"Arrested Development" fans protest series changes

Fans of the cult classic television show “Arrested Development” went from ecstasy to agony Monday when series creator Mitch Hurwitz announced the revived show would have some significant changes from the original version many people came to love.

Among the changes for the upcoming TV season and movie include a laugh track, the addition of a new, computer-animated character, and a political subplot where eldest Bluth son Gob tries to persuade the U.S. Senate to get the American Federation of Trade to lift an embargo on Iraq.

“Arrested Development was a classic for its time, but technology has advanced since then and it’s time to take full advantage of what’s out there,” Hurwitz said. “This is the version of Arrested Development I always wanted to make but was never able to.”

Particularly galling for fans is the decision to introduce the Loose Seal as a fully animated additional character to the show. The CGI character’s bumbling exploits are designed to create comedy, and to drive home the point Hurwitz gave the Seal a goofy accent from voice actor Ahmed Best.

Critics allege that the Seal is galling and unfunny, and some even charge that it is racially insensitive due to similarities between the Seal’s accent and clumsiness and early 20th Century blackface minstrel acts.

Hurwitz fiercely defended the Seal character as one very popular with what he sees as the show’s primary demographic.

“What people refuse to accept is that ‘Arrested Development’ is and always has been primarily for children,” Hurwitz said. “There is a small group of fans that do not like comic sidekicks. They get very upset and opinionated about anything that has anything to do with being childlike.”

Even Hurwitz’s more subtle changes are drawing angry protests. Fans praised the original show’s lack of a laugh track as evidence of its sophistication, but Hurwitz says that was a fault, not a feature.

“The original version of ‘Arrested Development,’ or as I call it the ‘rough cut,’ was far too subtle,” he said. “Fans could easily miss out on the significance of important moments. The addition of this laugh track will really drive home what’s supposed to be funny for the audience.”

Perhaps most galling for fans, however, is Hurwitz’s decision to revisit the original three seasons of the show and retroactively add many of the same changes he plans to make for the new season.

That means the addition of a laugh track, the replacement of Gob’s puppet Franklin with a computer-animated version, and a re-dubbed scene in the final episode where matriarch Lucille Bluth screams “Nooo!” as Securities and Exchange Commission boats close in on her yacht.

“The other versions will disappear,” Hurwitz insisted. “A hundred years from now, the only version of the TV show that anyone will remember will be this ‘special edition.’ It’s a show creator’s prerogative.”

Despite fan fury on the Internet over the changes, fans of the show may not be turning their backs on the classic sitcom. Pre-orders for the Special Edition “Arrested Development” Blu-Ray set already top the video charts on Amazon.com and iTunes, and Hollywood analysts are predicting the “Arrested Development” movie could be a blockbuster based on online buzz.

Fan Terence Smith is already camping out for tickets despite the fact that the movie isn’t expected to be released for another year or more.

“I’m furious at Hurwitz for changing the greatest show ever created,” Smith said. “The original three seasons were fantastic, and these changes are debasing. But COME ON! This is new ‘Arrested Development’ for the first time in five years. I’m not going to not see it.”

Author’s note: One thing writing this drove home is how “Arrested Development” is really immune to satire. I can see the show doing any of these things fans blasted when George Lucas did them to “Star Wars” and being hilariously deadpan. Well, except the laugh track. But Gob testifying to the Senate about dull trade issues? Make it happen, Mitch!