'Arrested Development' Creator Has 'Sit Down' with FOX

Zap2It.com | March 12, 2008

Mitch Hurwitz, Arrested Development

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Mitch Hurwitz developing animated 'Sit Down, Shut Up' for FOX

"Arrested Development" creator Mitch Hurwitz may be ready to get back into business with FOX.

According to the industry trade papers, Hurwitz is writing an Americanized version of the Australian comedy "Sit Down, Shut Up," transforming the live-action comedy into a potential animated vehicle.

The Hurwitz incarnation of the short-lived 2001 sitcom will have a table read once voice casting is complete. If FOX execs are amused, "Sit Down, Shut Up" could go straight to series, skipping the pilot or presentation process.

That would be similar to the unorthodox path FOX has already laid out for "The Pitts," an animated take on the network's quickly cancelled 2003 live-action series. "The Pitts" had its table read on Monday, but no official word on a series has been announced.

"Sit Down, Shut Up" focuses on a group of teachers at a northeastern high school who care more about their own agendas than their students.

This is the first pilot order for Hurwitz's Sony-based Tantamount shingle. It will be Hurwitz's first project at FOX since the still-lamented cancellation of the Emmy-winning "Arrested Development." He had the comedy "The Thick of It" set up at ABC last pilot season.