While everyone is deservedly excited for the return of "Arrested Development," this writer may be equally if not more stoked that the long rumored plans for HBO's movie revivial of the canceled-too-soon "Bored To Death" is very real, and very much in development. After bits and bobs through 2012 that this was happening, formal word has now arrived.
THR has confirmed the chatter that has been occuring over the past six months or so, and have received an official, if vague, logline: "Jonathan, Ray, and George reunite to fight crime, commit crime, lose their minds, and fail-at-love in a Bored to Death feature-length slapstick adventure."
If somehow you missed the three, sharp seasons on HBO, the show starred Jason Schwartzman as Jonathan Ames (who also just happens to be the creator of the show), a novelist and writer who turns to private detective work, to try and get story ideas. Of course, this concept kept the show pretty loose from week to week, but the relationships were also nicely drawn, with Jonathan finding a bit of a father figure in Ted Danson's pot loving, magazine editor and man about town George Christopher, and Zach Galifianakis' neurotic and sensitive comic artist Ray, becoming good friends with them both. And yes, all three should be coming back, though deals aren't final just yet.
Jonathan Ames has been busy writing and while further plot details are under wraps, there have been teases. Danson has said, “I think Jason becomes a policeman, which means, for him, a traffic cop. He’ll have a traffic-cop go-kart kind of thing. And I think Ray and I move in together, both of us without relationships. And then: hijinks. All hell breaks loose. That’s about as much as I know.” Fans know that George and Ray have already spent a brief (and very funny) spell living together, so that would be interesting.
Meanwhile, Schwartzman revealed that ideas that were never realized may make their way into the show as well. "Before the show was canceled, Jonathan was showing me all the fourth season, he had it all figured out, it was really incredible. I think some of that will find its way into the movie, and I’m very excited about it,” he told us.
Either way, we're pretty excited and hopefully cameras will roll on this soon. And given the extensive guest appearances and recurrring roles the show has had — John Hodgman, Kristen Wiig, Kevin Bacon, Zoe Kazan, Patton Oswalt, Isla Fisher, Dick Cavett, Mary Steenburgen, Stacy Keach and more appeared — we wouldn't be surprised if the movie provides room for some more surprise spots.
Anyway, track down all three seasons now and see what you've been missing.