Netflix Makes A Huge Mistake: All Of Arrested Development To Leave The Streamer In March 2023

Netflix just can't stop getting itself into sticky situations, huh? That's because every season of "Arrested Development" is now on borrowed time. Variety confirmed that the cult sitcom is expected to leave the platform on March 14, even though the streamer owns the rights to the series and produced two seasons of it. Netflix has not commented on the impending erasure, only marking its prospective removal date.

The interesting thing about this potential streaming purge is that, since Netflix owns both the distribution and production rights to "Arrested Development," it would be one of the very few instances where the streamer removed one of their exclusive shows or films. We previously discussed their removal of "Hemlock Grove," but despite Netflix being the distributor of that series, it was not the production studio. That's not the case for "Arrested Development," whose final two seasons were both produced and distributed through a collaboration between Netflix and 20th Century Fox Television. 

Needless to say, there may or may not be money in the banana stand.

You can feel any which way you want about the last two Netflix-produced seasons of "Arrested Development." They've proven to be pretty divisive among fans, and the sheer mention of them online will likely get you wrapped into a few arguments. No matter how you feel about them, you have to admit that making them substantially less accessible is too harsh.

This sentiment is ultimately the biggest problem with the apparent trend of streaming services purging their original content. As /Film's Valerie Ettenhofer said in a recent editorial, the majority of removed content hasn't resurfaced on other platforms or forms of distribution, making them lost in a legal sense. It doesn't matter whether these programs are good or bad in quality, hundreds of people worked on them, and that alone means they deserve to be readily accessible to anyone who wants to watch them as they have been for years now. Them being removed from these platforms with no hint as to where you can find them next is a nightmarish scenario for the future of television. So much hard work just goes away after years of being so easy to find. It's terrifying to think about!

That being said, there is still a chance that "Arrested Development" could be saved, but that would involve some quick business deals. There's a possibility that 20th Century Television could buy back the rights to the show, and they would be in the right to do that since its predecessor had created the show in the first place. That's what recently happened with the Netflix original "Lilyhammer." Variety reports that some negotiations between producing partners behind the scenes prevented it from being removed from the platform. However, there's currently no word if this will actually happen. 

In the meantime, run, don't walk, to "Arrested Development" on Netflix before it's too late. The show will leave the platform on March 14, 2023.