THE 10 MOST DEVOTED FAN BASES ― NUMBER 10

10 ― Arrested Development




POPULARITY: Never a ratings hit, yet in three seasons picked up four Emmys and inspired countless catchphrases. Repeat streamed viewings so intense that Netflix funded new episodes six years after cancellation.

FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 1.6 million (plus hundreds of thousands of likes for the cast)

TWITTER FOLLOWERS: N/A

FAN NICKNAME: Analrapists. Just kidding; they don't have a nickname.

MAIN HANGOUTS: Mash-up Tumblrs that combine AD quotes or scenes with other shows: Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Mitt Romney, Downton Abbey, The Hobbit. And on and on and on.

AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Anyone who wants to go on an Internet date is legally required to list Arrested Development among their favorite shows.

DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: It's one thing to like a canceled show and wish it would come back. AD fans are the type who would take it straight to the president of the United States. The critically lauded Fox comedy had "cult favorite" stamped on it from day one and seemed endangered from day two. The Save Our Bluths campaign kicked into gear during the show's second season (a year-one Emmy win brought few new converts), and fans spent the entire shortened season three agitating for more support from Fox. AD was finally canceled, but then — like Family Guy before it — word of mouth finally kicked in through DVD viewings, and the posthumous cult grew.

After some Patient Zero in the cast or creator Mitch Hurwitz first floated the idea of a reunion movie, an endless feedback loop began thanks to the fact that AD counted among its fans nearly every single entertainment journalist, who all wanted a movie as bad as anyone. They acted as representative interrogators for the people, and so every interview with every cast member for an unrelated project brought up the question of a possible film — and recall that for a time there, you couldn't swing a hooded sweatshirt without hitting a Michael Cera profile. The more the idea bubbled in the press, the more realistic the idea seemed, and in turn, fans upped their own agitation. Fan posters flooded the Internet, quote blogs popped up all over the place, Jason Bateman amassed 700,000 followers on Twitter, and rather than a handful of obscure performers reuniting at a minor convention of sorts, the entire cast gathered at the behest of The New Yorker. (Which led to the cast being asked about this mythical movie even more often.) It took six years, but eventually Netflix, seeing just how many people were re-watching the original 53 episodes via streaming, realized that there's always money in a banana stand and green-lighted a fourth season. (Thereby jump-starting the hopes and dreams of Party Down fans: All things are possible!) Now that they've brought the show back from the dead, AD fans have turned their attention to bringing back one of their favorite characters, Mr. Steve Holt. (Steve Holt!) Once they save Steve Holt, everything will be right in the Bluth universe.

From Vulture