesson here?  Actions have consequences no matter who you are.

21 Jump Street was always an idiotic concept for a TV show, but the series lingers on people’s memories because it ended up launching the career of some unknown actor named Johnny Depp.

Comedic actor Jonah Hill picked up the rights to the television series and while it wasn’t clear if he was going serious with the project or not, and … no, he isn’t.  Although Depp will have a cameo somewhere in the film, this looks like it will be nothing but being close to a parody fo the original TV series, which few people remember, and it will just turn into another vehicle for Hill.

You can see the red band trailer below (meaning it isn’t safe for work) and judge for yourself, but this looks just about as unentertaining as possible.

The ongoing march of old TV shows becoming movies continues, this time with Bill Paxton rumored to be setting up to direct an update Kung Fu.

Starring the late David Carradine, Kung Fu ran for three seasons in the 1970′s and focused on a Shaolin Monk who was searching for his real family who abandoned hm.  While it was a decent show, and one my father happens to love to this day, I have no desire to now go to a movie theater and watch another take on it.

Nothing is yet booked on this project, but it definitely looks like it wil happen, and, as with so many of these reboots of old TV series, no one will care.  This is mainly because the vast majority fo people 30 and younger will have no clue what the concept is about.  While the series pops up from time to time on cable channels, it has been decades since it had a serious run anywhere, and even those who do remember it, many will have forgotten it over the years.  I’m not quite certain who they think will be the target audience will be for this project, but I’m sure some silly amount of money will be poured into it needlessly.

When we start going back to long forgotten series such as this one, or even The Fall Guy that is currently in active development, one has to wonder what’s next.  Is someone working on the script yet for B.J. and the Bear?  My Mother the Car?  Mister Ed? … oh wait … that one actually looks to be happening.

Could someone please just shoot me in the head?

AMC has decided only two episodes into the second season that the ratings have been strong enough to go ahead and green light a third season of The Walking Dead.

Seeing that the second season premiere set records for a cable premiere, it isn’t too surprising that a third season of the zombie series.  While there was a slight drop off in the numbers for the second episode of the season, it was still high and enough to make AMC decide that they were committed to the project.

Having only skimmed the first two episodes so far, I can’t say I’m seeing a whole lot of improvement over the complaints I had with the first season, but we’ll see if they can ever get this show where.

Expect the third season around this time next year.

Yep, Battlestar Galactica is making its way to the theaters. Before you get too excited, it’s based off the original 1970′s version and not the far superior reboot.

Rumors have circulated for some time that Glen A. Larson, the creator of the original TV series, has been trying to get a movie together that follows the mythos of that version.  As opposed to the rumors that have floated around for some time, this time it looks like it’s really happening.

Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men movies and Superman Returns, has signed on to direct, and this will be his next project after he finishes Jack, the Giant Killer.  The latest addition is to the production is John Orloff, an Emmy nominated writer for Band of Brothers and penned the upcoming Anonymous about the works of Shakespeare, as the script writer.

Speaking to Deadline, Orloff said, “I have wanted to write this movie since I was 12-years-old, and built a Galactica model from scratch out of balsa wood, cardboard, old model parts and LEDs,” Orloff said. “I love BSG, and I would pass on the job rather than frak it up.”

While it’s always nice to see someone live out their childhood dream, the original series was incredibly weak when it came to its underlying story.  ”Robots bad, humans good … stock footage space fights!”  Yes, you ended up caring for some of the characters, but overall it was very simplistic and it was amazing the reboot ended up being as good as it was, but to go back to the original?  I have a really, really bad feeling about this.

After three films that disappointed at the box office, Marvel is going to try bringing the Punisher to the small screen.

Three Punisher films never quite worked out (1989, 2004 and 2008), the media rights to the character finally reverted to Marvel in 2010, but nothing has been discussed as being in development until this week.  According to Deadline, Ed Bernero, creator of the critically acclaimed Third Watch, is working with ABC Studios on developing a television series based around the iconic character.  Fox has optioned it for a pilot with a penalty clause should it never air.

According to the reports, the summary of the series is as follows:

Frank Castle, a rising star detective with the New York Police Department who moonlights as the vigilante Punisher, seeking justice for those the system has failed.

There is so much wrong with that synopsis that I don’t even know where to begin.

The Punisher first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 published in 1974.  Since his creation, and through numerous reboots, one thing that has remained constant is that Frank Castle became the Punisher after seeing his family killed by criminals.  At no point has he been an active duty officer on a police officer by day and a vigilante by night.  He has always been a vigilante through and through with a strict code of ethics.  While I have enjoyed some Bernero’s work over the years, he has starting off on such poor footing here that I can’t even give this series a chance.  I could even deal with the idea of this being yet another procedural series, it sounds like they are going to tear out the core of this character completely for no good reason.

Also at issue is the fact that this will be on network television.  The Punisher is, by his very nature, a killer.  He shoots his enemies, he blows them up and he’ll even run them over, but on network TV?  True, Fox was the home of 24 which has a huge body count, but somehow I don’t see them getting away as easily with this due to the nature of the story.

This project has disaster written all over it to me, but we’ll just have to wait and see what comes out of it.

ABC finally realized towards the end of last week what the rest of the world had already figured out: Charlie’s Angels needed to be taken off the air.

With Charlie’s Angels finally being put out of its misery, the total number of new shows to hit the chopping block from this fall season has risen to five.  The Playboy Club was the first to go and was quickly followed by H8R, Free Agents and How to be a Gentleman.

Most of the shows are burning off their remaining episodes, but production has been shut down on all of the shows so what has been filmed is it.

This season looked rocky to begin with, but the shows are falling even faster than I suspected they would.  I thought we’d lose one or two in the fall, a few more at mid-season and then several wouldn’t get second season orders.  Instead, these shows are doing to badly that they can’t even get complete their initial orders.

Pan Am looks to be the next series heading for the chopping block as it barely came in ahead of Charlie’s Angels last week.

Things are not going well in TV land, and perhaps it will finally tell the networks they can’t just slap any old thing on the tube and we’ll tune into it.  There are just too many options these days, so getting us to watch sub-par programming just isn’t as easy as it once was.

Poor, poor networks.

It took only one show failing to start the domino effect for this fall season.  The body count now stands at three.

After The Playboy Club headed off to cancellation heaven earlier this week, you knew more shows were going to be getting the ax.  First up was the Hank Azaria comedy Free Agents based on a British comedy of the same name, after a dismal showing last night, NBC immediately pulled the plug on the series replacing it with re-airings of other shows until further notice.

This means that in short order that NBC, the network most in need of a hit, has lost two new shows, and there is no clear break out success story for them.  It’d be nice to see them get back in the game at some point after being #1 for so many years, but every time they turn around they are failing.

The other cancellation comes from The CW, and is anyone really surprised it was H8R?  Yes, the idiotic “reality” show where people were “forced” into meeting celebrities they hate.  This show was so insanely stupid that I still can’t believe it ever even ended up on the air, but then again it is The CW, so it isn’t like it was on a real network.

I am certain this won’t be the end of the cancellations for this year.  The selection of shows that got picked up was some of the weakest I have ever seen, and now the networks are finally realizing it.

It shouldn’t come as any huge surprise, but NBC has pulled the plug on The Playboy Club, making it the first casualty of the fall television season.  What is surprising is who is taking credit for the event.

Considering the subject matter of The Playboy Club, it should come as no big surprise that my old friends the Parents Television Council (PTC) made it a target for one of their busy body campaigns of contacting the network and its advertisers about the horrors of this show and how it would destroy the youth of the United States.  So, of course they are taking credit for the cancellation no matter what the network may tell you.

Well, they must be right, I mean they tell you bluntly in their Tweet that no matter what else NBC may say it was them that brought it down.  I mean, it certainly couldn’t have anything to do with the generally lackluster reviews and the fact it was polling in pitiful ratings it was pulling in its three week run.

Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter, someone who should understand the entertainment business than most, ran down his three reasons for what happened.

1. It was bad show, period. The writing was weak, the acting spotty and the sexism too ridiculous and obvious to comment on more than once.
2. Nobody was watching it. It had no buzz tune-in numbers and sank in each successive airing, finishing with 3.4 million viewers on its third and final episode. Those are cable numbers — and not especially impressive cable numbers. The cost of filming The Playboy Club was too expensive to support that kind of tanking.
3. While the Parents Television Council may feel some vindication in NBC pulling the plug, this cancelation wasn’t about boycotts. It was about owning up to the obvious. America did not care for a Mad Men-esque retro series about a lifestyle and brand more dated than any nostalgia could prop up. One would hope that the reason viewers tuned out in droves after sampling it was because it had none of the attributes of a high-quality drama like Mad Men. NBC simply misjudged the appeal of a show like that, despite mountains of evidence from Mad Men that being brilliant doesn’t also mean dominating the Nielsens. Nobody bought into NBC’s big tent approach to nostalgia, so the Bunnies are no more.

But, nope, it was all the PTC. Not sub-par writing. Not poor ratings.  Just a bunch of people with no lives who have nothing better to do than write letters to a network and advertisers.

Oh how I’ve missed that special brand of PTC crazy.