Two of TV’s funniest families have their sights set on possible feature treatments, but they may not show up on screens any time soon.  Matt Groening’s hit animated series The Simpsons, now in its 24th season, already has one successful feature film under its belt, but don’t expect another one any time soon.  Arrested Development-creator Mitchell Hurwitz is currently experiencing a rejuvenation of the family comedy series thanks to a fourth season production at Netflix.  So how long will it be until a movie deal gets made for the Bluth and Simpsons families?  Hit the jump to find out.

For those who have been closely following the progress of the new Arrested Development episodes on Netflix, the following probably won’t come as too big a shock, but it has been confirmed that upcoming fourth season of the show will be the only batch of new episodes produced for the streaming giant.  The formulation of this new season was a herculean task of scheduling given the series’ large ensemble cast, but somehow creator Mitch Hurwitz pulled it off and fans are keeping their fingers crossed that the upcoming fourth season lives up to the incredibly high expectations.

Hit the jump for more on why Netflix is only producing one season of the series and how the upcoming episodes fit into the overall plan for Arrested Development’s resurrection. 

At the TCA Press Tour presentation for Netflix, Arrested Development show creator Mitch Hurwitz and most of the actors got together to discuss the new chapter for the comedy series, which includes 14 new episodes being released in May.  Fans of the show have been anxiously awaiting the project, since talk of a movie started, some time ago.  Instead of that movie, for the time being, they will get to see stories focusing on different cast members for each episode, at times overlapping with other stories, and this time even including some nudity from one of the principal actors.

During the panel itself and giving some extra time for a bit after, producer/writer Mitch Hurwitz talked about how he didn’t realize how big of a challenge it would be to finally get this going, that fan fiction has scooped possible storylines, how they had to learn to not be precious with the material, bringing actor Michael Cera into the writers’ room this time, that they’re trying to make the episodes just under half an hour while they’re in the post-production process, how the movie is in a bit of limbo until they see how the new episodes do, that there are things that harken back to the old incarnation of the show but that he also feels new viewers will find these episodes very accessible, and how he hopes to have extras available on Netflix at some point.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

It’s almost here, folks.  New episodes of Arrested Development will be before our eyes in just a few short months, at which point we’ll see what the Bluths have been up to in the six years they’ve been off the air.  The entire new season will be released at once on Netflix sometime this spring, and recently the season order was increased from 10 episodes to 13 or 14 episodes.

We know that each episode focuses on a single character, and now creator/showrunner Mitch Hurwitz has provided a surprising amount of details regarding the show’s return, including the fact that Jason Bateman’s Michael Bluth is the only character that appears in every episode, and each episode will show what happened to each character directly after the events of the season three finale in 2006.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

I fully appreciate the irony of this sentence, but the fourth season of Arrested Development has paused production on the revived series’ new episodes. Though Netflix had originally ordered a ten-episode run for the comedy, creator Mitch Hurwitz ended up shooting additional footage and dreaming up enough material for more scenes and storylines. Deadline reports that Netflix agreed to expand the order to somewhere between 12 and 15 total episodes. Production has paused to allow Hurwitz to review the footage that’s already been shot and work the new arcs into the season. It will also take some time to wrangle the actors for the additional shoots, so plans are for production to start up again in late January. This should still allow time for the show’s debut in April, when Netflix plans to make all of the episodes available at once.

The first official image from the new season of Arrested Development has been released.  Just last week we learned that Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter had joined the growing list of guest stars that will be making appearances in the new episodes, and this official image shows O’Brien and Richter alongside Jason Bateman.  The two presumably play versions of themselves, as it appears that the scene in question takes place backstage at Conan.

Additionally, though we had previously known that the new episodes would be available on some undetermined date in spring 2013, The Film Stage reports that they’ll be released all at once on Netflix in April.  Hit the jump to check out the image.

When you drive around in stairs, you’re gonna get some walk-ons.  Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz is now giving fans the chance to literally win a walk-on role on the revived series with a new contest.  Netflix, which thankfully rescued the series and will be the home to its fourth season, is offering six walk-on opportunities to creative fans who submit their original Arrested Development-related artwork by October 16th! I think I just blue myself… Hit the jump for details on how you can enter the contest, along with a message from Hurwitz and star, Michael Cera.

Though series creator Mitch Hurwitz has stayed mum on many of the plot details regarding the upcoming revival of Arrested Development, he recently spoke to Vulture about the show, and revealed a few “spoilers” (brace yourselves for the big reveal: “Michael walks through a door”).  He also claimed to own Ron Howard body and soul, and can force him to do whatever he wants (like come back to narrate the show).  For more about the emotions and excitement on set to bring this great series back, plus other tidbits from the interview, hit the jump.

It looks like the Bluth family is still going to need a lawyer, as Henry Winkler is set to return to Arrested Development in the revived series which will appear on Netflix.  The movie rental company went a long way to restore good will with the public when they picked up the cult favorite for what will be the fourth season with at least ten new episodes.  Perhaps they had some legal counsel from Barry Zuckerkorn (Winkler) on how best to handle their previous faux pas.  No word yet on if Bob Loblaw (Scott Baio) will lob any law bombs.  Hit the jump for a quote from Winkler on rejoining Arrested Development. 

All news regarding Arrested Development‘s fourth season is good news, but some is just great.  Though the initial plan was for the new season to run for ten episodes (each of which would focus on a major character), series star David Cross has recently revealed that it’s looking more like thirteen.

The series has never lost momentum or its cult following – in fact, if anything, it’s become even more popular post-cancellation than during its initial run on Fox.  It’s hard to believe that nearly a decade has past since the series first aired, but that doesn’t seem to have any bearing on the quality of the production nor on the excitement of the cast involved.  For more on what David Cross has said about the upcoming season and being a never-nude, plus some photos that the series’ narrator and executive producer Ron Howard recently shared on Twitter, hit the jump.

Now that we know the Netflix-backed Arrested Development project is not just a trick (illusion, illusion!) but actually confirmed, there are finally a few answers to the question of what we can expect from it.  According to Ron Howard, who acts as the show’s narrator, the new season will include some new characters.

There’s been plenty of hype building up thanks to the show’s stars keeping fans on the hook with photos from the set, including Tobias (David Cross) in a sheet and George Michael (Michael Cera) on a segway.  And despite what Howard called a “hell of a hiatus,” he has also reassured fans that the show’s quality is still top-notch (as if those photos suggested anything otherwise). For more on what Howard said of the upcoming season, hit the jump.

The Arrested Development run of ten episodes that will air on Netflix is set to start filming tomorrow.  We’ve been counting the days until the moment and it is finally upon us!  Deadline reports that the entire original cast of Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, Portia de Rossi, David Cross, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat and Tony Hale will be returning along with Ron Howard in his capacity as a narrator.  That’s one character per episode, which may factor into the idea that each episode will focus on one of the Bluths, likely with multiple characters in certain episodes. (Could we get an episode all about the narrator, maybe?)

Production is expected to continue into the fall.  Creator Mitch Hurwitz is open to an additional season if the first run proves successful.  Netflix has said they’ll release all ten episodes at the same time on an unspecified day in 2013.

Though nearly a year ago it was announced that creator Mitch Hurwitz would be cooking up an all-new season of the brilliant, cancelled-too-soon comedy series Arrested Development, fans would be forgiven for being leery about the reality of these new episodes actually happening.  It seems like Hurwitz, producer Ron Howard, and the show’s stars have been talking about the ongoing development of the elusive Arrested Deveopment movie ever since the show went off the air, and we’ve yet to see that come to fruition.

Plans are firmed up for a brand new season of Arrested Development to air on Netflix in 2013, setting the stories of our characters up for the eventual feature film.  Now AD die-hards can rest a little more comfortably, as Howard and star Jason Bateman recently shared some pictures of the writers room for the new season and Hurwitz, with Bateman revealing that production on the fourth season of Arrested Development begins in four weeks.  Hit the jump for more.

Sadly, that Shaun of the Dead LEGO set we featured last month hasn’t been approved for production. But the good news is, people will still keep making awesome custom LEGO sets for us to feast our eyes upon, and another one has just shown up. Our attention has been called to this fantastic LEGO set paying tribute to Arrested Development to go along with the anticipated return of the series with new episodes on Netflix sometime down the road.

Matt De Lanoy has crafted a custom set featuring the entire Bluth clan along with their infamous model home, and of course, the ever handy stair car. While you may never have any of these LEGO figurines or that awesomely accurate LEGO version of the home that Michael (Jason Bateman) and George-Michael (Michael Cera) called home, you might just be able to get that stair car in your hands. Information on that and a slew of photos of the LEGO set (which includes a blue Tobias Fünke too) after the jump.

Last year, we reported the joyous news that Arrested Development wouldn’t be getting just a new movie, but a new season as well.  The full cast is aiming to return for season four, which will run ten episodes and premiere on Netflix.  The fourth season, which will lead into the movie, was originally set up as more of an anthology where each episode would catch up with an individual character.  But speaking to an audience at a Netflix-sponsored event in Las Vegas, creator Mitch Hurwitz revealed that he’s tweaked the plan for the new season.

Hit the jump for what to expect in season four, and which beloved supporting character will be making an appearance. [Update: We've updated the article with video of Hurwitz speaking at the event.]