Arrested Development returning...

[Sky Warrior Bob]

http://bostonherald.com/blogs/entertainment/the_assistant/?p=6716

Show creator Mitch Hurtwitz made the announcement at the festival, which reunited the entire cast. A source from the audience at the festival claims on Twitter that “Limited run tv series would allow exposition for what each character has done for past 5 yrs then movie screenplay can jump right in.”

[Solid Snake]

Yeah, apparently there will be 9 or 10 character-driven "What have they done in five years" episodes leading up to the movie. Given that there are nine main characters in the Bluth family (George Sr. / Lucille / GOB / Michael / Buster / Lindsay / Tobias / George Michael / Maeby) one natural question is who the illusive tenth character to receive an episode may be. (Oscar? Steve Holt? Her?) Another question's going to be what network or service is going to nab the episodes, though there's already been indication of plenty of interest.

Personally I'm mildly concerned as to how the episodes are going to work. I have full confidence in the movie, because all the characters will be reunited and interacting with each other again. The problem is, aside from a few momentary crossovers, each of the episodes leading up to the theatrical reunion are intended to revolve solely around a single character, and it's hard to imagine a single character holding up an episode on his/her own. Arrested Development had incredible Bluth family interaction; the characters aren't built for introspection, and characters outside the Bluth family were never as interesting or well-defined.

One potential pitfall I could see Hurwitz falling into is the "Celebrity Trap;" many famous celebrities will want to be a part of Arrested Development's return, and since the Bluth family members need new characters to bounce dialogue off, why not just throw a few A-listers into various scenes for grins and giggles? I'm hoping that doesn't happen, but at least a few celebrity cameos as new characters seems inevitable.

[Kim]

I don't think focusing on individual characters means they won't be interacting with each other, Snake.

[Betty Elms]

Personally I'm mildly concerned as to how the episodes are going to work. I have full confidence in the movie, because all the characters will be reunited and interacting with each other again. The problem is, aside from a few momentary crossovers, each of the episodes leading up to the theatrical reunion are intended to revolve solely around a single character, and it's hard to imagine a single character holding up an episode on his/her own.

Basically this. Not to mention that Hurwitz's work outside of Arrested Development has been rather mixed, and AD remains far and away the best thing he's done. An episode featuring only a single major character is intrinsically less-like-Arrested-Development, and Hurwitz has only shown genius level proficiency for things that are exactly-like-Arrested-Development-to-the-exclusion-of-anything-that-isn't-Arrested-Development. Or maybe it all just depends on how many writers are brought back.

All worries and fretting aside this is the best fucking news I've heard in forever and I am full of excited.

[Archbio]

I don't think focusing on individual characters means they won't be interacting with each other, Snake.

Maybe as a compromise they'll all start in a room on the set of Cube?

[Solid Snake]

I don't think focusing on individual characters means they won't be interacting with each other, Snake.

According to what I've read, other characters will interact in essentially cameo moments (and it's safe to say, for example, that Michael will appear in George Michael's episode and vice-versa,) but that the entire Bluth family will not be reunited until the opening scene of the movie. Which does seem to suggest that the majority of the length of each episode really will be dedicated to each character individual. We'll probably see George Michael and Maeby bounce of young actors in their respective college-themed episodes, GOB continue his illusions career, Tobias and Lindsay might be separated, etc.

EDIT: The one example Hurwitz has provided us in advance, regarding Buster, also basically supports the theory that we might not see anyone, aside from maybe Lucille (and if we're lucky, Lucille 2) in his episode.