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Arrested Development |OT| Season 4 - May 26 - Netflix Unmakes A Huge Mistake

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y2dvd

Member
I want that ringtone too! Yeah, come on!

It just clicked with me that the "come on" is based on GOB's "C'mon!". Gawd, I'm slow.
 

inm8num2

Member
I gotta be honest - I'm 4 episodes in and while I'm enjoying the new season overall, I think the structure of having each episode focus strongly on one character undermines the humor a bit.

The strength of AD was how characters came and went in each episode, each providing a small obstacle to Michael or providing him some strange insight into whatever task was at hand. But now we spend longer time with characters who were likable for their negative qualities, and the humor falls just a bit short.

Writing this pains me as I still really like S4 so far, and I went in open-minded without large expectations. Perhaps when I finish the season and revisit episodes it will grow on me.
 

Linius

Member
I gotta be honest - I'm 4 episodes in and while I'm enjoying the new season overall, I think the structure of having each episode focus strongly on one character undermines the humor a bit.

The strength of AD was how characters came and went in each episode, each providing a small obstacle to Michael or providing him some strange insight into whatever task was at hand. But now we spend longer time with characters who were likable for their negative qualities, and the humor falls just a bit short.

Writing this pains me as I still really like S4 so far, and I went in open-minded without large expectations. Perhaps when I finish the season and revisit episodes it will grow on me.

I just finished the season and to me it also started out a bit slow. But when things come more and more together story wise it really gets better. But having each episode carried by one character is a bit much at times.
 

jtb

Banned
I gotta be honest - I'm 4 episodes in and while I'm enjoying the new season overall, I think the structure of having each episode focus strongly on one character undermines the humor a bit.

The strength of AD was how characters came and went in each episode, each providing a small obstacle to Michael or providing him some strange insight into whatever task was at hand. But now we spend longer time with characters who were likable for their negative qualities, and the humor falls just a bit short.

Writing this pains me as I still really like S4 so far, and I went in open-minded without large expectations. Perhaps when I finish the season and revisit episodes it will grow on me.

Agreed. Some of the characters just couldn't carry episodes on their own. Having said that—some could (GOB's second ep!) and it's basically the only way we would've gotten this in any way because of all the scheduling conflicts. I'm fine with a sub-par (by AD standards) S4 over no AD at all.
 
Finished up my second rewatch. Michael :'(

The theory of Michael being The Thing kind of makes sense with the wording Michael uses when he explains things to GOB.
 

Mariolee

Member
huh? elaborate on this theory please.

In order to pay off the debt to Lucille 2, she makes him put on The Thing costume which he finds incredibly shameful. I'm wondering if they have already filmed the resolutions to all of these plot threads.
 

Batigol

Banned
Agreed. Some of the characters just couldn't carry episodes on their own. Having said that—some could (GOB's second ep!) and it's basically the only way we would've gotten this in any way because of all the scheduling conflicts. I'm fine with a sub-par (by AD standards) S4 over no AD at all.

Gob's second episode was worth it alone. I can ignore the bad episodes because his two were just as good as anything in S1-3

Just hope they ditch the character centric episodes for S5. Because like you said certain characters can't carry their own.
 

inm8num2

Member
I can understand why they went this way from a storytelling point of view, as Hurwitz wanted to show how each character moved on from events in the finale. The structure makes sense but it also shows how essential the dialogue and relationships between characters made AD so great, rather than the characters by themselves.
 

TUSR

Banned
I can understand why they went this way from a storytelling point of view, as Hurwitz wanted to show how each character moved on from events in the finale. The structure makes sense but it also shows how essential the dialogue and relationships between characters made AD so great, rather than the characters by themselves.

They were forced to do this because of scheduling. So the story adapted to this.
 

Snake

Member
Seriously impressed by how good this got. Prior to watching, the only impressions I had seen were articles saying "Critics unimpressed with new season," and that "Ron Howard comes off as weird." I highly disagree with both. After episode 3, everything became good to great very fast. And Ron Howard was absolute gold. I almost want to name him MVP.

Only problem I had by the end is that it felt like three-quarters of a season.
 

TUSR

Banned
I was just watching Craig Ferguson's best of clips with his innuendos, and him and Elizabeth Banks reenacted Ghost.

And I remembered Buster (Tony Hale) is in Community for the Pottery episode.
 

KalBalboa

Banned
Just finished and I have to agree: it felt unfinished.

Gob's episodes were excellent along with Maeby's. The rest were good, not great, with the first episode being the weakest to me.

The "ending" was too insubstantial for my tastes. Wasn't this supposed to be THE ending? No more?
 

Mariolee

Member
Just finished and I have to agree: it felt unfinished.

Gob's episodes were excellent along with Maeby's. The rest were good, not great, with the first episode being the weakest to me.

The "ending" was too insubstantial for my tastes. Wasn't this supposed to be THE ending? No more?

No, they have stated in multiple interviews this just Act 1 in a three-Act story. Whether the rest of the Acts are in movie form or season form is up in the air.
 

KalBalboa

Banned
No, they have stated in multiple interviews this just Act 1 in a three-Act story. Whether the rest of the Acts are in movie form or season form is up in the air.

Considering how difficult this season was to put together... I don't know how brilliant an idea that might be.

I hope they don't need to wait as long for the next installment.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and creator Mitchell Hurwitz have both confirmed that season four will be the final season of the show, and that the revival serves as a "one-off" and "act one of a movie".

I hadn't heard about the "Act 1" aspect, but I had heard a lot of "one-off" talk. Oh well.
 

TUSR

Banned
Considering how difficult this season was to put together... I don't know how brilliant an idea that might be.

I hope they don't need to wait as long for the next installment.



I hadn't heard about the "Act 1" aspect, but I had heard a lot of "one-off" talk. Oh well.

They still said that another season could happen if people were onboard for it. But its a lot more work than a movie since everyone (almost) has a steady career now.
 

KalBalboa

Banned
They still said that another season could happen if people were onboard for it. But its a lot more work than a movie since everyone (almost) has a steady career now.

It seems like Cera is only interested if he has more creative control, considering he was such a hold out and was writing for the fourth season.
 

KalBalboa

Banned
I never heard this one


Cera's an odd duck, career wise.

Q.
You wrote on the new season. Was it a bit like coming back to your old high school to teach?

A.
I don’t even know what to compare it to. I always really admired these guys when I was growing up. They were tucked away in their office — it was such a different world. That part of it was most exciting: being accepted in there and watching this thing come together, which is very uncharted territory, I think, in terms of television comedy.

Q.
The structure sounds like a sort of narrative Rubik’s cube. Was it tough to put together?

A.
You’re just constantly grappling with this thing. There was this very important writers’ assistant named Joey, and she sat in the corner and actually did all the writing, the typing, while we were all just sitting around talking. We’d be like two pages in on an idea sometimes, and she’d speak up and say, “Wait a minute, we can’t do this because Maeby is in the desert when Lindsay is in Las Vegas.” Or whatever it is.
 

Batigol

Banned
Honestly, you wouldn't even need Maeby and George Michael in S5. They're both in their 20's now. You can't keep up that awkward tennager shtick forever.
 

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
Honestly, you wouldn't even need Maeby and George Michael in S5. They're both in their 20's now. You can't keep up that awkward tennager shtick forever.

Nah but that's what is great and truly unpredictable. The adults are set in their ways, their characters are established. But who could see GM 2.0 coming?

Whether you like it or not, it seems like the honest way to progress going forward.

You're a terrible mother!
 

CzarTim

Member
Noticed this on a rewatch:

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Mr. Mister
 

GraveHorizon

poop meter feature creep
Is there a consensus on the weakest episode? It's either Lucille's or the first episode, for me.

Lucille's was better than most of the earlier episodes. The first one was like "...What the hell happened? Everything's different!" Best episode has to be George Michael's, when everything comes together. Maeby is up there, and Buster's good parts of his episode.
 

J.W.Crazy

Member
Cera's an odd duck, career wise.

The credits list him as "Consulting Producer" which is usually someone who used to work on the show but still helps out from time to time. I don't know exactly what he did as far as writing but that credit makes me think it was more about getting him on board by giving him a bigger paycheck. You see stuff like that a lot when a big star appears in something with a lower budget.
 
Hurwitz was interviewed on NPR today, I think by Terry Gross, and it sounds like he has plans to do more AD. Rather than this being a "one-off" sort of thing.

http://www.npr.org/2013/06/05/187343353/arrested-no-more-hurwitz-on-why-the-bluths-are-back

HURWITZ: This has been designed to lead to more story, and as those of you who have gotten all the way through the end of this know, there's a lot of story ahead of us, and that story is kind of mapped out already. So there's definitely a future to this family. Whether it's a movie or another season or my new idea, which is a series of needlepoint patterns...

I guess that's similar to what he's been saying actually...
 

hateradio

The Most Dangerous Yes Man
I think the first few episodes were weaker. Plus, Lyndsey's face was so weird at the start, too.

One issue I'm curious about, is timing. Episodes on network TV are about 20-something minutes long, while the episodes were on average 30 minutes long. I think if they trimmed them down a bit, some of the episodes would have been better.
 

Rorschach

Member
Only watched 7 episodes so far, but outside of the Gob episode, it feels like a chore. The way it's laid out, it seems like it's all setup. When I finally get to the punchline, I find myself not caring as much. "Oh yeah, they mentioned that 5 episodes ago or during the original run or something... heh?"

I think I need more Buster and Gob.
 
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