Arrested Development Finds a New Home on MSN

The incendiary Bluth family left Fox too soon, but now its biggest fans, and those who missed it on old TV, can enjoy the antics of its dysfunction on-demand. 

MSN has created an entertainment destination for the Arrested Development brand, including the entire television series plus many interactive elements including scripts, buddy icons, wallpaper, fan discussions and more. 

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YES! This is what we’ve been talking about.  Shows are no longer just shows, they’re brands that create dynamic user-guided experiences INCLUDING but NOT LIMITED to video.  This is a perfect way for content owners to repackage and profit from their inventories of niche content.

MSN will have the exclusive portal rights to syndicate the show

for a three-year term, making this critically acclaimed series available to the masses for the first time online.

MSN has delivered a near-perfect product but, of course, I do have a few complaints…

First, the videos aren’t embeddable. WTF?  We want to be able to reference clips in our blogs and, in so doing, drive traffic back to the website.

Also, the videos can be enlarged, but they don’t toggle to full-screen.  Again, WTF?  The technology is there.  Beachwalks with Rox (Tilzy.TV page) can do it, why can’t MSN?  I want to watch this from my couch (which sits across from my computer).

Minor shortcomings aside, this entertainment destination marks a fantastic development in online entertainment.  Traditional television proprieties are starting to recognize the power of community-building and interactivity around  micro-markets, and they’ve realized that they can re-purpose content for perpetual consumption. 

I just Netflixed the entire series, but I think I’ll send them back because this is almost as good–you can watch all the episodes with only two 15-second ads.   Now if I could just post a quick clip of George Michael (Michael Cera ) making out with his cousin, Maybe (Alia Shawkat). 

By the way, Michael Cera has recently made waves on the internet with his sitdotcom Clark and Michael (Tilzy.TV page)