Arrested Development

[R-V]

I'm only two episodes in but the entire bit in the 1st episode about the vote to kick a roommate out of the dorm room was amazing.

"I was mistakenly voted out of a four-person housing situation in a 'pack first, no talking after' scenario."

[R-V]

DPD. The Tobias episode was a huge disappointment. The show is so much better when you've got multiple Bluths interacting. Hopefully the next George Sr. episode isn't as lame as the 1st one.

[CBStew]

I watched the first episode after re-watching the first season.  In the first season Michael Bluth was presented at first as the stable, sane, voice of reason in the Bluth family.  As the season progressed he started to wear down and acted bitchy toward his siblings, but he was clearly beginning to come apart.  In the first episode of the new season he shows signs of being divorced from reality, which puts an entirely different spin on the show, but allows Bateman more opportunity for comedy than he had as the exasperated "everyman" in the original series.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

I watched the first episode after re-watching the first season.  In the first season Michael Bluth was presented at first as the stable, sane, voice of reason in the Bluth family.  As the season progressed he started to wear down and acted bitchy toward his siblings, but he was clearly beginning to come apart.  In the first episode of the new season he shows signs of being divorced from reality, which puts an entirely different spin on the show, but allows Bateman more opportunity for comedy than he had as the exasperated "everyman" in the original series.

He was always pretty clueless in the original series, too, particularly when it came to his relationship with George Michael. It just took a bit of time for his facade to unwind.

And, yeah, in the new season his cluelessness is amped up to 11. But his life has also totally bottomed out in every other way, too, so there's some bit of logic to the arc.

[R-V]

I watched the first episode after re-watching the first season.  In the first season Michael Bluth was presented at first as the stable, sane, voice of reason in the Bluth family.  As the season progressed he started to wear down and acted bitchy toward his siblings, but he was clearly beginning to come apart.  In the first episode of the new season he shows signs of being divorced from reality, which puts an entirely different spin on the show, but allows Bateman more opportunity for comedy than he had as the exasperated "everyman" in the original series.

He was always pretty clueless in the original series, too, particularly when it came to his relationship with George Michael. It just took a bit of time for his facade to unwind.

And, yeah, in the new season his cluelessness is amped up to 11. But his life has also totally bottomed out in every other way, too, so there's some bit of logic to the arc.

So we've been slowly slogging our way through this and I was extremely disappointed in the first 9 episodes or so. Since then though, this thing's been picking up and been really good. The GOB/Tony Wonder mask bit was outstanding. Now I'm having a sad that there are only a couple to go.

[PenFoe]

I watched the first episode after re-watching the first season.  In the first season Michael Bluth was presented at first as the stable, sane, voice of reason in the Bluth family.  As the season progressed he started to wear down and acted bitchy toward his siblings, but he was clearly beginning to come apart.  In the first episode of the new season he shows signs of being divorced from reality, which puts an entirely different spin on the show, but allows Bateman more opportunity for comedy than he had as the exasperated "everyman" in the original series.

He was always pretty clueless in the original series, too, particularly when it came to his relationship with George Michael. It just took a bit of time for his facade to unwind.

And, yeah, in the new season his cluelessness is amped up to 11. But his life has also totally bottomed out in every other way, too, so there's some bit of logic to the arc.

So we've been slowly slogging our way through this and I was extremely disappointed in the first 9 episodes or so. Since then though, this thing's been picking up and been really good. The GOB/Tony Wonder mask bit was outstanding. Now I'm having a sad that there are only a couple to go.

So, serious question...

What possesses someone to continue to watch a show after 9 bad episodes?

Was it so good previously that it deserves that significant of a benefit of the doubt? 

[J. Walter Weatherman]

What possesses someone to continue to watch a show after 9 bad episodes?

They weren't really bad. They just weren't up to the standards and expectations set by the first three seasons.

Was it so good previously that it deserves that significant of a benefit of the doubt?  

Yes. It's one of the best sitcoms every committed to tape.

[CBStew]

I watched the first episode after re-watching the first season.  In the first season Michael Bluth was presented at first as the stable, sane, voice of reason in the Bluth family.  As the season progressed he started to wear down and acted bitchy toward his siblings, but he was clearly beginning to come apart.  In the first episode of the new season he shows signs of being divorced from reality, which puts an entirely different spin on the show, but allows Bateman more opportunity for comedy than he had as the exasperated "everyman" in the original series.

He was always pretty clueless in the original series, too, particularly when it came to his relationship with George Michael. It just took a bit of time for his facade to unwind.

And, yeah, in the new season his cluelessness is amped up to 11. But his life has also totally bottomed out in every other way, too, so there's some bit of logic to the arc.

So we've been slowly slogging our way through this and I was extremely disappointed in the first 9 episodes or so. Since then though, this thing's been picking up and been really good. The GOB/Tony Wonder mask bit was outstanding. Now I'm having a sad that there are only a couple to go.

So, serious question...

What possesses someone to continue to watch a show after 9 bad episodes?

Was it so good previously that it deserves that significant of a benefit of the doubt? 

Did anyone really think that any of it was "bad"?  I admit that some were better than others, but I didn't think that any were bad.  I liked the way that each episode was devoted to a different family member.  I didn't enjoy the Gob episodes as much as those that featured David Cross and Portia DeRossi.  I liked the way that they covered the same situations from different viewpoints.  (At least I think that she was Portia DeRossi.  They may have hired someone to play her.)  I also liked the inside jokes in all of the episodes.  The reprise was cleverly done in my opinion, but I am still trying to figure out the significance of the sweat lodge.

[Slaky]

I watched the first episode after re-watching the first season.  In the first season Michael Bluth was presented at first as the stable, sane, voice of reason in the Bluth family.  As the season progressed he started to wear down and acted bitchy toward his siblings, but he was clearly beginning to come apart.  In the first episode of the new season he shows signs of being divorced from reality, which puts an entirely different spin on the show, but allows Bateman more opportunity for comedy than he had as the exasperated "everyman" in the original series.

He was always pretty clueless in the original series, too, particularly when it came to his relationship with George Michael. It just took a bit of time for his facade to unwind.

And, yeah, in the new season his cluelessness is amped up to 11. But his life has also totally bottomed out in every other way, too, so there's some bit of logic to the arc.

So we've been slowly slogging our way through this and I was extremely disappointed in the first 9 episodes or so. Since then though, this thing's been picking up and been really good. The GOB/Tony Wonder mask bit was outstanding. Now I'm having a sad that there are only a couple to go.

So, serious question...

What possesses someone to continue to watch a show after 9 bad episodes?

Was it so good previously that it deserves that significant of a benefit of the doubt? 

Did anyone really think that any of it was "bad"?  I admit that some were better than others, but I didn't think that any were bad.  I liked the way that each episode was devoted to a different family member.  I didn't enjoy the Gob episodes as much as those that featured David Cross and Portia DeRossi.  I liked the way that they covered the same situations from different viewpoints.  (At least I think that she was Portia DeRossi.  They may have hired someone to play her.)  I also liked the inside jokes in all of the episodes.  The reprise was cleverly done in my opinion, but I am still trying to figure out the significance of the sweat lodge.

I watched it slowly and didn't think it was remotely bad. I thought it was really good.

I hope they do another.

[Gilgamesh]

I watched the first episode after re-watching the first season.  In the first season Michael Bluth was presented at first as the stable, sane, voice of reason in the Bluth family.  As the season progressed he started to wear down and acted bitchy toward his siblings, but he was clearly beginning to come apart.  In the first episode of the new season he shows signs of being divorced from reality, which puts an entirely different spin on the show, but allows Bateman more opportunity for comedy than he had as the exasperated "everyman" in the original series.

He was always pretty clueless in the original series, too, particularly when it came to his relationship with George Michael. It just took a bit of time for his facade to unwind.

And, yeah, in the new season his cluelessness is amped up to 11. But his life has also totally bottomed out in every other way, too, so there's some bit of logic to the arc.

So we've been slowly slogging our way through this and I was extremely disappointed in the first 9 episodes or so. Since then though, this thing's been picking up and been really good. The GOB/Tony Wonder mask bit was outstanding. Now I'm having a sad that there are only a couple to go.

So, serious question...

What possesses someone to continue to watch a show after 9 bad episodes?

Was it so good previously that it deserves that significant of a benefit of the doubt? 

Did anyone really think that any of it was "bad"?  I admit that some were better than others, but I didn't think that any were bad.  I liked the way that each episode was devoted to a different family member.  I didn't enjoy the Gob episodes as much as those that featured David Cross and Portia DeRossi.  I liked the way that they covered the same situations from different viewpoints.  (At least I think that she was Portia DeRossi.  They may have hired someone to play her.)  I also liked the inside jokes in all of the episodes.  The reprise was cleverly done in my opinion, but I am still trying to figure out the significance of the sweat lodge.

I watched it slowly and didn't think it was remotely bad. I thought it was really good.

I hope they do another.

I think Thrill's point stands.  I wouldn't say that the first half of the new season was bad in any way.  They were just completely different from what we had come to expect.  And this makes sense, in an odd way.

The show was off the air for six years.  In the interregnum between then and now, this show was immortalized and idolized (deservedly so, I might add) in ways that few others shows have been.  Several of its recurring jokes have entered the mainstream and become popular, along with most of its characters.  When the show came back, most felt that it would naturally flow from that.

But it couldn't, and no show could.  So when the show took this new tack, people felt that it was bad, or slow, or not quite the Arrested Development that everyone had come to expect.  Hence the tepid reviews from many.

If you view the show (or at least the first 9 episodes or so) as a kind of sequel to Arrested Development, then it kind of makes sense, but it falls back into the standard zaniness that the fans have come to expect when all the divergent plot lines come together towards the end of the season.

I'm hopeful that they will be able to do another season, or at least a movie, because now the show has gotten the previous 6 years of stories and plot lines out of the way and has caught up to the characters in the present day, i.e., the Cinco party (we only see snippets of time from two to three days after the party).

[J. Walter Weatherman]

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2013/07/25/18359/is_arrested_development_coming_back%3F_definitely

Arrested Development will be back – either as another series or as a movie – creator Mitch Hurwitz has confirmed.

When asked during a Q&A session at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal if the show would be returning, Hurwitz said baldly: 'Definitely.'

Then, turning to Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, he said: 'I don't want to get into a whole negotiation right now... but I've got a family to feed.'

He added: 'I keep thinking about it, and why don't we do the movie version of this and then do the series, because this series kinda peaks with the story?

'I kinda go back and forth between that and a series. But here's the most important thing, whatever we do, I want to get the cast all together and not do another anthology thing, and that's why I keep thinking about kicking off with a special or a three-part show and then going into a series.

Then he asked Sarandos: 'Are you game for that?'.

'Absolutely,' the Netflix boss replied. 'In any form.'

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Bonus quote for Bort:

He also discussed how Alexei Sayle was mistreated by the Hollywood machine, after being signed up to reprise the Eastern European persona he had employed as the landlord in The Young Ones for the 1992 Golden Girls spin-off Golden Palace.

Hurwitz, who was a writer on the series, told how executives fired Sayle before the pilot had been shot.

'Everyone just decided, as they do when there's a lot of executives, "He can't do it, he's not funny. We gotta fire him."

'So he's fired. And then we shoot the pilot. And he storms it like crazy. The crowd loves him; he gets a standing ovation at the curtain call, but he's got fired.'

The network then got Cheech Marin, of Cheech and Chong fame, to step into the 'funny foreigner' role. But when he got on set he refused to do the comedy Mexican accent he employed in his stoner double-act, telling them: 'Oh no, I don't do that any more.'

The sitcom got cancelled after one season.

[Bort]

Bonus quote for Bort:

He also discussed how Alexei Sayle was mistreated by the Hollywood machine, after being signed up to reprise the Eastern European persona he had employed as the landlord in The Young Ones for the 1992 Golden Girls spin-off Golden Palace.

Hurwitz, who was a writer on the series, told how executives fired Sayle before the pilot had been shot.

'Everyone just decided, as they do when there's a lot of executives, "He can't do it, he's not funny. We gotta fire him."

'So he's fired. And then we shoot the pilot. And he storms it like crazy. The crowd loves him; he gets a standing ovation at the curtain call, but he's got fired.'

The network then got Cheech Marin, of Cheech and Chong fame, to step into the 'funny foreigner' role. But when he got on set he refused to do the comedy Mexican accent he employed in his stoner double-act, telling them: 'Oh no, I don't do that any more.'

The sitcom got cancelled after one season.

Man, a Golden Girls reference AND The Young Ones? That really IS Bortbait.

[Quality Start Machine]

Bonus quote for Bort:

He also discussed how Alexei Sayle was mistreated by the Hollywood machine, after being signed up to reprise the Eastern European persona he had employed as the landlord in The Young Ones for the 1992 Golden Girls spin-off Golden Palace.

Hurwitz, who was a writer on the series, told how executives fired Sayle before the pilot had been shot.

'Everyone just decided, as they do when there's a lot of executives, "He can't do it, he's not funny. We gotta fire him."

'So he's fired. And then we shoot the pilot. And he storms it like crazy. The crowd loves him; he gets a standing ovation at the curtain call, but he's got fired.'

The network then got Cheech Marin, of Cheech and Chong fame, to step into the 'funny foreigner' role. But when he got on set he refused to do the comedy Mexican accent he employed in his stoner double-act, telling them: 'Oh no, I don't do that any more.'

The sitcom got cancelled after one season.

Man, a Golden Girls reference AND The Young Ones? That really IS Bortbait.

Sayle was also on a show called "Selling Hitler". No word on whether punching was involved.