Cancel 'Arrested'? It would be a crime

Cancel 'Arrested'? It would be a crime

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

Fans want Fox to get arrested for a third season.

		Fans have the Bluths' backs: Arrested Development was the No. 1 vote getter in this year's Save our Shows survey.
		Fox

USA TODAY's eighth annual Save Our Shows poll reveals quirky comedy Arrested Development is the overwhelming favorite to escape cancellation.

Among 19 series facing uncertain fates ? "on the bubble," in industry lingo ?Arrested scored highest: 66% of nearly 54,000 respondents urged Fox to renew the struggling series. (Just 12% wanted it dumped, by far the lowest total of any series.)

"The writing is so clever and funny, it is like no other show out there," says Susan Schomburg of Champaign, Ill. "It is literally the only new (non-rerun) show I ever watch and often the only show I will make time for."

Other fans offered dire warnings.

"If Arrested Development gets canceled, I will go into a deep depression for several weeks," says Morgan Davies, 15, of Sudbury, Mass. "It's my favorite half-hour of the week."

Usually such effusive praise is reserved for sci-fi shows with devoted cult followings: Last year, Star Trek: Enterprise won a record 70% support and avoided the ax ? for a while. Its run ends next week.

In that same 2004 poll, just 36.5% of voters sought Arrested's return. Since then, the comedy has won an Emmy and found new fans on DVD. But the ratings haven't improved.

Networks will reveal the fate of bubble shows when they unveil their fall lineups to advertisers in New York in two weeks.

The second-biggest vote-getter was CBS' Joan of Arcadia, with 40% support.

"Joan is the best show on television," says Paul Reilly of Yonkers, N.Y. "It shows a real family where religious issues are treated with openness and respect. If my daughters grow up to be like Joan, I will be thrilled."

Other shows with more supporters than naysayers: NBC's adaptation of British comedy The Office, Fox's The Bernie Mac Show and ABC's Eyes.

Supporters of NBC's Will & Grace just barely outnumbered those who want the show dropped, 35% to 31%. The sitcom's ratings have dropped this season, but it is expected to return for an eighth and probably final season.

CBS' long-running Judging Amy had equal numbers of fans and foes, while support was meager for UPN's All of Us, produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Five percent want it back and 30% want none of it.

Fox's Life on a Stick and Quintuplets had similarly anemic support: 10% or less wanted the shows to stick around, and more than 40% wanted them dropped.

Shows to keep Shows to drop Show percentage Show percentage Arrested Development 66% Quintuplets 43% Joan of Arcadia 40% Life on a Stick 43% The Office 37% Yes, Dear 36% Will & Grace 35% Committed 33% Bernie Mac 34% Listen Up 31% Judging Amy 28% Blind Justice 31% Eyes 27% Will & Grace 31% 8 Simple Rules 27% Summerland 31% Jack & Bobby 23% All of Us 30% Blind Justice 21% Less than Perfect 29% Yes, Dear 20% 8 Simple Rules 29% Less than Perfect 17% Jack & Bobby 27% Kevin Hill 17% Judging Amy 27% Summerland 16% Kevin Hill 25% Committed 11% Bernie Mac 25% Listen Up 10% The Office 24% Quintuplets 9% Eyes 20% Life on a Stick 7% Joan of Arcadia 20% All of Us 5% Arrested Development 12%