Adieu? or au revoir?

Is there life after impending death for "Arrested Development"?

Not in the short run, it appears, since FOX seems to be showing its final episodes whenever it feels like, without much regard to helping viewers find it. And yet there is the tiniest glimmer of what might be the hope of rescue on the distant horizon. This is from this morning's paper:

National numbers for the Portland market's favorite comedy, "Arrested Development," continue to sputter. In fact, they stink. Which makes us sad, because this means that Fox Broadcasting President Peter Liguori almost surely will cancel the third-year show once its current 13-episode arc ends.

Bummer.

But don't give up hope just yet, because word from TV town is that if Fox does pull the ripcord, at least two other networks are interested in giving the Bluth family a home on their air. Variety reported earlier this week that both ABC and premium cable channel Showtime have approached the show's producers at 20th Century Fox TV to discuss the future of "Arrested."

[ . . . ] No deals can be cut until Fox programmers make a final decision about their plans next season. But Showtime boss Robert Greenblatt is said to be particularly determined to land the show. And even if 20th Century Fox has to produce the show at a deficit, DVD sets of the first two "Arrested" seasons have sold quite well. And once they shoot their 88th original episode the show can go into syndication, from which the biggest TV fortunes extend.

I'm reluctant to be encouraged by this rumor of AD's possible resurrection; it feels too much like the painful stirrings George Michael feels every time he thinks he's found evidence that Maeby isn't really his cousin after all. An invitation to heartbreak.

But if I were a hopin' man, I'd hope for ABC to get the show, not Showtime. More specifically, and as odd as this sounds, I'd root for any broadcast network to get it rather than premium cable. The reason? AD would be a lot less funny without the bleeps and the deeply-pitched sexual puns. Part of what's milk-out-your-nose hilarious about the show is the panache with which they dart across the Standard-And-Practices line and then sprint back again before anyone catches them. If the challenge of broadcast network censorship were removed it would be like watching a famous high-wire act--with the wire stretched taut about a foot off the ground.