Yes, the beloved Arrested Development is finally returning with 10 new episodes in 2013. The only problem? Canadians will be legally blocked from watching the show. 

Dose.ca is reporting that the new season of the cult classic will air exclusively on Netflix, and as per Steve Swasey, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Netflix, “Will be in the U.S. only.”

Arrested Development is one of Netflix’s first forays into producing original content, and for now, the company is refusing to allocate any international distribution rights or privileges to other networks. Not only is this doubly unfortunate for Canadian fans of the show, who will be forced to wait for the long-gestating movie’s theatrical release, but also for the families of Canadian castmembers, Will Arnett and Michael Cera. Assuming Cera’s family still resides in Brampton, Ont., how will they be able to catch new episodes of the show, and kvell over their son’s achievements?

Yet, content availability is not a new problem for Canadian Netflix users. Introduced in 2010, the Canuck catalogue is incredibly sparse in comparison to the American version, with first-run shows and movies taking even longer to show up on the queue. Some popular shows, like Downton Abbey, have yet to appear on Canadian Netflix due to distribution challenges. Other shows, like Mad Men, did not appear until a year into Netflix’s Canadian introduction, despite the fact that, at the time, the show was entering its fourth season.

Though the company promises to unveil “comparable content quality” for Netflix Canada in 2012, this current proviso, which limits the reach of Arrested Development, is further proof that the company is reluctant to expand their brand north of the border.

And what a shame, too. The great Bluth Frozen Banana Stand of the north will have to hold out, until, hopefully, the show finds its way onto DVD, or the Canadian queue. Or, of course, viewers can catch up with the show illegally online, which is precisely the reason Arrested Development got cancelled in the first place – dismal first-run viewership. 

Time to start counting down to when Netflix Canada says, “I’ve made a huge mistake.”

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Joanna Adams writes for Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter at‏ @nowstarringTO.

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