Arrested Development (Netflix) TV Show • Page 58

I'm definitely gonna rewatch the first half of S5 before I watch the new one but would you guys recommend rewatching 4 too if I don't remember that much? I've seen 1-3 a million times

 

The show spends half the time now doing recaps so I think you’ll be good haha

 

Lol good point

 

I watched all of season five for a reminder of story lines and whatnot and it was fun.

 

I haven't watched any of Season 5 and honestly probably never will. I just have no desire after season 4 and all the reactions to season 5.

 

I've historically been more forgiving than most for season 4 and 5.1 but I have two episodes left and it's just..... I dunno, feels like it exists just to exist, I don't understand how it's so aggressively not funny anymore :(

 

I liked the season 4 remix a lot actually, thought season 5.1 was a waste of everybody’s time but season 5.2? I can dig it. I’m still down 2 episodes but I’m actually impressed they managed to turn it around.

 

Second half of season 5 is amazing lol.

 

These are my thoughts exactly. I have 3 left and honestly I’m happy that the show is most likely over after this.

 

I liked season four a lot. I didn't think it was much of an incoherent mess as most people did. The first half of season five struggled with time line issues. It was difficult for me to understand what was happening for a good portion of it. Once that all got sorted, it felt like an easier swallow, but the second half just felt boring and uninspired.

 

I actually just finished and liked the second half substantially more than the first half, and in retrospect liked the first half more too. It was a fucking horrible idea to release the season split in half like that

S4 and 5 still have no real reason to exist but they're not THAT bad imo. Can't see myself going back to them much though

 

they must have been paid well for this. lol

The Cast of 'Arrested Development' Wants Season 6, But Does Netflix? [WonderCon 2019]

 

The first couple episodes of S5 part 2 had me laughing pretty good but then it went so downhill. I really don’t want any more.

 

I am cool with it not returning.

 

Finally finished season five.

That’s, uh, that’s gonna do it for me. No more, please.

 

Oh and I really don’t like the “family secret” they revealed about Buster because the way that recontextualizes both his character and his relationship with his mother is just...I don’t know, I think it’s just way too dark for me. This just bummed me the hell out.

 

just watched the second half of s5. thought it was a lot more enjoyable than part 1, but i don't need any more of the show

 

Gif equivalent of the last season premiering

 

How did they lose the magic so badly? Was this a result of Hurwitz deciding to make a stupidly convoluted plot to work around the actor availability for s4 and having to deal with the tangled result in s5, or does this just show that they never would’ve been able to reclaim that magic no matter the situation?

 

I feel like it’s a combination of a lot of things. For one, a lot of people point to the first half of season 3 as a telltale sign that this thing had limitations. The show rebounded real fast at the end once they realized that this was going to be the end, but the criticism remains. Years later when it returned some critics suggested the new iteration of the show was Hurwitz leaning on his worst tendencies. Other people liked the new format and thought the jokes were fine.

For me it comes down to this:

1.) The move to Netflix and loss of a 22 minute time constraint. The jokes are no longer tight and to the point. The pacing and timing are way, way off and scenes just drag on for so long that I’m not even sure what it is I’m supposed to be laughing at anymore. A lot of people complain that networks are the death knell of artistic freedom, buuuuuut these bloated episodes could probably benefit from a good edit. There are other shows that I share these feelings about after they too moved to a streaming platform.

2.) Production woes. Yep, that rotating talent schedule is a nightmare and, while my hat is off to Hurwitz for trying to make it work, man alive does it ever show. It’s not just the actors though. To compensate, Hurwitz constantly throws in absolutely horrendous green screen. It’s so distractingly bad I’m not even sure how it gets a pass. Terrible ADR is a constant distraction as well. I think it might be worse than the green screen because it happens in literally every episode. He’s always cutting to the backs of people’s heads while they “speak” or, using a hilariously bad example from this season, covering Michael’s face with a manufactured sun glare through the windshield of a “car” for like three minutes straight while we’re supposed to ignore that Michael’s mouth is obviously not moving. Sometimes he tosses in ADR’d lines so flippantly that it’s apparent the editing is pretty haphazard. In those particular instances he throws in a line of dialogue in a shot where the character’s face is fully visible and the mouth is clearly not moving. The awful ADR happens so often that it distracts from whatever convoluted plot is unfolding at the time.

Then there’s one really important change that I think gets overlooked and that’s his loss of writing staff and camera crew. When the show returned, it basically became the Mitch Hurwitz project and, as much as he deserves a lot of the credit for the show, no man is an island. He took over directing and, again, it shows. While the Russo brothers didn’t direct every episode, their contributions are notable and are among a myriad of other talented names that got behind the camera and took the reigns in the show’s early run. I’m just using the Russo brothers as a prime example here because, well, they’ve proven that they know how to effectively utilize a large ensemble. They have talked about that at length during all of the Marvel pressers and they skillfully applied that early on with the episodes of Arrested Development they directed (as well as Community). I would argue that Hurwitz just isn’t as strong of a director. The show literally feels different in the camerawork alone. The shots are perfunctory and far less creative. Having worked on sets, a production is a team effort made up of a thousand moving parts under various departments. In the later Netflix seasons it’s clear he’s got a smaller budget and crew and that he’s basically doing it all himself. It suffers as a result. It’s lacking that creative energy that drove it in its heyday. You can tell in those older episodes that the crew hired to work on each episode is really giving it their all because they can tell this is something unique. The writing suffers because Hurwitz is collapsing under the weight of a narrative structure that insists the entire season now be so heavily serialized that it becomes convoluted. When you go back and watch the first seasons, yes, it’s serialized, but there are so many episodes that also manage to work on their own as stand alone misadventures in the day to day trappings of the Bluth company and family. That doesn’t happen anymore. Each episode now is so thoroughly tied to what came before that it ends up feeling like one long eight hour movie with a bunch of act breaks in between.

3.) Timing. I don’t know, I really think Arrested Development was very much a product of its time and to bring it back all these years later is problematic because the world has changed. Arrested Development developed such a rabid cult following because its content was so original and unique for its time. It was ahead of the game. Thing is, other writers and directors in the industry took notice and, because they too were fans, decided to give it a go at creating something similar. AD is no longer unique. There are tons of options for comedy shows now that are in the same vein and often funnier. That’s not a knock on it. It’s a legacy to be proud of, but that’s also why it feels cringe inducing when it comes back in 2019 and it’s still making these callback references to old jokes that have been played out for years in the hopes you’ll still think that’s funny and you’re sitting there like “ahhh don’t be that guy.” I just don’t really know if there’s a place for this in the sociopolitical world we live in now, which is kind of weird because you’d think this might translate well to the Trump era but with each passing, terribly depressing day under which real lives are being threatened and destroyed...this shit just isn’t funny. I no longer even empathize with Michael or his son. Throw them all in prison.

 

Word for word this is accurate and perfect

 

S5 part 2 isn't released in Australia yet, and probably won't be for another 6 months or a year depending on the Netflix schedule here.

I'm sad. I have such good memories of this show. Seasons 1-3 are so funny, well-written and at times, heartfelt. The early season 1 arc with Michael and Marta, and how much Michael actually loved and cared for George Michael...really makes you care about Michael. Even though I loved the original season 4 cut, and thought it was full of great jokes and perfect throwback/fan service moments, I lost any sympathy I had for Michael during that season. He really showed himself as selfish and superiority-complex smart. Not 'wants the best for his family' smart.

In 2013 when season 4 came back, remember the buzz and excitement amongst fans of this show? I really did think the original cut was good, but it should've wrapped with a closure episode or two there. I don't know how Hurwitz would've wrapped so many crossover plots, but a few extra episodes giving everything closure would've made for a better ending. Also would've been more special for the fans who waited so long for this show to come back.

S5 part 1 felt unnecessary, and although some of it has been clever...this show has lost its spark for what made it special in the first place. Subtle jokes that paid off episodes later, a family that was fucking nuts but actually cared about each other in a weird way, and a father-son relationship you actually rooted for.

The more of this they spew out, the less unique it becomes. It needs to end.

 

Finally finished this and i guess I have mixed feelings. I can see no argument that seasons 1-3 aren’t way better than 4 and 5. Were 4 & 5 a waste? I wouldn’t say so entirely. It had its moments, and I do think this second half of season 5 was starting to pick up a little bit. Some of that is because I actually could follow the plot without having to think. I think one of the biggest issues for the last two seasons is how spread out it all was. Years between 3 and 4, which I was fine with since 4 was mostly starting a new plot, but the years between that and season 5, and the split in season 5 mean that what was really one long, two season story was spread out over.. what 4 years? I just felt burnt out on it like this story was never going to end. So I’m interested to one day (but not for a couple years) rewatch all 5 seasons and see 4 and 5 unfold over maybe a 2 month period. After that I doubt I ever venture past 3 again, but that’s ok.

And for how it could’ve gone, the second pet of 5 was pretty enjoyable for me. I enjoyed the mystery of what actually happened to Lucille 2. I think they earned the fake out fight between Michael and GM, I really did believe that. And I also really like that there wasn’t a final shot of the two because like others have pointed out, Michael not announcing his exit is the only thing that tells us this may really be it for him. And I don’t think that he’ll feel the need to save Buster. He would if Buster was innocent, but not if he knows he’s guilty. Anyway, crazy to be done with this after all these years (unless they do do a season 6 but I doubt it)

 

fuck

RIP to one of the greats