Another series of 'Arrested Development'... and a movie!

StickyIcky

Agreed. It's very clever the way the intermingled all the story lines. I'm enjoying it greatly and will be happy to go back and watch this season all over again when I'm done! Whoop whoop!

edit: P.S. CaptainNegative you're not living up to your username. pps Arrested Development come back was definitely not a huge mistake

Also Starring LeVar Burton

StickyIcky wrote: »

P.S. CaptainNegative you're not living up to your username.

haha... you're not the first person to have said that... I'm a big fan of irony

StickyIcky

CaptainNegative wrote: »

haha... you're not the first person to have said that... I'm a big fan of irony

We need to fill this forum with some more of your forum of irony. I'm just so happy to have AD back. Yes it has its short coming. Yes it was never going to be as good as the first couple of seasons. But it's stinger in other ways. It's very clever and lots of subtle jokes that can go over you're head and the season gets better as it goes along. Because of that fact it's so intertwined. Things that happen in episode one effect what happens in episode five. I'm half way through and am loving it. God praise Obama.

ScrubsfanChris

Lucille's episode is brilliant

The noodle incident had me in stitches

QikBax

I think it has mostly been very good. Have 5 episodes left

I find Maria Bamford deeply, unwatchably unfunny though. Surprisingly the Tobias episodes have been the worst of them. the first Gob episode was fantastic. Lindsey's eco boyfriend is both a terrible character and actor

pixelburp

So, maybe it was brought up elsewhere, but this Netflix concept is a bit of a pain: I don't have any specific spoilers in my below ramblings, but I feel I should hide all the text to protect the innocent - even though all episodes have been broadcast. I think we need a new policy for Netflix series because its unique distribution means traditional etiquette doesn't necessarily apply here.

Ok, so I decided last night to plough through the tedium of ep8 and watch #9 as well, so yes while there is a mild upward curve, it's not a massive one. The same grumbles apply - the audio mix continues to drive me bananas, particularly the hamfisted moments where Howard narrates over the dialogue - but this far into the series, the repetition in replaying the same small set of events over & over gets a little tiresome, especially as there doesn't seem to be any inherent drive to the narrative. I'm still not sure where the story is meant to be going, or what's at stake: is it

The Wall? Michael's film rights? Lucille's trial?

They all just feel like limp frameworks around which the characters orbit, going nowhere.

I also disagree with the consensus that the Tobias-centric episodes are some of the stronger: maybe I'm too sensitive or something, but I've found Debris to be a fairly uncomfortable, tragic character & a major misstep in tone. The new side-characters have been fairly poor to begin with (Lindsey's new BF being particularly bad, and I can't decide if I hate Terry Crews' or not), but Debris just feels like a genuine mistake.

There's a fine line between tragic & funny-tragic & to me the Debris / Tobias storyline is firmly in the former category; even Tobias' usually-hilarious mannerisms, obliviousness & incompetence instead seem to jar against the obvious pathetic existence Debris lives - in fact they make Tobias seem utterly cruel, albeit unwittingly; she seems a miserable creature, caught in the headlights and acts like someone from another show.

rossy1044

jamc wrote: »

I think it has mostly been very good. Have 5 episodes left

[Spolier]I find Maria Bamford deeply, unwatchably unfunny though. Surprisingly the Tobias episodes have been the worst of them. the first Gob episode was fantastic. Lindsey's eco boyfriend is both a terrible character and actor[/Spolier]

Poor Chris Diamantopoulos... hes now been hated in The Office, Arrested Development and Community all in one year

OwaynOTT

rossy1044 wrote: »

Poor Chris Diamantopoulos... hes now been hated in The Office, Arrested Development and Community all in one year

Who is he in Community?

Basq

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Who is he in Community?

Reinhold.. didn't bother me tbh!

Blisterman

I suspect I'll be spending the next 7 years deciphering all the hidden jokes in this season.

For example:

http://www.nndb.com/people/554/000091281/

George Maharis Arrested in Men's Room", Gay Scene, December 1974: "Famous Hollywood actor George Maharis was arrested November 21 and charged with committing a sex act with a hairdresser in the men's room of a gas station in Los Angeles... He was booked on a sex perversion charge along with Perfecto Telles, 33, the hairdresser, and released on $500 bail, according to police." An earlier guilty plea for a Hollywood lewd conduct arrest on 15 December 1967 with a male is also documented

Blisterman

And in Buster's map of the USA/Mexico border, the land is painted blue!

DjFlin

Did anyone else feel a bit of fatigue from the constant cameos?

Most of them were fine, but there were a few that just seemed to be awkwardly shoehorned in.

Like George Michael spotting the guy from the Disney Channel show.

NotorietyH

DjFlin wrote: »

Did anyone else feel a bit of fatigue from the constant cameos?

Most of them were fine, but there were a few that just seemed to be awkwardly shoehorned in.

Like George Michael spotting the guy from the Disney Channel show.

That's would be one cameo that didn't feel shoe horned in for me as it was at

the event where Maeby was getting the lifetime achievement award at the awards ceremony honouring young people in Hollywood

and they had a good joke to cap it off.

Basq

Gonna space 'em out and watch one or two a night... not the type of show "I want to splurge on and finish too quickly" (as an actress said to a bishop!)

Watched the first episode and quite enjoyed it.. an episode focusing on a character is a little bizarre but can see a lot of it piecing together quite well (e.g

who GOB was sleeping with

). Seth Rogen barely registered as a young George Bluth Snr, but thought Kristin Wiig as great as a young Lucille - albeit a brief appearance.

Some jokes hit (got a big laugh from

"you ever been on a plane you piece of sh*t?"

) but couple of misses also.

Already knew about the appearance from the 3 leads in Workaholics, but didn't expect Montez in there.

Judging by the first episode, I can't help but people were possibly expecting too much... this is a show that was off the air for 7 years. The first episode seemed to continue the show relatively seamlessly (timeframe aside). Chemistry is still there between cast, writing is still strong (well, as strong as season 3 anyways) and a personal nostalgia / fondness for it hasn't diluted in the slightest.

Think about it this way.. if this was a new comedy having started, I think people would have been more generous, but of course it's difficult giving it's legacy.

This show has so much to live up to (and I expressed apprehension due to Hurwitz horrible efforts when the show was canned - e.g Running Wilde) but I enjoyed that first episode a lot. Not perfect at all.. but christ, judging by the reaction of some.. I expected a train wreck.

tony1kenobi

I think the new Arrested Development is fantastic.I waited a day after I finished to decide and that's my decision.

It is so rich with callbacks,in jokes,out jokes and meta comedy that ill probably have to watch it several more times and still not get it all.

But it starts from the opening cough and doesn't let up.

Mr Freeze

I've watched an episode or 2 a day since Sunday, just finished the GOB episode.

Highlights so far were that episode and Tobias.

I am getting into it now, was not too impressed by the first few episodes, but I think its hit its stride now, and am really enjoying it.

Lindsay tho, yikes, what did she do to her face, she looks brutal at times, certainly in her first episode, maybe I am just used to her new face now, but not noticing it as much in the last few episodes.

A Neurotic

"Cooooinciideeeence" Indian music in the background is my new favourite running gag. Season's improving as it progresses. Lindsay's second episode was top notch, which surprised me because I did not enjoy her first.

pixelburp

I binged a little near the end of the season, whoops. Ah well.

I can't honestly say my opinion has changed all that much - most of the issues I mentioned earlier in the thread didn't really resolve themselves by the end - so all previous quibbles apply. But on balance the fairest way I can express things is to use the classic phrase: I'm not angry, just disappointed.

Some of the reactions here have been a touch on the side of hyperbole & it's definitely not the disaster some would suggest; it has its problems, there's no doubt about that, but if I'm being fair they're mostly around editing/padding, and character missteps. There were still lots of funny moments, and the wit was definitely still there, the scripts just lacked that spark & stream of quickfire gags the previous iterations had in abundance. At times it seemed more like a "dramedy" than anything.

On the characters, whilst I hated on some of the guests, it was with the main cast that some of the stranger missteps occurred; for instance, Michael was reduced to a selfish, oblivious moron & almost unrecognizable to the beacon of sanity he was in series 1-3. Then again,

he did willingly go behind GOBs back with Marta back in series 1, so I guess he has form in dating a girlfriend of another Bluth, but still: I'm not sure he deserved to be punched by George Mahar...Michael - that seemed a touch needless

. George Sr & Oscar also seemed most unlike their series 1-3 counterparts; again, George Sr. was reduced to a bit of an moron.

And whilst I understood the why of it all, I was very disappointed that some characters barely featured: Buster was the most notable example of this, to a lesser extent Maeby, but even those who nominally were in many scenes had little to do - Lucille for instance. Jessica Walter was the most on-song of the cast, yet had little opportunity to throw around that acerbic wit (though at least we still have Archer for that!)

As for the series in its entirety, I don't seriously believe there was 15 episodes worth of material here, and perhaps when all's said and done the limitations that timeslots and advertising breaks enforce create a natural brevity in broadcast TV that simply doesn't exist on Netflix. The longest episode in AD was 37 minutes & by god you felt it. Reaction shots lingered that split-second too long, some sketches overran & overall the show needed a more judicious cut - less is more & n' all that.

Best way I can put things though is that while series 4 disappointed, I still look forward to the film, where a 2-hour running time might concentrate minds & (hopefully!) round off the character threads left dangling.

On episode 7 and really not enjoying it all that much. Laughs are thin on the ground and many of the characters are almost unrecognisable, Michael comes across really poorly and Buster barely features. If this sad the first season of a new show then it wouldn't have lasted past episode 4.

Blisterman

To be fair, Michael was only ever sane in relation to the rest of the family in the original series. In most of it he was self obsessed and oblivious. Don't forget he never noticed Rita's secret, he constantly forgot Ann Veal's name, the list goes on.

I actually thought George Michael seemed the most off. Which is Ironic, because Michael Cera's been essentially playing that character for most of the past 7 years.

Mr Freeze

Blisterman wrote: »

To be fair, Michael was only ever sane in relation to the rest of the family in the original series. In most of it he was self obsessed and oblivious....

^Totally agree!
I think Michael is just as big an idiot as the rest of the Bluths. He just thinks he is infallible.

The Rita thing.
Hermano
Nelly Bluth
Burning the banana stand.
The dorm eviction.
Finishing Sudden Valley.

The list most definitely goes on.

snausages

The thing I hated most about it were the awkward character interactions. The bit where GOB and Tobias are talking in the model home was really uncomfortable. You can tell with the camera back and forth that neither character is really 'there'. Same with Michael and Lindsey in episode 8. It destroys the series, it doesn't work.

johnny_ultimate

Apparently Tony Hale was the least available of all the actors, to the point where they had to more or less completely separate Buster from the 'main' narrative. I would have naturally thought some of the 'bigger' stars' schedules would have been more of a challenge to work around, but I suppose Hale is extremely busy with other TV stuff like Veep.

miralize

Is Veep good? Been looking for new stuff to watch.

Just finished Season 3 of AD. Had put it off for about a year because it got a bit boring but finally finished the last six, and surprisingly enjoyed it!

eire1

miralize wrote: »

Is Veep good? Been looking for new stuff to watch.

Yeah, I'd definitely recommend it anyway.

colly_06

Up to episode 8, enjoying it so far, it's a bit hard to keep track of all the intertwining story lines though but I don't mind. I thought it was a bit weird showing scenes from after the boat dilemma from the last episode of last season when all the actors are like seven years older, it really showed with george michael.

Blisterman

Blisterman wrote: »

To be fair, Michael was only ever sane in relation to the rest of the family in the original series. In most of it he was self obsessed and oblivious. Don't forget he never noticed Rita's secret, he constantly forgot Ann Veal's name, the list goes on.

I actually thought George Michael seemed the most off. Which is Ironic, because Michael Cera's been essentially playing that character for most of the past 7 years.

It's more to do with how unlikable Michael comes across. He was always an idiot and as selfish and deluded as the rest of the family but there was a humanity to him that the others lacked.

OwaynOTT

I wonder is his lack of interaction with the others that is showing up this?

mrkite77

pixelburp wrote: »

Michael was reduced to a selfish, oblivious moron & almost unrecognizable to the beacon of sanity he was in series 1-3.

The guy who repeatedly ignored what his son wanted? The guy who dated a mentally disabled woman without realizing it? The guy who hit a woman in the face with a bible?

Michael has always been a selfish oblivious moron. It was just more subtle in seasons 1-3.

mrkite77

I think Season 4 will hold up over the years. People will be rewatching them and spotting new things.

Quote from the future: "I just realized that Rebel continues her father's habit of naming children after where they were conceived by naming her son LEM"