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    Arrested Development

    So...it seems there is no thread on this forum for this wonderful show. Time to correct that huge mistake!

    Arrested Development season 4 is now available on Netflix, along with the first three seasons that were originally shown ten years ago. It's the story of a rich family falling apart, and is told in such a smart and frequently brilliant way that it really is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time.

    Season 4, fully funded by Netflix, has a slightly different feel since they struggled to get the whole cast together in a single room like they could do first time around. However, this allows them to focus more on the individual characters and the entire story arch, though slow to start, is utterly genius. I mean that, it's genuinely genius.

    I just have two episodes to go, but don't want it to end

    #2
    I've just started watching season 1. Its great. Glad I've got loads to catch up on. Are they all of a similar quality or some season dips?

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      #3
      Nope, I found it to be excellent throughout

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        #4
        Actually gets better in season 2 and 3!

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          #5
          Season 4 is certainly the weakest I reckon (clever storytelling but far fewer laughs, and that for me is the key metric when judging any sitcom), followed by 3 (sadly rushed due to the shows cancellation, but still extremely good).

          Seasons 1 and 2 are absolutely superb and possibly the best series of any sitcom of all time IMO.
          Last edited by wakka; 02-06-2013, 18:58.

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            #6
            Season 4 is certainly the weakest
            OH COME ON!

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              #7
              Hahaha. Edited my post to show that's my opinion. It's just not nearly as funny and the earlier episodes in particular are really quite weak. Seasons 1 to 3 have a rapid fire rate of jokes, almost Airplane-style, while much of S4 feels like one of story-focused, unfunny dramedies that are so popular now.

              Everything in S1 - 3 occurs in service of the humour. Storylines, characters and editing. S4 is too precious about telling the story of the Bluths, which frankly was always confusing at best and never what made the show the very special gem that it is. And the Ron Howard 'cameos' are rididculously egotistical.

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                #8
                Upto S3 now, I flipping love the running gag about the Bluth families chicken impressions. Dont enjoy Michael Cera in this compared to other stuff I've seen him in. Everyone else is spot on. Will Arnett and David Cross kill me!

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                  #9
                  Do yourself a favour. Don't watch season 4.

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                    #10
                    We made it about 5 episodes into S4 before stopping. I'd still like to go through the rest for completion's sake, but compared to the other seasons it's just not doing anything for me.

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                      #11
                      Thats a shame, the recent S4 hype was the reason I got into this

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                        #12
                        It's terrible and doesn't even resemble S1 - 3.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by fuse View Post
                          We made it about 5 episodes into S4 before stopping. I'd still like to go through the rest for completion's sake, but compared to the other seasons it's just not doing anything for me.
                          It gets better in the later episodes - press on mate, it just needed time to gain momentum.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by wakka View Post
                            It's terrible and doesn't even resemble S1 - 3.
                            No way, the first five episodes are pretty weak but it gets so much better. From around episode 7 it matches the original run in my opinion. Yes the formula is slightly different when you take each episode on its own but taken as a whole it's basically a six hour long episode.

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                              #15
                              Strongly disagree. The jokes are not packed in nearly as tightly and the writing as a whole is lower quality and much less cohesive than the earlier seasons. I don't know how you could say that season 4 approaches the quality of seasons 1 or 2 (and also 3, though it is weaker) at any point. Sure it's clever how the stories all link up by the end, but I don't watch AD for the story - I watch it for the jokes. That's what made it great.

                              Whether you take it as a six hour long episode or not, it's just not that funny. Far too much time is spent on exposition rather than humour - I said it in a previous post above before, but what really kills season 4 is the focus on getting the audience up to speed with the characters' last ten years and setting up for the upcoming movie. The humour is in service of telling the story, rather than the scenario for S1 - 3, where everything about the show was in service of the jokes. The original seasons are like Airplane - blam blam blam one joke after another. S4 is more like Parks & Recreation, The Office (US) or New Girl. Infrequent and often mediocre jokes laid over a lighthearted 'dramedy' storyline. Stuff that makes you smile, rather than makes you laugh.

                              A massive issue with season 4 is that it's no longer an ensemble piece. Due to the now very busy schedules of people like Michael Cera and Jason Bateman, they couldn't get everyone in one room consistently enough to actually make each episode about the whole clan. The concurrent timelines are a clever storytelling device that gets around this, but having episodes focused on just one character breaks the magic of the earlier seasons completely. Arrested is an ensemble piece and it has to be performed as an ensemble to be at its best. Earlier season have brilliant editing that can make you laugh just because of how they cut from one pair of characters talking to another. Season 4 can't even do that because the entire 30 minutes is about George Michael, so the next scene is just gonna feature him anyway.

                              Extending the runtime of each episode to 30 minutes (and sometimes more) was also completely unnecessary. At least if they compressed all the jokes they had for each ep into 22 minutes then the gaping chasms between laughs might have been a little less obvious. Again, dramedy. The Office was extended from 22 minutes to 42 minutes in about S3 or S4, and almost immediately the jokes started falling away like dead skin, replaced with more intricate episode plots and a greater focus on the relationships between characters.
                              Last edited by wakka; 24-06-2013, 11:16.

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