"Arrested Development" Thread

All other threads were archived. Too bad the Showtime thing didn't happen with this show. I just saw this cool video feature (looking back on the show with Jason Bateman) on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EXDS7K/ref=ad3-vid_header/102-2254447-4318528

 

I'll be buying it tomorrow.

$19.99 at Target, BestBuy and Circuit City.

 

Even though the Showtime thing fell through, it will be shown on HDNet.

 

Also, I saw a commercial that it's going to be on G4 (I think that's the correct name for the channel that shows Star Trek all day on Saturday.)

 

I got season three last night (I love it when video stores put stuff out early) and watched it in one marathon sitting. (beware: the blooper reel does not censor the saltier language - and these guys swear like a longshoreman with a skinned knee)

Couldn't find any easter eggs, though.

Odd that Charlize Theron doesn't rate a photo on the cover. Maybe one day she'll be as big as star as Scott Baio, huh?

 

It's a real shame that they didn't pick up any Emmys the other night. You can't honestly tell me that My Name is Earl has better writing, Jeremy Piven is better than Will Arnett, or that The Office is a better show!!! I'm sorry, I don't buy it for a second. AD is simply one of the greatest sitcom of all time, you'd think it would at least be honored since it ain't gonna get another shot

Yeah, I've preordered Season 3 on Amazon, and am eaaaaagerly awaiting its arrival!

 

I don't know about the last two. Arrested Development was very funny and clever, but IMO they started to get too self-referential and impressed with themselves in the second season, and only became more so in the third. And I felt the characters were one-trick ponies to some extent. Something like the Office isn't quite as clever but has a little more depth, to me.

 

I don't live in the US and wouldn't watch the Emmys, unless I was paid or had heard about a forthcoming Scarlett Johansson or Jessica Alba (or even Jessica Biel) wardrobe malfunction, but the point, when I read the winners list, is sometimes to support burgeoning shows that deserve some more viewers. It doesn't make much sense to vote for a show that was cancelled in February and that was already awarded for its first (and second) season. You can't wake it from the dead. On the other hand, there's hope for "The Office" to get more attention.

 

That's just wrong.

Arrested Development should have won becasue it was FUNNIER than the other shows. That's it.

The Emmy's should not just be marketing leverage for shows. But who am I kidding, the Emmys are meaningless anyway.

no statue can make a show funny, only the people working on the show can.

 

I am a huge fan as well and started with the show at the beginning of the second season as I had seen so many commercials during the 2004 World Series. Definitely one of the greatest of all time. The writing is just stellar. I love how they call back to things from several episodes before, like leaving notes for everything, calling back to the episode where the father scared them as kids by pretending a guy's arm got cut off because they didn't leave a note. Priceless. Also, how the plots totally interlock like Seinfeld to the 10the 10th power.

Do you think it's because they simply created an entire AD universe around themselves? Exclusive products (i.e. the Cornballer), fake towns (Wee Britain), etc.? I like the Office too, but I feel the Office sometimes DOESN'T have a joke and the awkward silence is what is supposed to be funny. At least AD has a joke there and then some.

 

But I felt there was too much of this at times. Some of the later shows seemed like they were made up completely of references to earlier episodes.

 

It's $8.99 at Costco + tax on $18.99.

Costco has $10 off the $18.99 price, but you have to pay tax on all $18.99.

I just bought mine in San Diego.

 

THANK YOU! Exactly! While the Office and My Name Is Earl are both very funny, I just feel Arrested Development took it all to another level. The intelligence it assumes from its audience is extremely refreshing from any entertainment of today, and it definitely pays off for those who care to give the time! Of course, this was obviously the downfall of the show. Either way, I view it as a brilliant 50-episode extended mini-series that has a very neatly self contained arc. So it has self referential jokes - at least they're hilarious! Who am I to complain?

 

Agreed. I thought it started getting thin near the end, so I am glad it didn't make it to Showtime if it was going to be like the last couple seasons of Seinfeld. It's too bad it wasn't hugely successful, although I do know a number of people that watched it -- some of which I turned on to the show. I guess I hang out with intelligent people...

 

I'd heard a lot of buzz about this show but never had a chance to catch it. We recieved the 1st season DVD as a gift and we're so hooked! We bought season 2 and will buy season 3 this week on sale at Target. Still haven't made it past season 1 yet. I'm slowly enjoying every show. I don't want it to end.


dan c

 

Similar situation here. I started at the beginning of Season 2 on TV and my girlfriend brought home some Fox TV DVD sampler of a bunch of shows that had recently come out on DVD. I saw the Season 1 Pilot and I was hooked and ran out and bought the box set immediately. Several other friends have done this as well. I thankfully have most of Season 3 recorded, but I did miss two episodes, so I am dying to see them.

 

I'm not sure what was wrong with it. Brilliant TV, no question, on SO many levels. Buster self parodying himself from the VW commercials w/ Mr. Roboto. Henry Winkler jumping the shark. I came in before the start of the second season, and Netflixed the first season to catch up. You definitely could not start w/ two or three w/o an idea what was going on. Very self-referential, and thumbed their noses at people who could not accept that.

I started my post saying that it came along at the wrong time, that people's attention spans were so short, that they did not feel like following a show that they had to keep up with for an entire season, but look at all the reality shows, Amazing Race, Survivor, American Idol, etc, that people tuned into w/ a passion, week after week. Also, 24, which you had to pay attention to. It was not solved in one episode. I think that the problem w/ ME in the third season was, I had no idea when it was going to be on. I did not know it aired on Monday until the following day, and never caught the first episode. Fox generally would run previous episodes to catch up. They never did w/ AD.

 

I just took about six episodes off of the DVR last night, from back as far as November!!

 

Yeah, I've thought that too. Because Fox is so tied up with sports programming -- like the World Series -- I am sure a number of their shows suffered as they shuffled the schedule around so much. Fox seemed like the hung in there longer than they normally would, but how embarrassing would it be if they dropped a show that won all those Emmy Awards? Then again, they did dump the Ben Stiller Show and that went on to win an Emmy as well (don't recall which one).

 

All I know is everytime that show came on I made sure I was not chewing food for fear of choking hazzard. More laughs in 22 minutes than any comedic film I ever saw.

 

I am a huge of fan of both The Office and Arrested Devleopment and I think The Office won simply because it was funnier this past season. On a whole AD is/was funnier but the 3rd season was the worst of the trio even though it was brilliant. My friends and I were talking about shows like AD that get cancelled and its just a shame. We came to the conclusion that the American audience for the most part just isn't smart enough to understand the humor of a show like AD.

Shane

 

Couldn't disagree more. I thought the third season was the best-written and acted of the set. Whether that's because they had to squeeze the same number of jokes into fewer episodes or whether that's because the writing staff just hit their stride or whether it's just because they gave up trying to slip past the censors and just made the jokes openly filthier ("Great! Now I'm gonna smell like tuna melt all day!") is debateable. Of course, I'll admit that I loved the self-referential humor the most, and by season three the had enough backstory that they could feed off it almost indefinitely.

 

I see what you're saying. I too love the humor that comes from episodes and seasons past but i think that the reason that this season suffered (in my book anyway) is that is was rushed. The writers were forced to wrap everything up in too short a time. I think had they let them finish the season it could have been a true masterpiece of comedy.

Shane

 

I think the Jim and Pam relationship is the factor that makes the Office more relatable and appealing to a broader audience than Arrested Development.

 

Received all 3 seasons from Amazon last Friday and have slowly been watching each episode - up to the end of the second season now.

I'm not going to say how the series ends, since it came as a surprise to me, and I don't want to ruin it for someone who hasn't seen it. But I wonder when they began writing the series if they knew what the ending was going to be.