Arrested Development - General Discussion

[Guest]

Maeby was easily the MVP of this semi-season, so I was pissed that her plot was about accidentally sleeping with a minor. Very cheap comedy. Friends did that with Monica in 1995 and it was cringey then. A waste of Alia Shawkat's talents. Not to mention uncomfortable in the #MeToo era.

Holy fuck, Michael Cera is aging poorly. He looks older than Jason Bateman. It was also hard to watch their scenes together after seeing a red carpet interview from a few years ago where Michael Cera called Jason Bateman "a great actor but gigantic asshole" who bullied him relentlessly on set as a child. They were one of my favorite father/son dynamics. Is everything we love tainted???????

Alia Shawkat is too good for this show. It's a shame that her comedic chops are wasted on basically being the object of everyone's unsavory lust. She's drop dead GORGEOUS. Michael Cera was my childhood crush, so it's ironic that my cousin crush (sorry) has totally switched.

And fuck all the older male cast for gaslighting Jessica Walters while she cried (JB especially and Tony Hale, but Will Arnett doesn't get a pass for me either for essentially whistling and looking the other way during that garbage fire interview.) It's a shame that Arrested Development seems like just another petulantly misogynistic boys' club but it gets swept under the rug because comedy and liberalism.

Did not like how the GOB/Tony romance was played for laughs, even if Will Arnett is portraying the confusion in a sincere, awkwardly sweet way.

[ganesh]

I'm still finding the show funny. I didn't have a problem with S4 either because they said it was going to be different. I don't care that the actors look older. People age. I feel like the actors were able to step right back into character. I don't really mind what the plots are, I just like seeing all these actors interact. 

I just love Maeby in the old people's housing. They call her Buttons. And those glasses. 

I feel like the narration is more involved this season and funnier. I liked Ron Howard ripping on Rebel. 

[cleo]

I'm still watching Season 4, over half done but I'm finding it pretty uniformly awful. There is the occasional funny line. I like Maebe, so eps that focus on her are ok. There are a number of plots that seem too much

-the prostitution- I find it hard to believe Maebe would actually prostitute her mother

-all of the stuff with DeBrie is not funny, just gross

-Tobias being charged with a sex crime and not grasping what how serious that is (or being in jail) is unbelievable

Maybe there are 'clever' jokes in all this and I'm just totally missing the point, but even if so it's not worth watching these plots to get the joke.

I'm plugging through it because I'm almost done and because I would like to watch season 5 which I heard was a bit better.  

[Aryanna]

Narrator: Nichael was worried.

[Miles]

I'm on s05e02 right now. I had forgotten that building a wall to Mexico was a big thing in season 4. Earily clairvoyant. Ofcourse Lucille would love the idea of having Mexico pay for it.

In general this season is already so much better than season 4. This show lives from it's character interactions and even though this far we only had two characters at a time together, it was for extended periods, which really worked.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Miles

[WorldWarIV]

When will the second part of season 5 be released, anybody knows? The show had barely any momentum, and now it doesn't have any.

[Cress]

Netflix is releasing the 2nd half of the season on March 15th. I'll watch it, but there better not be another damn cliffhanger. Wrap up the mystery, Mitch!

[Aileen]

Binged the new episodes today. Absolute garbage 😞 Such a disappointment for a once genius show.

[Kel Varnsen]

6 hours ago, Aileen said:

Binged the new episodes today. Absolute garbage 😞 Such a disappointment for a once genius show.

That's too bad. I tried watching the ones from last year and found I just couldn't get into it. And i liked season 4. Makes me wonder why they botheted.

[DrSpaceman]

I actually liked the second half of this season. More so than the first. 

Got a bit too convoluted, but still found it funny. 

I rewatched the first half of season five and season four too and they were better than I remember on first viewing

Still not up to the first 3 seasons, but didn't think it was horrible. 

[Cress]

I've only watched 3 of the new episodes so far. Episode 9 was fine, but the other two dragged like crazy because I hate Tobias's story, the convulted wall stuff, and Michael and GM still having boring awkward conversations around Rebel Alley.

Out of nowhere in season 5, the show started referring to Rebel as "the girl of Michael's dreams" and the "love of his life" when all of season 4, he seemed mostly interested in her because her red hair reminded Michael of Tracey. Not once did they have any interaction suggesting they had a great love affair. He, just like GM, was always lying to her and even acted like a douchebag while jealous, before he realized the other guy was GM. I'm at least glad that Maeby pointed out to GM that he's a sociopath for continuing to pretend to be George Maharis with Rebel. Such a hypocrite pretending to be the honest good guy while defrauding investors and hiring GOB to be his fall guy; in fact he's just as horrible as Michael has turned out to be a real asshole Bluth.

I wish Mitch had killed this stupid storyline long ago. If he wanted Fakeblock shenanigans, he could have used P-hound's lawsuit against GM instead of this dumb Rebel Alley business.

I'll probably get around to watching the rest of the episodes eventually, but Mitch sure is making it a chore to get through it. AD is no longer binge-able to me.

Edited March 17, 2019 by Cress

[Blindfox]

I just finished it, and I really liked it. That felt like a series finale, so I don’t know if this show will be back, especially with how cancel-happy Netflix has been lately. Even so, that ending was disturbing! I’m still glad I watched, and it made up for that god-awful season 4. 

I definitely agree with some of what has been said in this forum. It was great having  a lot less Rebel, and this story was very convoluted. Tobias’s character was pretty gross and unpleasant towards the end. I liked him better as a clueless dreamer rather than a nearly deranged homeless person. His weirdo son and girlfriend were equally alienating. I do agree also that George Michael and Michael were a long way from their wholesome good guy images by the end of season 5. I was still invested both characters, though, in spite of their questionable ethical lapses.

I think this was a good season (half season?) for this show to go out on. It was convoluted as hell, but I enjoyed it. More than season 4 and the first half of season 5, anyway.

[ganesh]

The literal gay mafia totally killed me. 

[Enigma X]

I only got three episodes in and am feeling quite sad when comparing the show to what it used to be. Also, I cannot watch Tobias. He makes me feel ill and is not funny.

[ganesh]

I still think there's a lot of funny. 

Who? 

[ganesh]

The kid playing young GOB did a good job. I still like how Lucille and Buster talk to one another. 

I agree Tobias was starting to grate. 

I like all the tooth posters in the background. 

Did all the courtroom scenes have the same two people standing on the stairs outside? 

I do like how after Michael 'confessed' Lucille basically laid out the whole plan. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by ganesh

[ganesh]

On 3/17/2019 at 3:09 PM, Blindfox said:

I do agree also that George Michael and Michael were a long way from their wholesome good guy images by the end of season 5. I was still invested both characters, though, in spite of their questionable ethical lapses.

I never thought they were really that good though. The actual fight was kind of dumb even as part of the scam. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by ganesh

[ganesh]

This seemed like a series ender too, especially given the sprawling cast and availability. It would be great if they just did a movie once and while though. The actors are clearly still having fun with these characters. 

And they're right, Michael always does come back. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by ganesh

[Sesquipedalia]

Michael: Turns out I'm the worst. I'm the worst Bluth.

Lucille: Never say that. Gob is the worst.

[Aileen]

On 3/19/2019 at 12:33 PM, ganesh said:

This seemed like a series ender too, especially given the sprawling cast and availability. It would be great if they just did a movie once and while though. The actors are clearly still having fun with these characters. 

And they're right, Michael always does come back. 

But they’re not having fun with each other. That interview last year was the final nail in the coffin.

[Cress]

I finished the season and had some time to think about it. There were some funny parts and worthwhile moments, but a lot of frustration too. Young Gob was a good actor, but young Michael's hair was way too long for what I picture for buttoned-up Michael. There was a good payoff to Michael not remembering Cinco, when we saw him do the chicken dance and fall, but at the same time they claim that Buster really erased part of the security footage with Fakeblock, which doesn't work. They show the staircar photo with GM and Maeby, but again don't explain how/when they got the wigs from Michael and why Steve Holt isn't in the staircar with them. It feels sloppy and cobbled together wrong.

The intricate plan to trick the Chinese into buying Fakeblock reminded me of the Pier Pressure/Making a Stand lessons, and it just makes me wonder how did Michael suddenly get so competent, and Gob become such a good magician to pull that off? There's no J. Walter Weatherman helping them this time. I'm also glad that Tony Wonder survived, but disappointed that we didn't even get a kiss between them, just hints of running around in secret still in the closet.

The last episode had Michael and GM driving away in the staircar, but given Michael's "dreams" of spending 24/7 with his son in a suffocating way earlier in the season, I don't see them leaving together as a happy end; I see it creepy as Michael living in GM's dorm room, never letting go. I never got the sense that Michael learned his lesson to stop interfering so much, and to let his son have his own life. The show instead tried to validate him as a hero.

Also, while they were hiding plot twists, there was so much misdirection. So much was spent on Dustin Radler with Lucille, only for there to be a motherboy twist, and his dad Dustin Sr. With the gay mafia storyline, we are led to believe that the threats are real and deadly, that they killed Tony Wonder and gave his body to Gob to get rid of. Instead we learn that it was just a mannequin, and they only killed his career, by forcing him to work in Branson. Then Gob got him out of the contract by financing Guys and Dolls for five weeks, so no they don't really murder and break people's legs like real mobsters. We even learn that Gob never thought Tony was dead; he just thought Tony ghosted him. So why did we the audience have to suffer thinking him dead so long?

The rewrite of Lindsay's parentage upends a lot of Bluth history, and I see some fans rationalizing that the Nana who died in season 1 was a stepmom (even though the narrator doesn't say that). I'm not willing to give the show that much leeway, though. Sudden Valley had a whole neighborhood of houses in season 4 and the first half of season 5, but now we're back just to the model home and an empty lot to build a prototype wall on. The show tossed continuity out the window whenever it's convenient, and they haven't addressed GM and Maeby being married either. It's like they don't care about details anymore.

Edited March 24, 2019 by Cress

[DrSpaceman]

Oh I expect this is it for the series

Seems like they were really stretching it to come up with these last two seasons somehow with the way the careers have gone with these actors since the original series. 

On ‎3‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 4:25 PM, ganesh said:

The kid playing young GOB did a good job. I still like how Lucille and Buster talk to one another. 

I agree Tobias was starting to grate. 

I like all the tooth posters in the background. 

Did all the courtroom scenes have the same two people standing on the stairs outside? 

I do like how after Michael 'confessed' Lucille basically laid out the whole plan. 

Young Gob was played by Thomas Barbusca, probably best known, at least to me, as the younger brother on The Mick.  That was a solid show, featured Kaitlin Olson from Its Always Sunny and lasted a few seasons. 

I guess he is also on the One Day at a Time reboot that was just cancelled. 

I liked Cobie Smulders as young Lucille as well.

[ruby24]

I thought the second half was an improvement on the first half, thankfully. God, I HATE Rebel Alley and that entire plot line. I'm so glad there was less of it.

I was glad Michael came to the realization that he's "the worst Bluth," lol, because from Season 4, if anything was revealed, that was it. That he actually IS the worst, at least as long as he's away from the rest of them. Him trying to "save" them is what makes him better, apparently. 

Tobias and his stupid family are kind of annoying, but I actually did laugh at them fighting with Maeby and the Golden Girls joke. I always kind of like it when they reveal how much like their parents the kids really are, whether it's the second generation or the third- in this case, with the whole Annette thing and her love of alter egos, you see that there probably is some Tobias in Maeby after all.

The wall stuff didn't really work, same as before, but the FakeBlock story finally got a little but funnier when Michael bought it and George-Michael being tortured over the whole thing (he's funnier when he's being tortured over things, imo, not smug or smarmy, like a good part of Season 4. He should always be the innocent one, being helplessly kicked around by the rest of them). 

I'm glad they didn't really kill Tony Wonder, but I wish they had let him and Gob get together. I don't what it is, but that couple had more chemistry than any other in the show's history, lol. 

I liked the younger scenes of everyone (I always like it when they do those). It actually had the effect of making it seem like Lindsay was still part of the show, even though she doesn't show up until the last second (I don't really get that- why couldn't she be there this season?)

It felt like they were trying to wrap it all up at the end in a finale style, so I hope it's done now. But I think it's annoying the way Michael and George-Michael take off again, because I also don't buy it anymore that they want to just leave together, it doesn't make sense. I think they ought to just end it with the whole family together for once. Maybe Michael should accept that he doesn't have to always leave or something.

It still feels like a shadow of its past self, especially because you can still tell when certain actors aren't available, and with Portia deRossi not being there at all, etc. It should really just end now. It still had its moments though, and I could see them doing a TV movie or something (maybe it would be easier to get everybody together for that).

[ganesh]

This show screams for a holiday special. 

[ruby24]

36 minutes ago, ganesh said:

This show screams for a holiday special. 

I could definitely see that.

Although I don't know anymore if the cast would even want to come back for anything, after that interview debacle. 

[Sesquipedalia]

On 3/28/2019 at 2:08 PM, ruby24 said:

I don't really get that- why couldn't she be there this season?

Portia de Rossi quit acting. I think she came back to do a few scenes only as a courtesy.

[Amarsir]

On 3/28/2019 at 3:08 PM, ruby24 said:

I thought the second half was an improvement on the first half, thankfully. God, I HATE Rebel Alley and that entire plot line. I'm so glad there was less of it.

Yeah, the thing that made the second half work that hurt the first half and the prior season was that we finally got to see the Bluths interacting properly again. The more of them in the scene together, the better it worked.

Which, related, is why Tobias's side show was such a drag. David Cross was available but he really had nothing to do. Alia also had nothing to do but with less screentime at least it didn't annoy. Maybe she wasn't available much. Overall it just felt like without Portia the writers didn't want to include them but had to. 

All in all I think it was a fair sendoff. Not a revisit of the glory days, but enough good stuff to make me remember why the show was great.

[HotRats2112]

I actually laughed out loud a few times in the second half of season 5.  I love Argyle Austero.  Great sign work when GOB gets there to meet them too.  When he's on the work site his head is cleverly blocking part of the sign so it says "CEMEN[T] hard and fast".

And the Mitch Hurwitz Golden Girls connection made me plotz.  

All in all I think Season 5.2 was better than 4 or 5.1.  Nothing will be the original series and we can thank FOX for destroying it (along with Firefly, still bitter), but I liked 5.2.  I think that the dynamics changing as people got older just weren't as funny, or funny in the same ways (obviously) as the original run. 

Edited April 18, 2019 by HotRats2112

[qtpye]

On 8/26/2018 at 11:37 AM, SnarkEnthusiast said:

Maeby was easily the MVP of this semi-season, so I was pissed that her plot was about accidentally sleeping with a minor. Very cheap comedy. Friends did that with Monica in 1995 and it was cringey then. A waste of Alia Shawkat's talents. Not to mention uncomfortable in the #MeToo era.

Holy fuck, Michael Cera is aging poorly. He looks older than Jason Bateman. It was also hard to watch their scenes together after seeing a red carpet interview from a few years ago where Michael Cera called Jason Bateman "a great actor but gigantic asshole" who bullied him relentlessly on set as a child. They were one of my favorite father/son dynamics. Is everything we love tainted???????

Alia Shawkat is too good for this show. It's a shame that her comedic chops are wasted on basically being the object of everyone's unsavory lust. She's drop dead GORGEOUS. Michael Cera was my childhood crush, so it's ironic that my cousin crush (sorry) has totally switched.

And fuck all the older male cast for gaslighting Jessica Walters while she cried (JB especially and Tony Hale, but Will Arnett doesn't get a pass for me either for essentially whistling and looking the other way during that garbage fire interview.) It's a shame that Arrested Development seems like just another petulantly misogynistic boys' club but it gets swept under the rug because comedy and liberalism.

Did not like how the GOB/Tony romance was played for laughs, even if Will Arnett is portraying the confusion in a sincere, awkwardly sweet way.

Worse than Cera was Steve Holt. He really has aged horribly. The show never knew what to do with Maeby.

[qtpye]

On 6/4/2018 at 1:25 AM, tennisgurl said:

Well, it was certainly better than last season, I will certainly give them that. 

While I did get some laughs (Ron Howard narrating real life Ron Howard always cracks me up), it mostly just felt sort of...stale. Like, the show is just going through the motions at this point, doing Arrested Development style stuff, but without what made it work. I know this is only half done, but it felt so under cooked, if that makes sense. Too much of Michael and George Michael sneaking around each other with Rebel, who is a pretty dull character, and Tobias being weird with his boring new son, and not enough of GOB, Lindsay, and Buster. 

I enjoyed some of the call backs, especially the weird, random ones, like the MR F thing (Mexican Romney Family) and it was nice to see the family interacting, so they had that going for them. O hope that didnt really kill off Tony Wonder. His plot with GOB has been one of my favorite things about the new seasons, and killing him off in such a random, nasty way just seemed mean spirited, even for this show. 

On 6/11/2018 at 4:50 PM, Danny Franks said:

I'm rewatching the whole show at the moment (not decided whether to rewatch season 4, or watch season 5 yet), and I just got to Charlize Theron's first episode. Honestly, I think by this far into the show, Michael's inept and self-sabotaging attempts to date were just a bit too depressing. I know we aren't supposed to think too much about this, but Michael is a guy who lost his wife, and devoted his entire life to raising his son and carrying on his family's business. He never even manages to have a half-functional relationship for more than ten minutes. It's just bleak.

Also, all the British jokes are more than a little tired, and really were a low point of the show's first three seasons. 

On 11/3/2018 at 2:29 PM, cleo said:

I'm still watching Season 4, over half done but I'm finding it pretty uniformly awful. There is the occasional funny line. I like Maebe, so eps that focus on her are ok. There are a number of plots that seem too much

-the prostitution- I find it hard to believe Maebe would actually prostitute her mother

-all of the stuff with DeBrie is not funny, just gross

-Tobias being charged with a sex crime and not grasping what how serious that is (or being in jail) is unbelievable

Maybe there are 'clever' jokes in all this and I'm just totally missing the point, but even if so it's not worth watching these plots to get the joke.

I'm plugging through it because I'm almost done and because I would like to watch season 5 which I heard was a bit better.  

On 3/17/2019 at 11:27 AM, Cress said:

I've only watched 3 of the new episodes so far. Episode 9 was fine, but the other two dragged like crazy because I hate Tobias's story, the convulted wall stuff, and Michael and GM still having boring awkward conversations around Rebel Alley.

Out of nowhere in season 5, the show started referring to Rebel as "the girl of Michael's dreams" and the "love of his life" when all of season 4, he seemed mostly interested in her because her red hair reminded Michael of Tracey. Not once did they have any interaction suggesting they had a great love affair. He, just like GM, was always lying to her and even acted like a douchebag while jealous, before he realized the other guy was GM. I'm at least glad that Maeby pointed out to GM that he's a sociopath for continuing to pretend to be George Maharis with Rebel. Such a hypocrite pretending to be the honest good guy while defrauding investors and hiring GOB to be his fall guy; in fact he's just as horrible as Michael has turned out to be a real asshole Bluth.

I wish Mitch had killed this stupid storyline long ago. If he wanted Fakeblock shenanigans, he could have used P-hound's lawsuit against GM instead of this dumb Rebel Alley business.

I'll probably get around to watching the rest of the episodes eventually, but Mitch sure is making it a chore to get through it. AD is no longer binge-able to me.

On 3/17/2019 at 11:32 PM, Enigma X said:

I only got three episodes in and am feeling quite sad when comparing the show to what it used to be. Also, I cannot watch Tobias. He makes me feel ill and is not funny.

On 3/20/2019 at 11:35 PM, Aileen said:

But they’re not having fun with each other. That interview last year was the final nail in the coffin.

I was not going to watch the series after the interview but I caved.

It was like watching a once great athlete hobble about trying to recapture former glory.

George Michael just does not have the same appeal. His story lines should have matured instead we have a grown man acting like a teenager.

The DeBrie story line was sad and it was not cutting edge to make fun of addiction.

What was the point of Tobias's son? The actor was horrible.

The lady playing Rebel could not have been more bland or unnecessary.

Tobias being this pathetic was not funny and the Golden Girls montage was on of the few things that worked but only in comparison.

Maeby might have been the MVP.

I wish they would just say that Michael is asexual and his first wife was just a fluke. Perhaps the asexuality is a reaction to his father's horrible womanizing?

Anytime they try to sell that he is into a woman and Jason Bateman (who I had a crush on back in the day) plays it with all the gusto of drywall, I roll my eyes.  There was way more chemistry between GOB and Tony Wonder.

The flashback scenes did not work for me.

In the original, you had a sort of a grudging love for the Bluths and how each of them were so hilariously messed up.

Now, this family is disgusting and you feel a little dirty for spending so much time with them.

Even worse is thatthey are not funny. I almost wish Season 4 and 5 did not exist. The magic is long gone and I want Tambor off this show. The Oscar/George Sr. story lines are beyond stale.

Edited November 4, 2019 by qtpye

[Ottis]

I actually liked the British concept of what Americans ate, in Britain Town. The donuts and giant container of Coke as the table bread always cracks me up.

There is definitely a joy in the first three seasons that is lacking in later seasons. And honestly, what should we have expected? AD was ahead of its time, and had been gone for 10+ years. It’s hard to recapture the magic. 

i enjoyed having the opportunity to visit the same works again. It wasn’t as good, sometimes was bad, but I got to see it.

There is a BBC show called W1A that reminds me a lot of AD, but in an understated  British way. 

Edited November 4, 2019 by Ottis

[qtpye]

https://www.insider.com/jessica-walter-arrested-development-actress-dead-at-80-2021-3?utm_source=notification&utm_medium=referral

So sad😔

[Ruprecht]

So sad to lose Jessica Walter. What a pro! Lucille Bluth was such an original. A few "mother's day" ago, my son made a video of the two of us using the worst possible pictures but interspersed with Lucille and Buster with "Mother and Boy" as the soundtrack. I loved it so much. 

Thanks, Jessica, for bringing to life one of my most favorite characters.  

[qtpye]

4 hours ago, Ruprecht said:

So sad to lose Jessica Walter. What a pro! Lucille Bluth was such an original. A few "mother's day" ago, my son made a video of the two of us using the worst possible pictures but interspersed with Lucille and Buster with "Mother and Boy" as the soundtrack. I loved it so much. 

Thanks, Jessica, for bringing to life one of my most favorite characters.  

What an amazingly creative and hilarious gift from your son. Jessica will be missed.

[DrSpaceman73]

Rewatching season four just to see if my view of it has changed any over time, and it hasn't, but now another thing bugs me about it

Gob SOLD the houses in Michaels neighborhood.  Yes, he sold them to sex offenders, and George Michael, but he sold them

So why did Michael not have the money to pay back Lucille 2? 

And for that matter while it may be a bit shady, its actually a brilliant house building scheme to build houses for sex offenders on areas they can live.  He didn't do it on purpose, but its an idea that could be expanded on. 

I haven't rewatched season 5 yet so maybe they cover this I have no idea, I don't recall season 5 at all.  But This big point of Season 4 now bugs me.

[qtpye]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Rewatching season four just to see if my view of it has changed any over time, and it hasn't, but now another thing bugs me about it

Gob SOLD the houses in Michaels neighborhood.  Yes, he sold them to sex offenders, and George Michael, but he sold them

So why did Michael not have the money to pay back Lucille 2? 

And for that matter while it may be a bit shady, its actually a brilliant house building scheme to build houses for sex offenders on areas they can live.  He didn't do it on purpose, but its an idea that could be expanded on. 

I haven't rewatched season 5 yet so maybe they cover this I have no idea, I don't recall season 5 at all.  But This big point of Season 4 now bugs me.

The plots of season 4 and 5 are so needlessly complicated and yet they still make no sense.

Seasons 1-3 are still gold and some of the most brilliant television ever made.

[TimothyQ]

Doing a rewatch of this. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it; haven’t even seen season 5 and have been out of the loop on season 4. Holy God, what a shitshow this “remix” is! I remember watching S4 in original format and thinking “yeah it’s ok/ not as great as S1-3, but there’s still some very good bits in there.” But I think the remix, for all its attempts at clearing up the storyline, killed those wonderful moments of discovery, when you see a concurrent moment in a later episode and suddenly the previous take on it becomes totally fleshed out for you. Loved those times. This remix, with the constantly repeated narration, just isn’t as delightful and funny. Luckily I discover that Netflix has the originals still, but hidden away under the Trailers and More menu. 

[BetterButter]

Netflix Removing ‘Arrested Development,’ Including Streamer’s Original Seasons