Arrested Development is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the Fox network from November 2, 2003 to February 10, 2006. Created by Mitchell Hurwitz, the show centers on the Bluth family, a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family, and is presented in a continuous format, incorporating hand-held camera work, narration, archival photos, and historical footage. The series stars Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter. Ron Howard serves as an executive producer on the show, as well as its narrator.
A total of 68 episodes of Arrested Development were produced over four seasons. The first season consists of 22 episodes, which premiered on November 2, 2003 and concluded on June 6, 2004. Fox picked up a full 22-episode second season, which premiered on November 7, 2004, but its production order was later cut down to 18 episodes. The second season concluded on April 17, 2005. The show's third season premiered on September 19, 2005 and was also originally slated for 22 episodes, but the production order was later cut down to 13. The final four episodes of the series' original run were shown in one two-hour block on February 10, 2006 against the National Broadcasting Company's (NBC) coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
Since its debut, the series has won a variety of different awards including six Primetime Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2004), three Television Critics Association Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Writers Guild of America Award. Despite widespread approval from critics, Arrested Development never gained a sizable audience and was canceled by Fox in 2006. In November 2011, however, it was announced that Netflix would license a new season. The fourth season of Arrested Development began filming in August 2012 and debuted on Netflix's streaming video service on May 26, 2013. In 2015, executive producer Brian Grazer confirmed a fifth season which would consist of 17 episodes, and debut on Netflix in 2016.