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Arrested Development Returns: How did you hear?

Posted by: | October 3, 2011 | No Comment |

Those who are familiar with the short-lived 2003-2006 sitcom “Arrested Development” might chuckle when I say, “Taste the happy, Michael.”

“Arrested Development,” which ran for three seasons before Fox canceled the show due to poor ratings, gained critical acclaim during its stint while attracting a cult following.

Due to its unconventional humor, the show wasn’t well-received by regular Fox viewers, but recent events have proven that the show’s creator Mitch Hurwitz was onto something after all.

It was revealed Sunday that “Arrested Development” would be returning with a fourth mini-season which will lead into a feature film. The real kicker, however, is this: there was no formal coverage of the announcement.

In one of the more interesting displays of pop culture word-of-mouth news in recent times, the rumors stemmed from a small announcement at the New Yorker Festival, which was followed by tweets from former show cast members Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.

The news spread faster than wildfire, reaching thousands of people all around the world. Facebook and twitter immediately exploded with ecstatic posts and gifs to display excitement, like this one. Or this one. Or this one.

The fact that the only components responsible for the rapid spread of this major news (at least for ‘AD’ fans) were twitter, facebook and a few TV blogs just proves that social media is the new form of spoken news.

Whether or not Fox will pick up the fourth season is still up in the air, but since the show’s cancellation in 2006, fans everywhere have made it quite clear that they want more of the Bluths. Though definitely not the most important news of the week, the return of Arrested Development is news nonetheless, and social media has made sure, once again, that the news reached everyone.

It’s still not clear when the season will air, but until then:

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