When it was officially announced last year that Arrested Development would be getting 10 new episodes set to premiere on Netflix in 2013 culminating in a movie, I fell to my knees and thanked God that I’d never have to write another “‘Sure, an Arrested Development movie sounds like a great idea,’ says actor who played minor character!” headline. Of course, if you know the internet, you know that even the massively complicated undertaking of 10 new episodes and a movie wouldn’t be enough to satisfy hardcore fans, who’ll accept nothing short of Fox traveling back in time, uncancelling the show in its prime, and returning their lost youth. The latest object of their anger? The perceived lack of Steve Holt, who was awesome because he wore a letterman jacket and constantly shouted his own name (all the cool kids do it).
Amid the clamor for the show’s fourth season, Reddit’s Arrested Development sub-group noticed that Justin Grant Wade, the actor who played Steve Holt, had not been contacted about the reprisal. While Wade played a minor character on Arrested Development, Steve Holt, the impressively well-meaning yet knuckleheaded high school jock, managed to stand out and develop a fanbase of his own. So it’s no surprise that his absence in the media blitz was noticed.
Helpful fans took a page out of Steve Holt’s student government run and started an online campaign to bring back everyone’s favorite walking catchphrase. There’s a Save Steve Holt website, blog, Facebook page, and Twitter account where the campaign is gaining some traction with the hashtag #savesteveholt. [Time via SlyOyster]
WHY WON’T YOU LET FANS WRITE YOUR SHOW FOR YOU, MITCH HURWITZ, YOU FASCIST! That said, it doesn’t seem that hard to incorporate Steve Holt back into the writing. Even if they’re already done, they could just write in something where every five minutes or so, it just cuts to Steve Holt, shouting Steve Holt! wherever happens to be at the time – Kinko’s, on the toilet, Einstein’s bagels, whatever. Or even better, that same bit, but with Abe Vigoda.