E-Mail This Article to a Friend EMP-TV The awful Bluths BY MIKE MILIARD

The dumbing of America continues unabated. Sad to say, but it’s increasingly apparent that this once-great nation is fast proving itself incapable of embracing any television program that strays even slightly from all but the most hidebound conceptions of humor, narrative structure, and characterization. Or perhaps it’s that the television networks of this once-great nation are unwilling to give those citizens the time to familiarize themselves with and develop a fondness for great TV.

Either way: Arrested Development, we hardly knew ye.

No, it’s not canceled. Not yet. But when Fox announced last week that it would cut this season’s production from 22 to 18 episodes and keep the show out of the all-important May sweeps in favor of the new and remarkably unfunny American Dad, the writing seemed to be on the wall. The story of the Bluths, the "wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together," seemed certain to end badly. Aggrieved fans bombarded the network brass with calls and e-mails. Guest-hosting Saturday Night Live last weekend, Arrested Development star Jason Bateman used his opening monologue to implore, only half-jokingly, that viewers pleasefortheloveofgod tune in. On Jimmy Kimmel Live, co-star David Cross was more cynical, surmising that Fox already was planning to replace the show with "America’s Cutest Retards."

That’s not entirely fair. Infamous for some laughably bad "reality" TV, Fox also, to its credit, has long history of launching funny, quirky, well-written shows. On the other hand, it has a sad and sordid history of pulling the plug on those same shows, often almost as soon as they’ve debuted. Get a Life. The Ben Stiller Show. Futurama. Greg the Bunny. Andy Richter Controls the Universe. The Family Guy (which was resurrected once Fox wised up to how popular it was). The list goes on. The Simpsons, of course, has been the single glorious success story, but it was wildly popular almost from day one. Consider, on the other hand, a show like Seinfeld, which didn’t really catch fire until its third season.

Some argue that Fox is pulling back on Arrested Development in order to save it — that allowing it to underperform during those hallowed sweeps weeks would condemn it to almost certain death. But word from above has been less than edifying. "We at FOX love Arrested Development," wrote Fox Entertainment president Gail Berman in a tepid form letter to concerned fans. "You can help make the show a bigger success by getting as many people as possible to start watching the show this Sunday and every Sunday at 8:30 p.m." So there.

What’s the problem? Why aren’t people watching? The show is critically adored. It’s won multiple Emmys. It’s done the near impossible and made Liza Minnelli look human again. It has the good sense to consign Ron Howard to voiceover duties (thereby sparing us the trauma of seeing Opie’s comb-over). And it’s not that weird. Does the viewing public need everything to be canned and bland? Or do they just need time to get used to the taste? If the former is true, then there’s not much one can do but look at Arrested Development’s dire straits — never mind the results of the 2004 election — as definitive proof of the apothegm spouted by Kent Brockman, the bloviating anchorman from The Simpsons: "I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: democracy simply doesn’t work."

But we’re not ready to buy that yet, and neither is Bryant Liu, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. His Web site SaveOurBluths.com — an offshoot from his Arrested Development fan site, the Balboa Observer-Picayune (the-op.com) — has so far raised almost $1500. It plans to spend the money on untold numbers of "banana-shaped stress balls" — the Bluths were once proud owners of a potentially lucrative Frozen Banana Stand — which will be sent to Fox executives "to remind them of [fans’] existence." If that doesn’t get the point across, then truly nothing will. "Arrested Development is different from other comedies," Liu says via e-mail. "It stands out as having a different structure of 40+ scenes per episode, a shaky camera, and themes that [other] sitcoms wouldn’t dare touch. Instead of a setup, punch line, and canned laughter that audiences have come to expect, Arrested Development introduces a new comedy grammar. This grammar is what appeals to critics and the so-called ‘smart’ viewers. But, making people laugh isn’t about being ‘smart’ — people simply need time to catch up to the show’s new comedy grammar. Once people become accustomed to it, Arrested Development is destined to become a huge hit."

Maybe, maybe not. But we think it’s only fair that Fox honchos understand the ramifications of what its absence will mean to some. One fan, who has joined more than 15,000 others on an online petition to save the show, wrote that "taking this show off the air will ruin my life."

He said it, not us. But we can see where he’s coming from.

Visit www.saveourbluths.com and petitiononline.com/Arrested/petition.html.