![[slurp slorp slurp GROSS MAKEOUT NOISES slurrrp sqlorsh slarp]](http://hijinksensue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/2013-05-27-mostly-true-convention-stories-ive-just-made-a-huge-mistsake.jpg "[slurp slorp slurp GROSS MAKEOUT NOISES slurrrp sqlorsh slarp]")
Phoenix Comicon was a tonnage’o fun as always. David was my travel companion, roommate and life partner (con husband) for a week (also as always). Saturday night we had the very Arrested Development related debate illustrated in the panels above. At least the first two, maybe two and a half panels of it. In the end, we decided that wives were the way to go (plus the hotel Internet was so shitty, I expect it would have been a less than optimal viewing experience… also wives… yes, happy wives). I’ve been home for all of 14 minutes, so I am going to go sit in a familiar chair, in a familiar state that is (at least currently) below 100 degrees outside, eat some familiar leftovers and get my Bluth on.
COMMENTERS: Without getting into spoilers AT ALL, have you watched the new Arrested Development episodes? What are your initial thoughts? I am hearing bad things on twitter, but I am reserving judgement until I’ve seen them for (and blue’d) myself.
Comments (31)
Don’t overhype it for yourself. It’s really funny. Look at the good, don’t try to dig for the bad.Excellent advice. Make sure that you watch them in order to savour the funny. I just finished episode 15 and found it was impressively good how each episode connected with each other.Season 5/The Movie can’t come out fast enough though. </frustrated-impotent-fanboy-whinge>
Echelon Four· 105 weeks ago
I’ve seen about 6 of them. I thought they were good. The structure of each episode focuses on a particular character, rather than all episodes being everyone. I think that is what is causing the negative reactions. The show is still good, it just doesn’t live up to the impossible standards set for it.
negativsteve· 105 weeks ago
I didn’t care for the “Focus on one character per episode” format at first, but as I watched a few episodes and all of the pieces began to fit together, it began to grow on me. Now that I have burned through the entire season, I really enjoyed it. I am going to wait a week or two and burn through the episodes again, looking for details and subtleties that I missed the first time around.
Jordan· 105 weeks ago
I’ve honesty enjoyed it, even going in as a longtime fan. The whole season is one mega-story that builds upon itself, which means some jokes are only going to be caught on a second viewing. That said, it still feels like Arrested, and the long-term storytelling is enjoyable. The biggest burden is the catch-up for each character, but most have two episodes to spread their wings and have fun.Strange; my tweeps have been reacting mostly positively to it, and having seen six episodes, I love it, and have only enjoyed the season more as it has progressed. I like the story structure; it will definitely repay rewatches.When you get to Episode 11, you are going to be in for a shock.
I will say nothing else.
Except to make the bold statement that this Season of AD is the “Cloud Atlas” of sitcoms. Make of that statement what you will.
Orion M· 105 weeks ago
Season 4 is brilliant. It’s very dense, and it takes a couple episodes to build before everything starts falling into place. But it’s really, really good.…it’s much darker than I anticipated. Much darker than anything that happened in the first three seasons. But still brilliant.
(Also, Seth Rogen as young George Sr. He’s very good!)
I’m 10 episodes in and it’s cleverly put together, I like the way the series gradually reveals more details in scenes that have already been shown. Also some very funny moments and great in-jokes from the first three series.Its brilliant, but you basically have to watch it all at once to get the brilliant mesh that exists. The pacing is actually wonderful, and I found the format and style to be a really nice break from the predictability of sitcoms.
KRW· 105 weeks ago
It’s SUPER meta. I remember it as being subtle meta before, but now it’s sort of like hard to relax and watch it. Every third second it’s like the creators are screaming “HEY GUYS! WE’RE A TV SHOW! WE’RE TOTALLY A TV SHOW! IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE WE ARE SELF-AWARE AND A TV SHOW!” Other than that, it’s pretty good.
redd galaxie· 105 weeks ago
The writing is amazing. I enjoyed the hell out of almost all of it. I didn’t really care for the ending. A few questions were left unanswered, and the end on an awkward note.
DuckAmuck· 105 weeks ago
I saw 1. The “making fun of our situation” jokes are clever as well as cleverly hidden.
My main thing was: wow – I’d forgotten all these people were in it, and THIS is what they look like now?I liked this season, but it wasn’t as good as the previous 3. Go win with low expectations, because that’s where most of the disappointment on twitter came from. People set their expectations incredibly high after 6 years that it’s impossible for the show to meet said expectations!I haven’t seen it yet because my husband’s all “but I don’t remember the previous seasons enough, so we must now watch them all, but I’m not going to propose this until the latest, newest season is out!” like a huge asshole. The promo looked really disappointing, though.
Cole· 105 weeks ago
This is a show I’ve been with since the second episode aired, and I was not disappointed. The altered structure means that there’s less progression per episode than many people may be used to, but we have half a decade of catching up to.I loved it. A perfect balance of what makes Arrested Development what it is and new ideas and structure to keep things interesting.
I’m enjoying the new episodes immensely! There’s a wonderful mix of throwbacks to the existing jokes, and some new funny stuff as well. I don’t fully understand the flack, I guess.
Red· 105 weeks ago
It’s okay. I’m not rolling on the floor laughing like I used to be, but I don’t regret seeing it through either.
Candace· 105 weeks ago
I haven’t seen the show at all, I just wanted to say the 3rd panel is hilarious! The facial expressions, the body language – perfect!I dunno. I think “Sex with a man” would possibly enrage your spouses.Binged over the weekend and thought it was great. It tells one continuous story (the last 5 years in the history of the Bluths) and so there was a strong temptation to binge all of it, which you may or may not want to try to avoid.
Ali· 105 weeks ago
I saw it. Loved it. Wish we got a little more tying-up of plot threads (especially GOB’s) but it was pretty great overall. No chicken dance though.
neminem· 105 weeks ago
Yep, that was me, only I was the one who made my girlfriend not watch it without me.I’ve now watched about half of it, and I agree with the general consensus so far that the first couple episodes weren’t as good as the average AD episode, but subsequent episodes so far have not only been quite up to part with the best of them, but also retroactively made the first couple way funnier, too.
neminem· 105 weeks ago
(Well, and she didn’t, obviously, decide to instead get it on with a girl while I was gone. At least, not to my knowledge.)
Videostoreguy· 104 weeks ago
Frankly, I was just happy to see AD back. It was like pizza: even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. But the fact that we may never see new ones again weighs on me.
I’ve seen about 6 of them. I thought they were good. The structure of each episode focuses on a particular character, rather than all episodes being everyone. I think that is what is causing the negative reactions. The show is still good, it just doesn’t live up to the impossible standards set for it.
I’ve honesty enjoyed it, even going in as a longtime fan. The whole season is one mega-story that builds upon itself, which means some jokes are only going to be caught on a second viewing. That said, it still feels like Arrested, and the long-term storytelling is enjoyable. The biggest burden is the catch-up for each character, but most have two episodes to spread their wings and have fun.
This is a show I’ve been with since the second episode aired, and I was not disappointed. The altered structure means that there’s less progression per episode than many people may be used to, but we have half a decade of catching up to.
I loved it. A perfect balance of what makes Arrested Development what it is and new ideas and structure to keep things interesting.
Binged over the weekend and thought it was great. It tells one continuous story (the last 5 years in the history of the Bluths) and so there was a strong temptation to binge all of it, which you may or may not want to try to avoid.
Unsexiest bromance moment ever.