It’s official, the highly anticipated “Arrested Development” movie is happening, “For once and for all, the Arrested Development movie is happening” Will Arnett told E! Online.

But there’s still one question that remains unanswered: will Canadian actor Michael Cera be joining the cast?

“I hope so,” producer Mitch Hurwitz told E! Online. “We’re just trying to get all the actors on board.”

Jason Bateman, Cera’s co-star on the show, told E! Online Cera is still considering the offer, “I know he’s thinking about it. And we’re all awaiting some finality to all of that so Mitch can get writing.”

The question is: why is his decision taking so long? Bateman answers E! Online, “He’s certainly not said that he won’t do it. I think Michael is clearly the guy that has come out of ‘Arrested Development’ with a very big plate, so I think he’s trying to really give some responsible thought to what makes sense for him to do with his career. The guy is 20 years old and I’m sure he doesn’t want to screw up this opportunity.”

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“Arrested Development” creator Mitch Hurwitz is back with another dysfunctional-family comedy, with Jason Biggs in final negotiations to star.

The untitled CBS project revolves around adult siblings and their parents, all of whom are too involved in each other’s lives.

Hurwitz and “Arrested” scribe James Vallely are co-writing the new show, which has received a pilot commitment and an order for six additional scripts.

Hurwitz, whose previous credits include CBS’s “The Ellen Show,” already has an animated comedy called “Sit Down, Shut Up” that is slated to launch midseason on Fox.

Biggs, star of the “American Pie” movies, next appears in the feature comedy “My Best Friend’s Girl” opposite Dane Cook and Kate Hudson. The 30-year-old has previously been seen on TV in such ’90s series as “Drexell’s Class” and “Total Security.”

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Everyone’s favourite “Clueless” actress is making a comeback.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Alicia Silverstone has just been cast in the upcoming ABC series, “Bad Mother’s Handbook.” Alia Shawkat of “Arrested Development” fame is also signed on to the project.

The comedy, show with a single camera, will be follow 32-year-old Karen (Silverstone) as she attempts to take care of her 16-year-old daughter (Shawkat) and her 48-year-old mother.

Silverstone has recently been involved in low-profile projects, including a nude PSA for PETA.

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Brampton-born Michael Cera will star as Nick Twisp in the film adaptation of the 1993 C.D. Payne novel Youth in Revolt: the Journals of Nick Twisp.

The story’s heavy use of black humour, camp and overt portrayals of teen sexuality make it a perfect fit for Cera, 19, whose charmingly awkward comedic talents were showcased in the cult hit show Arrested Development and this summer’s blockbuster hit Superbad.

The film will follow 14-year-old Nick as he deals with his parents’ imminent divorce by setting his sights on his dream girl Sheeni Saunders, hoping that she’ll be the one to take his virginity.

Cera can be seen next in Juno, alongside fellow Canadian talent Ellen Page. The quirky comedy premiered to rave reviews at this month’s Toronto International Film Festival, being called “This year’s Little Miss Sunshine.” A must see, Juno will have a limited release in late 2007.

Until then, get your Cera fix by checking out the Juno trailer, his hysterical summer project “Clark and Michael”, and his indie band, The Long Goodbye.

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“Arrested Development” will live on – despite being cancelled this year.

E! Online is reporting that the critical darling sold syndication rights to three different mediums to run concurrently. While it is normal for a sitcom to run in syndication after it is cancelled, it usually occurs to sitcoms that have made at least 100 episodes.

“Arrested Development” only made 53 in its three years on the air.

Syndication rights were picked up by MSN.com, G4 and HDNet.

“The beauty of distributing an entire series online -especially a series like Arrested, where the audience is so passionate – is that we can build an immersive world around the show,” Rob Bennett, MSN’s general manager of entertainment and video services, said.

The show will be available for free download on MSN.com.

The show, which received Emmy nominations this year despite its cancellation, never caught on with audiences, but was loved by the critics.

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Let?s face it. Summer is a crappy time for primetime television. I can?t stomach all the reality television the networks are shoveling out, but what I can do is offer up some suggestions for great reruns. Whether you watch them weekly or grab a couple DVDs and watch them all at once, the following shows will make for some great viewing that will be sure to help pass the time before Sweeps are finally upon us.

SCRUBS ? This NBC comedy is up for two Emmy?s this year ? its second time being nominated since the show?s debut in 2001. Scrubs features a cast of experienced actors lead by Zach Braff (Garden State), Donald Faison (Clueless) and Sarah Chalke (Roseanne). The actors portray resident medical students working hard to become doctors while attempting to take themselves seriously as professionals and as adults.

While the writing is superb, the great thing about Scrubs is that the entire cast has a knack for performing comedy and drama simultaneously, allowing for scripts of great depth that in turn develop diverse, realistic and relatable characters. Scrubs is the only show on television with writers and actors talented enough to tastefully master fart jokes and death issues in the same half-hour episode.

Be sure to check out Scrub?s first season DVD for John C. McGinley as Dr. Cox, a sarcastic doctor with a penchant for minute-long rants, and Zach Braff as Dr. John Dorian, whose gift for inner-monologue is second to none.

VERONICA MARS ? Veronica Mars just wrapped up its first season this spring, but as long as no one has ruined any season finale surprises for you, it is well worth the reruns. The plot centers on Veronica Mars, daughter of a private eye, who is desperately trying to solve the murder of her best friend, Lilly. Cracking other cases along the way, Veronica receives pieces to Lilly?s puzzle as the season progresses, while dealing with every day high school drama typical of any seventeen-year-old girl.

This show serves up an equal dose of drama and laughs with a healthy sense of dark humor, but it?s the honest portrayal of high school life that really has me hooked. So often, the teenagers we see on television transparently reflect the forty-year-old writers who created them, or the thirty-year-old actors portraying them. But these characters make you forget the fact that they are characters at all, and isn?t that the sign of a job well done? Watch one episode (CBS, Thursdays at 8pm), and I guarantee you will be watching them all for the wit, the writing, and the unfurling mystery that will keep you guessing every time.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT ? FOX will finish airing the second half of its Arrested Development marathon this Friday, so if you have some plot re-capping to do before the September 19 season premiere, make sure you?re in front of T.V. tomorrow night at 8pm.
And if you?ve never watched the show before, where the hell have you been?

This Emmy-winning comedy is famous for its sharp wit, inside jokes, and bits that ? if you?re not watching carefully ? can go right over your head. That kind of humor makes this show perfect for re-run watching; you?ll find something new to fall off the couch laughing over every time you watch it.

The plot follows Michael Bluth, who is involuntarily put in charge of his dysfunctional family and their crooked business after his father is imprisoned for cooking the books. Michael must pull the business out of the hole and restore its reputation while supporting his family ? his alcoholic mother Lucille, shopaholic twin sister Lindsay, older brother/magician Gob, mentally stunted younger brother Buster, aspiring actor brother-in-law Tobias, rebel niece Mabey, and finally, Michael?s own neurotic son, George Michael.

The acting on this show is absolutely flawless. The actors have an innate sense of comedic timing, and play off of each other as if they?ve been working together forever. When you?re watching them, you actually get a sense of the fun they?re having, which will inevitably put a big smile on your face in turn. The jokes are subtle and intelligent, without relying too heavily on gags or slapstick, and often leave you wondering ?How did he just say that with a straight face?? In short, Arrested Development respects its viewers? intelligence, and promises to leave them rolling in the aisles.

So there you have it. Three great television shows that will pull you out of your ?Rockstar: INXS?/ ?Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? rut. Something different. Something with substance. Something awesome. Happy re-running!

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While eavesdropping through my cubicle wall at work yesterday, my interest was piqued when I overheard two colleagues discussing what they’d watched on television the night before. The first office-dweller announced he’d spent his evening watching Kathy Hilton mooch off her daughter’s popularity during the second-ever episode of I Want to Be a Hilton. This brutal choice in viewing had to be overlooked – after all, it was only a matter of time before another Hilton wanted to milk the family cash cow, and that family could drum up a decent sized audience just by taking their trash to the curb.

Upon hearing this embarrassing admission of poor taste in programming, the second colleague felt brave enough to admit he?d spent his evening watching Average Joe 4. At first I assumed I hadn?t heard him correctly. Average Joe FOUR? I thought I paid close attention to my TV Guide, but clearly the fact that this contrived piece of garbage survived four seasons completely escaped my attention. Beautiful women face a tough choice between ugly nerds and hard-bodied Adonises four seasons in a row and people are still tuning in to see how this carefully manufactured scenario will play out?

Not only did I find this news preposterous, it came as a big handful of salt rubbed into a wound I received in 1999 when a comedy known as Freaks and Geeks was laid to rest after just a single season. For those of you who didn?t get a chance to enjoy it, Freaks and Geeks was set in 1980 and documented the teenaged comings and goings of The Freaks (the chain-smoking, class-cutting ?bad asses?) and The Geeks (the bowtie-wearing, bully-fearing freshmen nerds). The sharp and poignant writing documented both the hilarious and devastating moments of high school life while giving a historically-accurate depiction of what it meant to grow up on the brink of the new decade. The show picked up an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, and was canned by NBC months later.

Unfortunately, Freaks and Geeks isn?t the only fantastic show to suffer an unfair cancellation after just one year. The show?s creator, Judd Apatow, also birthed Undeclared, a comedy documenting the first-year antics of a group of freshmen college students. The show starred some terrific actors including Ottawa-born Jay Baruchel (Million Dollar Baby, Rules of Attraction) and Monica Keena (Dawson?s Creek, The Devil?s Advocate), and showed a lot of promise for a fledgling program, but FOX cut it in 2002 after just 17 episodes.

Even the critically-acclaimed gems aren?t safe. Arrested Development sat ominously on the chopping block this year as FOX tried to decide whether the show was worthy of renewal.

This just blows my mind. Not only is it such a tease to provide audiences with phenomenal acting and refreshing scripts that are to be yanked away after a couple of episodes, but to do so and then turn around and resign the likes of Average Joe 4? Well that?s just plain offensive.

I highly encourage all of you to detach your cable during such craptastic programming and hightail it to Blockbuster to check out Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared on DVD. Sit back, have a laugh, and reminisce about the time in which these shows existed ? the glory days before the invasion of reality television.

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