Netflix in talks for new season of 'Arrested Development'
After a tepid response to its initial effort to resurrect the TV series on the Web, the video-streaming service is negotiating for a fifth season.
Despite a lukewarm reception to Netflix's initial effort to resurrect "Arrested Development" on the Web, the video-streaming company is reportedly willing to give the series another shot.
Brian Grazer, co-chairman of the production company Imagine Entertainment, revealed Thursday that his company was in negotiations with Netflix for another Web-only season of the popular series.
"We are in conversations with them to do another," Grazer said in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "They are interested in doing that."
Netflix confirmed its interest in another season of the series, which ran for three seasons on the Fox TV network before its cancellation in 2006.
"We have said before that we'd be interested in doing another season of 'Arrested Development' if it is logistically possible," Netflix representative Joris Evers told CNET. "That's still true; we have nothing new to report."
While "Arrested Development" succeeded at generating a great deal of buzz when it landed on Netflix in May, the fourth season was met with mixed reviews. The New York Times went so far as to say the Netflix endeavor killed the show. Shares fell 6.4 percent on the tepid response.
Reviews aside, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said during an interview in May with CNBC that Netflix was taking a long-term approach to the series. "We're really not focusing on the day-one ratings, it's really over the first year," he said, adding that the initial response met Netflix's "very high expectations."