Big Screen Envy

Why do TV shows have such inferiority complexes? It seems when shows are cancelled fans are soon placated with talk of a movie, as if that makes up for the loss of the show.

When it was reported this week that Arrested Development’s creator Mitch Hurwitz was quitting – putting the final nail in the coffin of the cult comedy – a future feature film was hinted at.

Same goes with Futurama, which was also negotiating a comeback. There was some hope a week ago that the Matt Groening space satire could return for 26 episodes, but that news was dashed. Again, hope was held out for a movie.

Speaking of Groening, the long-rumoured Simpson movie will be coming to theaters on July 27, 2007 and a teaser trailer has been playing this weekend in front of Ice Age: The Meltdown (ah, another sequel).

I love all of these shows, but I have no desire to see them on the big screen or in long form. Take Arrested Development – each episode was tied together over the entire season whereas even a two-hour movie would only encompass five episodes worth of material. It was a great show. Let’s venerate it for what is was and let it go.

The Simpsons is in a different category and will have aired 18 seasons by the time the movie hits theatres. What more could possibly be covered? What would a larger budget achieve for a show that has already gone to foreign locales and outer space for the same cost of filming in Bart’s treehouse?

These shows have excelled in their medium and have nothing to prove by being shown in 35mm. But if seats can be filled and popcorn sold, I suppose it doesn’t really matter.