Arrested Development 20th anniversary

[Scrapey Fish]

I'll defend the original cut of season 4 for hours. A whole new angle for the running jokes. And just loads of great stuff in there. "You ever even been on a plane, you piece of shit?"

I thought it got really good in the second half - it seemed that people just couldn't get past the ultra slow buildup

[Oh, Nobody]

Original cut of 4 is great, love the ending. 5 should have been a Clue knockoff movie as originally planned.

I don't think there's anything in 4 or 5 as bad as that whole 'Mr F' storyline.

[amputeeporn]

The show was life alteringly great for me as a teen. Like everything I'd have wanted a real world Simpsons to feel like. Just couldn't do it after S3, though. I tried and it was Zombie arrested development.

Still think they should have done a movie instead of the 4th series. The format was already showing strain, and scheduling was a nightmare because the whole cast were becoming MOVIE STARS. It would have shaken things up, while constraining the plot. It was rumoured for a long time it would be a film, and I wonder it thing Hurwitz stays awake at night thinking about it. Feels like they were one more slam away from true classic status in the wider culture.

[fucking ponderous]

Maybe my favorite joke

GOB immediately instinctively giving Franklin a new elderly Englishman voice is the funniest thing in the world to me.

[fucking ponderous]

Not on YT it seems but other favorite bit is Gene Parmesan lighting a cigarette in the middle of a conversation in the Bluth offices and the smoke alarm goes off and the scene cuts to them outside the building continuing the conversation with the fire brigade behind them. The fact that none of them acknowledge what's happening is so funny to me.

[her?]

S5 isn't even that bad when viewed as a complete package. (Not split into two halves - what were they thinking?) There's less of a hit rate with memorable gags but if you're at all invested in the story of the Bluths and the broader, intricate plotting the show always did so well, it's a great watch.

How many S5-haters haven't even watched the whole season?

I did watch the whole of season 5 unfortunately. It's a total mess. There's so much narration, so much green screening and most distractingly, so much added dialogue inserted when characters have their backs to the camera and they're clearly saying something completely different. What happened? Did they do a huge rewrite but then couldn't get all the cast back? How much worse could the original scripts have been?

[SteveDave]

"LET THE GREAT EXPERIMENT BEGIN!"

[chip]

I did watch the whole of season 5 unfortunately. It's a total mess. There's so much narration, so much green screening and most distractingly, so much added dialogue inserted when characters have their backs to the camera and they're clearly saying something completely different. What happened? Did they do a huge rewrite but then couldn't get all the cast back? How much worse could the original scripts have been?

Hard to argue with that. I'd forgotten just how jarringly bad that was. I just grit my teeth and powered through because I wanted to see some conclusion to the Lucille 2 mystery. (Which there was, kind of.)

[Sonny_Jim]

'Wow we're just blowing through nap time, aren't we?'

[Des Wigwam]

The Mr Fingerbottom Mrs Featherbottom Mary Poppins bit is an excellent bit of slapstick.

[Proactive]

The Mr Fingerbottom Mrs Featherbottom Mary Poppins bit is an excellent bit of slapstick.

The noise he makes when he's lying on the floor is incredible.

[Old Thrashbarg]

One of the things that stands out for me, in the first three seasons at least, is just how many memorable characters they created. Near enough every recurring character is a worthwhile addition.

[chip]

"You burn down the banana stand?"
"Oh, most definitely"

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Speaking of physical comedy, everything involving GOB's Segway scooter is gold.

[Sebastian Cobb]

One of the daft wee moments that really got me was when George Sr tries to cook rations in the secret hot tub.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Season 5 got worse and worse. The trial was a lifeless thing with one joke stretched over the course of three episodes.
Mitch Hurwitz simply lost his touch. The scripts were running late, he would submit substantial rewrites (which didn't improve on the earlier drafts) just before shooting, the cast had a miserable experience due to this, which also shows on the screen.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I remember season 3 getting a lukewarm response but I liked it as much as 1&2 (at the time anyway, going to have to rewatch them all soon). "Wee Britain" particularly.

[DrGreggles]

Yeah s3 is great. Contains some of the show's best bits.
The only problem is the rushed final 4 episodes, but that wasn't really their fault.

I loved Wee Britain. So much effort went in to making everything wrong.

[Matthew Dawkins Jub Jub]

I'm likewise in the camp that believes the original cut of Season 4 is superb, but mainly on a rewatch. I get that it strikes it a different tone and pace to the prior seasons, so it throws folks off, but my appreciation for it has only grown.

I can't say the same for Season 5, but there are still some highlights in there.

[Bad Ambassador]

MY NAME IS JUDGE

"They call me up to the stand, say something like, "Who's this little friend?" And he'll say-"
"MY NAME IS JUDGE"
"Who's name is Judge?"
"MY NAME IS"
"That's a silly name."
"JUDGE MY NAME"
"Yes, I am judging your name. It am silly."
"IS"
"Oh, now you're correcting my grammar?"
"GOB, not going to put Franklin on the stand, and your lips are moving just little bit."
"JUDGE"
"He's right, his name is Judge now."

[close]

[Bobloblawslawbomb]

https://youtu.be/yawiHC0yDu8?si=cYV1xUi2sMfwNGMd

My favourite running joke. The audacity of 'He's going to be all right', you can even hear George Michael in the background, 'there's no other way to take that!'.

[frajer]

Phenomenally funny show in its original 3-season run. Absolutely sizzling gag rate and amazing character work.

Try as I might, I don't care for Gob Seasons 4 or 5. Was beyond excited for its return but can't really blame them for failing to recapture lightning in a bottle.

I still periodically sing 'Hot Potahto' with the same pronunciation as Rita Leeds and literally no one in my life knows what I'm referencing.

[chip]

"It looks like he's suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or... the O.C. Disorder."
"Don't call it that"

[Endicott]

"You burn down the banana stand?"
"Oh, most definitely"

"You mailed that insurance cheque, right GOB?"

The comic timing of the Segway moves was always superb.

As said, a brilliant show, but I could never quite bring myself to watch S4 or 5 after the reactions to them.

[Clownbaby]

I didn't mind season 4 at all. The Tobias and Lindsey episodes were the weakest for me, but the GOB episode was worth it all by itself.

...Same...

[centristmelt]

The jumping the shark episode is the best meta-episode of anything I've ever seen.

[BritishHobo]

I didn't mind season 4 at all. The Tobias and Lindsey episodes were the weakest for me, but the GOB episode was worth it all by itself.

...Same...

I really love Getaway. "It's as if they wrote that song for my own son."

[Two Headed Sex Beast]

There's a lot of good and memorable stuff in season 4, it was just the slower, longer format (and different camera style?) that was a bit harder to get into on first watch.

5 though... I got halfway through and quit. The Maeby stuff had some good moments but I don't even remember the rest.

[Clownbaby]

I really love Getaway. "It's as if they wrote that song for my own son."

I was just rewatching the bit when Getaway is being recorded in the studio and the shot of GOB awkwardly crunching crisps in the middle of them all on the couch absolutely sent me for some reason

[gotmilk]

I love season 4 but it's a strange beast. On a macro level it's brilliant, ingeniously structured so that all the episodes crossover in expected and unexpected way, and every episode is densely layered with call-backs, foreshadowing, and jokes that you don't even realise are jokes until rewatching with the full context of the season in mind. For me, it's incredibly satisfying watching everything come together, which is why a lot of the later episodes like the George Michael centred one are highlights. It also has a real undercurrent of melancholy, with all the characters scattered and lost - there is a great scene with Gob and Michael which just wouldn't have felt right in earlier seasons, but works brilliantly. There are also plenty of classic moments that feel totally in keeping with the earlier seasons, such as Tobias's To Catch a Predator moment.

But that's only half of the story. There are also storylines like Lucille in prison or George Senior's sweat lodge business that simply don't work, particularly as the characters are no longer bouncing off the rest of the cast. The joy of watching all the ensemble interact regularly is gone. And while I think the overall structure is brilliant, individual episodes don't fare so well. Arrested Development has always thrived on cause and effect, but whereas that used to mean meticulously plotted twenty minute farces, here each instalment is in service of the larger plot, with setups and payoffs scattered throughout the season. This effectively means that many episodes  feel like a slog, as that instalment's lead character is dragged around by the writers in order to ensure that they are feeding into each of the season's stories. The narration tries to make everything feel like it's part of each character's journey - "chastened by the conversation with her mother, she then decided to see her ex-husband" etc - but a lot of these character motivations were clearly decided on in post. Apparently the actors didn't know what they were doing half the time, and it shows.

There is also the fact that many of the season's threads are clearly setting up a mystery that was never able to be resolved. You watch season 5 and there is a real sense of a plan being abandoned, and all kinds of awkward compromises being made. I suspect the problems Hurwitz faced were:

1) The mystery revolves around Lucille II, and Liza Minelli was not available to shoot anything. Lindsay probably was integral too, but Di Rossi only agreed to film a few scenes.

2) Certain aspects like the Tambor disguised as a woman plot and the wall storyline had to be minimised (due to the risk of seeming like a mockery of Transparent, and of feeling like dated satire respectively).

3) It had to pick up from where S4 left off, but so many years had passed that doing so would make it a period piece, hence the awkward way the season approaches time.

4) Some viewers hated S4, and even those who liked it couldn't remember all the dangling plot threads, so the show was not able to jump right back into the mysteries which were established.

5) Most viewers wanted all the characters to interact more, but the actors were no more available than in S4. This resulted in awkward pairings and janky plotting.

6) Certain aspects had to be changed during production - there are photos of Barkhad Abdi as Tobias's bastard son, fulfilling the various hints Tobias is an albino black man. Maybe it was deemed inappropriate, but for whatever reason he was ultimately recast.

7) It probably became increasingly clear that this would be the last season, meaning the season had to work as an ending.

S5 is a real disappointment, a truly disastrous comedown after the ambition of S4. I think Hurwitz tried to have it both ways, coming up with an conclusion that felt as though it resolved things, while also leaving room for a further season which could potentially deliver all his planned resolutions which depended on cast members being available and various other production difficulties resolved. Obviously after the response to the season it was never going to happen, and I doubt the actors were keen in any case. The complete absence of any conversation about the show after that horrible Jessica Walter interview was very notable, especially contrast to the lively conversation which came after its first Netflix comeback.