Why did Arrested Development get cancelled?

Why did Arrested Development get cancelled? Someone made a huge mistake.

I'm serious though, I only saw one episode and it didn't make any sense at all. There was an old dude living in the attic (I guess the father), I had no idea why. And then there was some sub plot about a seal that had bitten someone else in the cast released. An estranged husband and wife hid in someone's shower in order to collect a girl's urine to see if she was pregnant, at which point they had sex or something in the shower. And some kid wanted to join the army, much to the Chagrin of his mother, who was like the matriarch of the family. I'm sorry, but it was like a collection of totally random elements. I have no idea why anyone would find it funny or certainly find it "character driven" The characters were facing completely bizarre situations and not acting that strange, I mean, how is it realistic to be worrying about your daughter's relationship while your father is hiding in an attic and all this other crazy stuff. The show was nonsense.

Audiences are willing to invest a lot more time and attention in hour long dramas than in sitcoms, basically. You could watch 3 random episodes of Seinfeld and there wouldn't be any continuity problems, for example. The Simpsons have lampooned and used that lack of continuity many times. ("And I further decree that everything will be just like it was before all this happened! And no one will ever mention it again... under penalty of torture.") I've never been comfortable with the "Show X is a superlative TV show that rewards its audience for actually watching it," because it sounds high handed and wanky, but in Arrested Development's case, it's 100% true.

I love Arrested Development, and was disappointed when I first heard it was being cancelled. But, when I thought about it further I decided that, for me, the show has run its course. I'd rather miss it than watch it peter out.

Ditto http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/34860#543277 on the difference between "24" and "Arrested Development." Except I didn't end up liking "Arrested Development" at all. It's like talk radio used to be to me when I was a kid—it makes me fall asleep.

AD is the first television series I've purchased on DVD. I have a love-hate relationship with it. It is a very stressful show to watch for two reasons: all aspects of the characters' lives are disastrous, and there's so much happening that one can't relax their attention for a second without missing out on some subtlety or in-joke. It is also hilariously, wittily, intelligently, and ceaselessly funny.

I'd love to hear some opinions as to why it failed. Ratings, ratings, ratings. Demographics, demographics, demographics. Networks would broadcast people reading phonebooks if it attracted a sufficiently sized audience of the right demographic. Humor style, continuity, audience expectations -- all relevant considerations, but secondary to ratings and demographics. AD's material was focused at a narrow audience that nobody wants to advertise to.

i think also they might have overestimated the size of this particular brand of audience On a related note, guess what audience the Nielsen TV rating people have decided to start including in their ratings for the first time? http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/20/business/media/20nielsen.html?ex=1298091600&en=1f16787e644d9d08&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss I've had people tell me they can't believe that Arrested Development's ratings can possibly be so low, because everyone they know watches it. Well ....

You know, another element about this show was its absolute masterful subtlety. Buster, when visiting "Mexico" (stowed away in the back of Michael's car, gets out at housekeeper Lupe's house sans glasses, believe he's in Mexico) finds a hand chair that looked remarkably similar to his former hand chair (it was his hand chair). He mutters "I never thought I could miss a hand so much." Oh precious episodes before he gets his hand bitten off by a seal. I'm into my third or fourth run through of the entire series, and I keep finding new things, absolutely contrived, absolutely brilliant. It's amazing how far in advance Mitch and the gang thought things out, and the timing of absolutely everything was perfect. This show was brilliant in so many ways, but *so* difficult to get new converts to, simply because of how disorienting and crazy it can be if you just hop in to the middle. You wouldn't get how funny "Come on!" is when Michael says it towards the very end, if you hadn't seen GOB say it about ten times when bragging about his suit's cost in Afternoon Delight. You wouldn't get the "That's why... you don't yell" armless man jokes if you didn't see pier pressure. You wouldn't get each and every throwback to the Series premiere that appeared in the series finale, like it occuring on a boat, the SEC again, the recurring gay-guy-carrying-a-freedom-sign, and so much more. I can go on and on and on, and that's my favorite part about the show. It's amazing that way. But only if you start from the beginning, and pay attention.