Arrested Development Ratings

5-28-13-Bearman-Cartoon-Arrested Development Ratings Perception vs Reality

So the new season of Arrested Development has finally streamed on Netflix to what appears to be heavy streaming of the new episodes, disappointment from critics, and a stock tumble because reception of the fourth season wasn’t as good as expected.  I will be honest, I remember when the show premiered on Fox, I wasn’t a fan.   I guess I wasn’t the only one because it peaked at about 6 million viewers and was about 120 on the ratings list.   Sure you can blame Fox for poor scheduling but it just never caught on during it’s run even though the critics lauded it.

But unlike the Fox run, as my cartoon alludes to the poor ratings, those critics got the buzz continuing and it saw new life on streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu.   So the rabid fan base couldn’t wait till the new season.   Sadly the critics aren’t as giddy with Season 4 so we will see if there is a Season 5.

Are you an Arrested Development fan?   What am I missing?

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60 Responses to “Arrested Development Ratings”

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  1. Sam says:

    Personally, I am a huge fan of the new season.

    The format changed slightly for the new season, but once you get a couple of episodes in, you see that this actually makes it better. It evolved for the new medium… weekly television episodes require one kind of storyline, all-at-once Netflix bursts require another.

    Also, the Nielsen ratings system is one of the most flawed things there is. Basically it results in the most heavily-marketed shows being the “highest rated” even if no one watches them.

    • Bearman says:

      Nielson is flawed but it has nothing to do with marketed shows. There are tons of shows that were highly marketed that stunk in ratings.

      The problem with Nielsen is that they are behind the curve in figuring out how to do time lapsed ratings for DVRs or streaming

      • Sam says:

        My point regarding Nielsen and marketing is that in many smaller markets, it’s based on surveys. I was selected for Nielsen a couple of years ago, and it was literally a questionnaire that said “name the top five shows you watch”. If people are relying on memory for that, they might just name something they have watched before in the past that was heavily marketed. The fact that “two and a half men” is highly-rated comes to mind.

  2. George says:

    The only Arrested Development I like is the group that sang “Tennessee” back in 1991. I’ve heard of the show and I’ve really meant to try and watch it, but I’ve just never taken the initiative (and I am a huge NetFlix viewer; I’ll watch anything). But then again, I don’t watch The Office nor 30 Rock, so maybe I’m just ignorant. 🙂

    • Bearman says:

      I’m the type of person that if a show is sooooo in your face with everyone talking about it I feel it will never live up to the hype. Watched Office at times but 30 rock bored me.

      Loved the Sopranos the first two seasons until it became this huge phenomenon and then the writing didn’t keep up with what I expected from the first seasons so stopped watching

  3. Comedy Plus says:

    I never heard of this show until right now. Okay, I admit we don’t watch much television around here.

    Have a terrific day. 🙂

  4. It’s just not a mass audience show.

  5. Bill Murphy says:

    I’ve never seen it.
    Is it that show with that guy that was in that movie? You know, the movie that cost a lot but didn’t do well? That’s the guy right? 😛

  6. Binky says:

    No and not much.

    Years ago A&E used to be a good network. They killed it long ago. The Discovery Channel and the History Channel used to be good, but they’ve all but killed them, too. TV is dying. Or dead.

    • Bearman says:

      Ratings are up for all those channels. Are they dying or are you getting to the age where you complain about the youngsters of the world. Haha

      • Binky says:

        I know. They turned them all into mindless mass-appeal networks. Lousy whippersnappers.

        • Red Dwyer says:

          I think the death of most of them was the switch to the drama format. There is less than 12 minutes worth of content with more than 18 minutes of repeating the hook before and after the commercials. I would rather watch a 12 minute show with 18 minutes of commercials before the next one begins.

          Then again, I am just being old and crotchety because I really do not watch television.

  7. Bo Lumpkin says:

    I am at the age to where I watch the 9:00 o’clock News and old re-runs of
    WKRP in Cincinnati. I have heard of a lot of these shows you mention but I am an old fogey and some of what some people think is funny just doesn’t do it for me.

  8. I enjoyed the new season. The official numbers haven’t actually been crunched yet, but the early indicators are looking pretty decent — maybe not by network standards, but definitely for Netflix’s records. For one thing, it actually caused a spike in traffic to Netflix by as much as 10% in some major markets — and that’s not 10% of their subscribers watching it, but an actual overall 10% increase in activity on a holiday weekend. Procera’s early numbers suggest that twice as many people watched Arrested Development’s new season as watched Netflix’s earlier series, House of Cards.

    Oh — and I do have an RSS feed on my website. It’s in the left-hand sidebar, all the way at the top — right under the “Keep in Touch!” header. I need to work on making that more visible.

    • Bearman says:

      Ahhh there it is. I couldn’t add your site strictly by your URL so that helps.

      I think the “success” is more a phenomenon of Netflix having less and less exclusive content from other providers pushing people to take what they can. As they grow into a larger network, these one off HITS will decrease.

  9. Mark Stokes says:

    What a revoltin’ Arrested Development this is!

  10. I liked Arrested Development quite a bit (hahaha… big surprise we agree again, right?).
    We don’t have Netflix, though, so I haven’t seen any of the new episodes…

  11. Dave says:

    I have no idea what Arrested Development is. I could google this but that kills conversation, so here goes:

    When did it come out? I moved out of the States a few years ago and lost touch with new shows.

    • Bearman says:

      Back in like 2003? On Fox for 2 1/2 seasons before getting the boot.

      • Dave says:

        2003? College, work, girlfrend… no time for Arrested Development.

        2013? Work, wife, work, baby, work, that blog I keep, work… no time for Arrested Development.

        I guess I’ll never know the fun I’m missing out on.

        Nice gravatar btw.

  12. Jason Salas says:

    I didn’t get into Arrested Development when it first came out. I decided to give it a try and fell in love with it. It is one of my all-time favorite shows. The writing is super tight – don’t see that often these days.

    Some great shows never gain much ground with the masses yet they hold their own over time. Freaks and Geeks is a prime example.

    Season 4 hits big and misses big (from 7 episodes in), but that’s what happens when creative people take chances. Worth a watch.

  13. Nef says:

    Well, I’m a little behind on my watching, so I can’t comment on this, but anyone wants to talk about “I dream of Jeannie”?

  14. David Hurley says:

    Haven’t seen the new one’s yet…just haven’t.

  15. Tony McGurk says:

    I’ve never heard of Arrested Development. Will have to Google it

  16. Hjörtur says:

    Haha! I’m sending this to my friend, he loves that show.

  17. frigginloon says:

    We have it on cable in Australia. I have never watched it, the ads put me off but Community, now that’s funny.

  18. Chris K says:

    I saw the first three seasons and enjoyed it. I do not have netflix streaming for season 4. But, the early reviews don’t sound encouraging.

  19. Christy B says:

    I have not even seen a full episode – perhaps I am not missing much?!

  20. planetross says:

    I’ve seen a few episodes and thought it was funny
    … or I thought it was funny that I’ve seen a few episodes of it.

    I’m never sure or surely never.

  21. Deb says:

    I’ve not ever seen the show, Bearman, but as always your drawing is great! x

  22. Nate Fakes says:

    I’ve been hearing all about this show, so I was thinking about starting to watch it on Netflix. But like you, I remember when it came out. I think I tried watching a few…..And since I didn’t become a rabid fan, maybe it’s not that great?

    I watched the show Freaks and Geeks last week. They aired only one season, but that show was – well – damn good!

  23. I seem to be among the legions of people that haven’t seen it!

  24. Andro says:

    I have not heard of this show before
    let alone seen it but I certainly like
    your cartoon 🙂

    Have a great weekend Bearman 🙂

    Andro



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