First off, no one loves Arrested Development more than I do. I can remember the first time I saw this quirky little show about a way-dysfunctional family, and thought "that makes mine look slightly more normal." On this site alone, I've written love letter after love letter in the form of reviews. I've signed every petition, I've tuned in for every episode and I own both seasons, so far, on DVD. That still wasn't enough for FOX, and no matter how much I loved the show, I'm only one man, and it appeared the majority of America disagreed with me.

Late last year, FOX announced that they were cutting back the ordered episodes of Arrested Development, from 22 to 13, a sure sign that a show is cancelled. Like a spoiled child with a broken toy, though, FOX still refused (as of this morning, even) to let go and "officially" cancel the show, waiting instead to see if there was "potential for the show to still find it's audience on FOX" (-Peter Liguori, Development President), you know, with it's final four episodes. The ones that are airing back to back Friday February 10th. Against the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. Yea, that's going to be a ratings juggernaut. Even though the show hasn't been canceled, and therefore there can't be any "real" discussions about the show being picked up by another network, there has certainly been a fair share of rumors. And this, my dear TV Squad readers, is where I have to apologize.

It's official: FOX hates Arrested Development.

How else to explain this scheduling decision? They've scheduled the final four episodes to run in a 2 hour block (so far, so good...) on Friday, February 10...against the opening night of the Olympics. [Insert heavy sigh here.]

This is bad on so many levels. First of all, even without the whole Olympics thing, it's a Friday night, one of the least-watched nights of TV during the week (next to Saturday). And it's also up against NBC's coverage of the Olympics opening ceremonies. It's as if FOX said, "you're a really funny, high quality, critically-adored show that we won't support, and now we'll kick you in the genitals!"

I can understand cancelling a show because it doesn't get good ratings. That's a business decision (though I would think the network would understand the value of critical success, fan fervor, and buzz). But why do they treat the show like it has cooties and they have to keep it away from other shows, or hide it like it's they're embarrassed by even having it on the schedule?