With the current season whittled down to 13 episodes, Fox has announced the season finale of Arrested Development will air on Feb. 10, up against the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics on NBC.

In the Feb. 10 finale, Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) finds out he may have a long-lost sister, Nellie, who’ll be played by Bateman’s real-life sister, Justine Bateman.

Meanwhile, Michael’s brother, Gob Bluth, played by Will Arnett, joins a USO tour and takes his magic act to Iraq, only to end up in prison there.

via Chicago Tribune

TV Squad offers some commentary on this scheduling decision:

…First of all, even without the whole Olympics thing, it’s a Friday night, one of the least-watched nights of TV during the week (next to Saturday). And it’s also up against NBC’s coverage of the Olympics opening ceremonies. It’s as if FOX said, “you’re a really funny, high quality, critically-adored show that we won’t support, and now we’ll kick you in the genitals!”…

The one bright spot out of all this news, (if there is a bright spot), is that the episode is being called a “Season Finale” not a “Series Finale”.