Arrested Development |OT| Season 4 - May 26 - Netflix Unmakes A Huge Mistake

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Don't get all the hate. I'm up to episode 14 and I enjoyed it. I do think focusing on the same character for an entire episode can be a bit heavy at times, but overall I think the show is good. It's been a while since I saw the first three seasons, so I can't really do a comparison in my head. It feels like a better revival than futurama though.
 
I'm at episode 8, I tried to keep myself in the dark for the new season, I didn't hype myself at all, and this season is good!

Though one character per episode do feel weird...
 
TheExodu5 said:
What the hell...episode 6 they set up a really good joke, and then ruin it.

Oscar: Does Maisy even know about this?
Lindsay: No, thank god. [and then they ruin it with] And her name is Maeby.

It's like they're afraid of delivering anything that the audience might not understand right away.
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I agree things like this happen. They can really oversell jokes as well, such as with Ann:
Michael and GOB continously call her different wrong names in the same scene and at the wedding it blatantly spelling "Her?" above where she stands.
 
Coming in here and seeing all the hate!

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Really is there anything gaf actually likes? anything at all?
The show is perfectly fine. They did a great job picking up where season 3 left off.
 
Well this was okay. Definitely feels like an aged/forced version of what the show used to be at times. But what did people expect? It's been so long since its been off air. Any show that stays on too long is going to age as the writers themselves get older. Very rare a show keeps a consistent tone/quality the entire run. So that + the fact the writers were actually away from the show makes this expected.
 
I'm thinking this will be a season that will be looked back on in a good light. Especially when the next AD thing comes out, the tune will be, "Why isn't this more like seasons 1-4? What were the writers thinking?" That's how these things usually work, no?
 
Nitemare1 said:
Coming in here and seeing all the hate!

IDK_zps2a293c67.gif


Really is there anything gaf actually likes? anything at all?
The show is perfectly fine. They did a great job picking up where season 3 left off.
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I really like 53 episodes. Does that cut it?

Most people aren't saying it's completely horrible, just that it feels off. And others are saying it hits its stride in ep 4 and 5. I personally feel that whilst it is reasonably good, it will be looked back as the weakest season.
 
baconbm said:
I'm thinking this will be a season that will be looked back on in a good light. Especially when the next AD thing comes out, the tune will be, "Why isn't this more like seasons 1-4? What were the writers thinking?" That's how these things usually work, no?
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Nailed it.

I'm on my rewatch and it's better the second time.

People forget that every new episode in Season 2 and 3 was met with "this show isn't as good as it used to be" until the next week. Almost without fail.
 
This whole season built up to
George-Michael becoming more like his father and the "sane" member of the family, while Michael slowly becomes just as morally (and financially) bankrupt as the rest of the family.
 
I don't think some of the characters should carry or be the focus for an entire episode. Getting used to that took some time, but the season picks up two or three episodes in for me. They definitely over reference some jokes, though I can let those go well enough.

I'm enjoying myself, so far.
 
oatmeal said:
Nailed it.

I'm on my rewatch and it's better the second time.

People forget that every new episode in Season 2 and 3 was met with "this show isn't as good as it used to be" until the next week. Almost without fail.
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So take that and multiply it by fifteen.
 
Friedreich said:
I don't think some of the characters should carry or be the focus for an entire episode. Getting used to that took some time, but the season picks up two or three episodes in for me.
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It would probably work really well if some of these episodes were 15 minutes long.
 
3 episodes in. Meh. Some good jokes here and there. I will watch the season all the way through and do a rewatch. It feels less like a continuation of the series and more like....something else.

I don't know. The comedy beats are off, and it feels different. Like a doppleganger.
 
I liked Ep1 but didn't really care for 2 or 3, but after watching episodes 4-6, I already remember the first three more fondly than when I actually viewed them. I think this will good up over time.
 
oatmeal said:
Nailed it.

I'm on my rewatch and it's better the second time.

People forget that every new episode in Season 2 and 3 was met with "this show isn't as good as it used to be" until the next week. Almost without fail.
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Seriously. AD is always better on re-watches. People need to calm down a bit. For a show that's been off the air for 7 years, the logistics behind getting this thing made - I think they've done a damn good job with this.

The episodes are too long though. That's my only criticism right now. It doesn't flow as well as old AD but it still is AD.
 
This was never going to meet people's extremely high expectations

Starting the fifth episode now, it's been a mixed bag so far but not nearly as awful as some in here are describing. You just get the feeling that it's been a little too long since they were in the rhythm of their characters, and the longer episodes lose that sharp, quick feeling

It's kinda like when Swans got back together and put out My Father...
 
The decision to focus on one character per show was a daring one, but it simply doesn't work. Part of what made AD what it was the character interactions.
 
criesofthepast said:
Seriously. AD is always better on re-watches. People need to calm down a bit. For a show that's been off the air for 7 years, the logistics behind getting this thing made - I think they've done a damn good job with this.
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Listen to this man. Half of the fun is going through AD a second and third time and picking up on jokes you missed the first time through. Whenever I see people talking about AD on a message board I inevitably see people say that they find something new every time they rewatch a season or episode.
 
Just finished up the season.

I thought it was both good and bad. A lot of old jokes were shoehorned in, and as Wayne Jarvis would say, "it felt contrived." In some ways it felt like watching old episodes, but in other ways it felt totally different. I think it was tonally closest to Season 3.

Sometimes I think they valued plot complexity over actual humor. I definitely need to give it another watch through before I definitively judge it.
 
The second half of the season is pretty good. It's at least watchable. The two Gob episodes are obviously the highlights. I thought Buster's episode was the only terrible one after episode 7 or so. Episodes 1-4 are complete shit.

The structure ruins it. I understand there's an element of that being out of their control but I think trying to make the whole thing a Lost like convoluted story with flash backs and jumping around time frames held back the potential comedy greatly. It also ended without any real sense of conclusion. And only Gob and, surprisingly, George Michael and Maeby were characters I actually enjoyed seeing for a whole episode.


Overall it ended well enough that I'm not angry but it didn't meet my expectations. And the whole rewatching argument doesn't mean much to me cos I didn't rewatch any of the first seasons until this month and loved them all from first watch.
 
I'm up to episode seven (after watching seven). I still think it's the weakest season, so far, but the narrative structure is incredibly daring and while it doesn't have as much 'laugh out loud' jokes, it's still very amusing but in a very different way. I expected a different show, and that's what has been delivered for better or worse. I'm interested in seeing what happens, I'm sure the season will be much better on a rewatch.

EDIT: Oh and also, the pacing is... odd. I'm sure it's just the structure but the other season was faster paced, more concise and editted with precision. In this one, the pace is completely different and the scenes sometimes last too long which prevents the mometum from being carried across. The entire season is one huge episode but the show doesn't work as well in this format I feel.
 
Yeah. AD worked because of the actors chemistry. These episodes where they follow one person instead of the whole family is the problem. These characters arent that great by themselves. They're only really special when you stick them all together.

Again, by episode 3 I was tired of seeing one character run around for 35 minutes.
 
The One Who Knocks said:
I'm up to episode seven (after watching seven). I still think it's the weakest season, so far, but the narrative structure is incredibly daring and while it doesn't have as much 'laugh out loud' jokes, it's still very amusing but in a very different way. I expected a different show, and that's what has been delivered for better or worse. I'm interested in seeing what happens, I'm sure the season will be much better on a rewatch.
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A lot of the moments in this season feel like those great revelations in a heist film when you figure out what the fuck was actually happening. The way everything is woven together is amazingly well done.
 
Also, being from Los Angeles, I love all the John Beard cameos and references. The most insular one is his recurring appearance on morning shows complaining about the trite stuff (which references his reasoning for leaving Fox 11)
 
V_Ben said:
A lot of the moments in this season feel like those great revelations in a heist film when you figure out what the fuck was actually happening. The way everything is woven together is amazingly well done.
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But is that funny? It's certainly an achievement in planning and editing but its not like these are great mysteries being explained to us here. The show seems to be a little too preoccupied with making everything seem intertwined rather than just setting up funny scenarios for each episode to me.
 
The time jump nonsense was designed to detract from the fact that the family is rarely with one another and hardly ever interacts. It's painfully obvious that they had to work around shooting schedules for other shows and movies.
 
Dave Meltzer said:
But is that funny? It's certainly an achievement in planning and editing but its not like these are great mysteries being explained to us here. The show seems to be a little too preoccupied with making everything seem intertwined rather than just setting up funny scenarios for each episode to me.
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Because the little tie-ins (and I say little) from s1-3 got such a great response, for some reason they decided to make that the focus, instead of the jokes and chemistry.
 
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