create a topic with Arrested Development in the subject line

[Reply #400 on:]

*bump*
Less than 24 hours to go!
Watching seasons 1-3, just signed up for Netflix free trial, have my frozen banana recipe ready and some pals coming over Sunday morning, BLUTH ME!!

Edit: shopping done, Netflix trial sign up for, awesome.

[Reply #401 on:]

So I marathoned Arrested Development all the way through via the IFC Final Countdown marathon*. All I gotta say was what have I been missing? This show is brilliant. A bit incest-y for my taste, but holy crap this writing is brilliant!

[Reply #402 on:]

Come on, Netflix. Post the freaking episodes already.

[Reply #403 on:]

Still got 2 and a half hours to go, bud.

[Reply #404 on:]

I have to wait until my friend gets off work tomorrow for us to even start. Anticipation is killing me!

[Reply #405 on:]

A bit incest-y for my taste

I don't even know where to begin with that.

[Reply #406 on:]

A bit incest-y for my taste

I don't even know where to begin with that.

Basically it's not incest-y enough.

[Reply #407 on:]

Playing episode 1 RIGHT NOW!

Edit: So, a couple of comments so far.

One...yikes, Michael is a mess. In fact, this is almost painful. Hope he gets back to his snarky, self-righteous self soon.

Two, during parts of the episode there's a watermark that appears over part of the screen that says "SHOWSTEALER PRO        TRIAL VERSION". Is everyone else getting that? Wonder if Netflix jumped the gun and forgot to remove them...

Edit 2: Hahahahaha, great cameos in the airport, definitely wasn't expecting that.

Edit 3: Really good first episode. Trying to figure out if I want to stay up and watch more (which may require going to get some coffee) or sleep and watch the rest when I wake up.

[Reply #408 on:]

I am two episodes in. Entertaining but not mind-blowing. The production values are noticeably lower than before. I know it's netflix and not network tv, but the look can sometimes be a little jarring.

Gotta sleep now...I look forward to picking back up tomorrow morning.

I noticed that watermark...figured it was just a joke that I didn't get. Not sure what it was about.

[Reply #409 on:]

Update: Lindsay's episode is awesome.

[Reply #410 on:]

Watched first two episodes, it can be quite overwhelming with the pacing but I am laughing... I assume it will all come together and make a bit more sense eventually.
I did spot Dan Harmon (Community creator) and the Workaholics guys though!

Also, frozen bananas are quite nice!

[Reply #411 on:]

So I'm pretty sure the watermark only appears on footage from the first three seasons, so it's like a joke that they didn't get the rights to those clips and had to rip them.

The MST3K reference in episode 5 made me shit my pants.

[Reply #412 on:]

Tobias's episode had one of the funniest endings I've ever seen. I was crying.

[Reply #413 on:]

Agreed, just finished that one. "Is my little girl here all alone? Daddy needs to get his rocks off!"

[Reply #414 on:]

I want to show her Daddy's Thing!

[Reply #415 on:]

The MST3K reference in episode 5 made me shit my pants.

Agreed.

Tobias's episode had one of the funniest endings I've ever seen. I was crying.

Agreed. So far, his episode and Lindsay's episodes are the clear winners. The "a new start" and "method one clinic" gags are as classic as anything they've ever done.

[Reply #416 on:]

So there's a lot of stuff going on in the episodes, very layered and I'm sure I'm missing a ton of jokes, but I hope it becomes more coherent to me, I've read spoiler free reviews saying it all comes together nicely though...
I wasn't so keen on Lindsay's episode but Tobias' was great (and I guess the overlap parts were good)

I like the "random escaped bird" theme emerging.

[Reply #417 on:]

Completely ignoring all above posts to avoid spoilers. But I'm already seeing the old "It's still better than 95% of TV today" excuse. That can't be good.

[Reply #418 on:]

OMG, what happened to the actor who plays Steve Holt!?

(Gob's episode = another winner. But yeah I hope it all comes together in the end.)

[Reply #419 on:]

Yeah I keep asking what happened to Steve Holt myself. Marathoned through 10 episodes today, probably finish them later tomorrow but so far so good.

[Reply #420 on:]

Lucille's episode is fantastic! Like the others, it continues to be original, hilarious and intriguing.

[Reply #421 on:]

That has to be some sort of prosthetic on Steve Holt to reduce his hairline to resemble GOB better, right?
Otherwise, "...yikes..."

I loved the "and Jeremy Piven" gag, and the other Entourage stuff.

[Reply #422 on:]

Finally finished it, a few times I went back and rewatched episodes with friends that were a little behind me plus the fact that I was in no rush so it took a while.

Wasn't expecting the cliffhanger ending. I wonder if they'll be able to get a movie deal or have another season greenlit first...either way, I definitely want more. This was so, so good.

[Reply #423 on:]

Some of the characters have such personality that it was a bit much when they got whole episodes, but because of the grand scheme of it all, it worked out perfectly. After the first two episodes I was adjusted to the show's new format. It came together so strong towards the end, and I was tearing up at least once every episode. Just as good and maybe even better than the original three seasons.

Check into a rehab clinic, because I'm going through a devasting Bluth withdrawal.

[Reply #424 on:]

Just finished 15 episodes - 5 last night, marathoned the remaining ten today. Wow. So...many...layers!!! GOB's episodes were clearly my favorite...there were good LOL moments in all of them but I couldn't stop laughing at his, especially the intoduction of the getaway song...how many dl's do you think that could get on iTunes?

But yeah, I thought it was done really well. Some episodes were sooo long though...if there was a downside, it's that each episode varied a bit in length. When they were cut down to 22 minutes I felt like they hd such little time to make it work that it all became gold. Some parts were drawn out that didn't need to be, especially some of the scenes with Tobias and DeBries, and I think, if anything, that was a con to me. I thought it was interesting how the approached this whole season as one character's focus per episode (as they discussed it would be before their release), but I couldn't handle more seasons like that. Ha, I equated that quatro de cinco to the Cryogenics Lab Fry visited NYE. Speaking of Futurama...omg reference in last episode! That made me squee with delight

Also...haha, George Michael attending my old college. Now I'm kinda bummed I wasn't attending at the time they filmed that. Not all the scenes looked like it was from the campus, naturally, but enough of it did that I remembered. All the anteaters and ZOT signs everywhere.... *cringe*

So there's a lot of stuff going on in the episodes, very layered and I'm sure I'm missing a ton of jokes

Oh, I watched all the episodes and me and the others I watched it with have all been saying the same thing. I'm just trying to process all this new information right now I can't even think about rewatching it yet. My brain is full.

OMG, what happened to the actor who plays Steve Holt!?

Yeah really. I was like wow, that was kinda dumb they got another actor to play him until I was informed of the truth...like holy cornhole man it's only been 7 years!

[Reply #425 on:]

So this came up in chat between me and Josh. Lindsay clearly looks different, whether she had work done or what. Do you think she looks better or worse? When I first saw her onscreen, I thought she had just aged or because she looked crack skinny again...It didn't occur to me she could have had plastic surgery, but either way, I thought she looked off, kinda weird, and bit creepy this go around. What do you guys think?

[Reply #426 on:]

A lot of it was the forehead perhaps, combined with the straight hair.  It was hard for me to accept that a different actress wasn't playing her at first.

STEVE HOLT!

Also... this whole season was severely depressing and awkward to watch.

[Reply #427 on:]

I think that long hair was just a wig which I agree looked awkward, but once she cut it I thought she looked super cute (Lindsey was right).

[Reply #428 on:]

Watching Tobias's second episode:
I think Debrie is one of my fav new characters, her singing along to Mark Cherry was Fantastic (4)!

[Reply #429 on:]

Fazeshift didn't actually own the rights to a 4 inside of parentheses.

[Reply #430 on:]

Positive points:

• I love the way the interleaving stories have been expanded to cover multi-episode arcs.  One of the best parts of the series was how each character's misadventures crossed with the other characters', and the new quasi-POV format makes it even better.  Maeby's episode was probably the most hilarious in this regard, but Tobias and Lindsey's trips to India completed each others in a literal and metaphorical way. 
• I like that Michael has lost some of his Mary Sue veneer.  Part of that may be attributable to the fact that the story is no longer about the one son who had no choice to keep them all together, but mostly it makes him a little more human.
• I like that Lucille seems to be getting some more screen time.  That was, of course, hinted at in the finale, but I always got the feeling she was a bit more dynamic of a character than George Sr.  I also think Kristen Wiig as a young Lucille is genius.
• I like that they've worked in without shoehorning some bit characters from the original series.  Sally Sitwell, Gene Parmasean, Warden Gentles, Carl Weathers, etc...they all feel naturally incorporated into the story.  I was pleased to see Dr. Wordsmith made a reappearance as well, though I felt his gag was a little overdone this time.
• I like the way they've expanded scenes from the original series without adding completely new material or changing canon.
• Wordplay gags are still pretty good, though they've ridden ANUSTART a little hard.

Less positive points:

• I guess Maeby was always a bit of a jerk, but now that she's an adult, I can start resenting her for it.
• George Michael is a little too cool for who he is.  His story arc covered the change pretty well, but he still strikes me as being a fundamentally different person, one I don't really like.
• I'm not a big fan of Rebel Alley as character or a love interest for either Michael or George Michael.  This may be in part due to the show linking her to Tracy without introducing Tracy.  Of course, it could just be that I have latent biases toward the more traditional, female, love interest characters in the series.
• The Herbert Love character as a sort of heavy-handed caricature of Herman Cain feels more than a bit forced.  He's a good antipode to Lindsey's wackier activism, but he seems to be played a bit too straight.

Overall, I got a much more positive impression from this season than negative.  The show is still reestablishing its footing, but it seems to have all of its old moves.

[Reply #431 on:]

• Wordplay gags are still pretty good, though they've ridden ANUSTART a little hard.

They should ride it a little harder, then slow down, then really ram it back in there.

[Reply #432 on:]

We needn't spend too much time analraping the joke.

[Reply #433 on:]

You'te killing me, Thunder!

[Reply #434 on:]

I loved season 4. It wasn't as good as season 3, but just as with Futurama's revival, I'd say Arrested Development's new episodes are absolutely comparable to the original run.

I love the format change and how cleverly crafted the new season is, with how it all intertwines and the like. It did make the first few episodes feel a bit weaker, but it was purely down to a need for set-up before we get our pay-offs.

My only real complaints would be that the season doesn't conclude at all - but I'm fine with that so long as they make another season or a movie (as they clearly intend to) sooner than it took them to get us season 4.

That, and the new lack of rules regarding running time meant that some of the episodes felt a bit long. Obviously, episodes used to be about 22 minutes a pop, but in season 4, they're all over the place. Some were almost 40 minutes long which is pretty crazy, really. I like that they were free to make things as long as they wanted, except for the reasonably high number of annoying, Family Guy-esque "let's see how long we can drag this out for" gags.

Anyway, Tobias and Gob's episodes were (as I think everybody expected) the highlights. They were up there with some of the best Arrested Development to date.

[Reply #435 on:]

Still working my way through it. I think I'm...10 or 11 episodes in? Just started George Michael's episode. Maybe I am alone here, but he is hysterical. I have to give major credit to Michael Cera. I'm tired of seeing his face in every single hipster indie comedy, but he delivers a truly funny performance here.

[Reply #436 on:]

I like that they were free to make things as long as they wanted, except for the reasonably high number of annoying, Family Guy-esque "let's see how long we can drag this out for" gags.

I forgot about this, but I noticed a few of these too and was similarly underwhelmed.

[Reply #437 on:]

I like that they were free to make things as long as they wanted, except for the reasonably high number of annoying, Family Guy-esque "let's see how long we can drag this out for" gags.

I forgot about this, but I noticed a few of these too and was similarly underwhelmed.

Some of them, like the GOB / Tony Wonder drinking water bit, was hilarious. Others...may have been a bit long. Like Buster smoking for Lucille. 2 or 3 times would have been enough for that.

[Reply #438 on:]

Positive points:

• I love the way the interleaving stories have been expanded to cover multi-episode arcs.  One of the best parts of the series was how each character's misadventures crossed with the other characters',

I thought this was ok, but thought it didn't capture the same feel of the possibility having them all together as the previous seasons (at least you have it...), like there were several points where another character would have said something or reacted to someone doing something, but they just weren't in the scene because of the way it was shot... stupid George Michael, stupid! actor availability...

Finished it tonight, I. WANT. MOAR!

Edit: Was it just me or did Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howards real daughter!) play Tracy Bluth in a flashback?

[Reply #439 on:]

I half expected Rebel Alley to be somehow related to Michael and George Michael. :3