By Charles Schnell

Arrested Development is my favorite sitcom. With the release of the first half of season five on Netflix on May 29, I thought I would write a post explaining why.

To put it in the show’s own words, Arrested Development is “the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together.” Enter the Bluths: a wealthy family who owns a real estate development firm named the Bluth Company. Not only are they a very wealthy family but they’re also an extremely dysfunctional family. After the CEO of the company, George Bluth Sr., runs into legal trouble, the family starts falling apart, and it’s all up to one of his four children, Michael Bluth–the “one son”–, to keep them from plunging completely off the deep end, all the while trying to keep the company afloat. So, why does keeping his family together pose a challenge for Michael? Well, once you see his family, you can understand why. His family includes a lying, lazy, selfish, indecisive twin sister whose favorite hobby is to crack open the company checkbook; an arrogant, foolish, self-centered older brother trapped within his hopeless dream of being a magician; a gullible, post-hemispherectomy younger brother who’s overly attached to his mother; and an oblivious, neurotic, ex-therapist of a brother-in-law who’s chasing his dreams of acting. These four are just a fraction of his family. And what happens when you place this dysfunctional family right in the heart of a highly satirized Newport Beach? Chaos, crime, romance, loss-of-limbs, death, and hilarity!

Arrested Development was created by Mitchell Hurwitz. The show originally began in 2003, airing on Fox. Upon the completion of its first season, the show was met with critical praise, winning six Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe. However, due to poor marketing, the show received poor ratings. Thus, in 2005, its second season was cut from a planned twenty-two episode run to eighteen episodes, with which it was still able to garner eleven Emmy nominations and one win. A similar but more unfortunate event occurred in 2006 with its third season: twenty-two episodes became thirteen, and the show was ultimately cancelled by Fox.

Fortunately, in 2013, Netflix, who had nabbed the rights to the show, released a fourth season. Many aspects were different about this fourth season. For instance, while all the main actors were able to come back, many crew members, writers, and producers did not return. Another thing is that almost all the actors had reached new heights of fame since the original series. Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, and David Cross are all Arrested Development actors that have been in multiple movies and TV shows and have become more popular since the end of the third season. Because of this, Hurwitz and the rest of the creative team had trouble working around the actors’ schedules, especially without a film budget. Thus, the fourth season had to undergo a different writing and presentation style than the original three seasons. The original series was full of scenes of the characters being together, and what made the original so great was how cleverly the writers had the characters interact with each other. The fourth season had to go a different route, since the actors’ schedules were very limiting. Thus, while there are some scenes of the Bluths together, the majority of the fourth season was written with each episode being dedicated to one of the main characters’ individual adventures. The writers decided to turn this handicap into an advantage, as they used this to structure the plot of season four in a very complex way. Season four was not ordered chronologically upon release. Because of this, the writers ended up turning season four into an intertwining, complex, out-of-order story. This fourth season eventually unfolds into a mystery storyline. And this led to the controversy of season four. Some argue that much of the charm and wit of the original series was lost, as one of the reasons the original show was so great was because of how the characters played off of each other. Others praised season four, claiming that the complex plot of season four that gradually turns into a mystery made the show much more engaging and much more than “just a comedy.” While I would agree that the show is way more than “just a comedy” even if the fourth season never happened, I really like season four. The writing is extremely clever and well thought out. I think that about the original three seasons too, but the difference is that the first three seasons are clever in a comedic sense, while the fourth season is clever more so in its plot and storytelling, while still being funny.

After five years of little news regarding a fifth season, we recently received great news. About a month ago, Mitchell Hurwitz announced that not only was season five going to be released very soon, but that he had made the Season Four Remix: a recut of season four that not only put the fourth season back into chronological order, but cut and reordered all the scenes as well, putting the season into episodes that each contained multiple characters’ stories per episode. This recut, that turned the original fifteen thirty-minute episodes of season four into a new twenty-two-episode season with each episode being twenty-two minutes, has been positively received and generally recognized as better than the original fourth season. Some have even claimed it is just as good if not better than the original series. All the complaints of a convoluted plot and character-overdose per episode are taken care of in the recut. While I agree the recut is way funnier than the original season four, I still appreciate the original for taking its production circumstances and trying to do something bold with them. Plus, the writing in the original season four is still really organized and well-thought out. (Thankfully, both season four’s are available on Netflix. The original has been tucked away in the “Trailers and More” section).

Okay, enough with season four. I want to get to why I love this show. On May 29, the first half of season five launched on Netflix. Season five continues the mystery cliffhanger left by season four. But remember, it’s still a comedy first and foremost.

The writing is extremely clever, silly, intertwining, connected, organized, and hilarious. From funny one-liners to ridiculous physical mishaps, the script of almost every episode is non-stop laughter. Every line is delivered with the exact delivery it calls for. The actors all have great chemistry with one another and, also thanks to the brilliant scripts, can play off each other well. The pacing is very rapid and works beautifully; the only problem is sometimes your laugh from one punchline will extend over another punchline. Not only are the actors’ deliveries spotless, but their facial expressions and body language are always on point, sometimes even garnering more of a laugh than the line does. The soundtrack, while not the highlight of the show, is fitting and is subtly funny in its own way. Some of the tracks become their own on-running gags. Speaking of which, I hope you like on-running gags and inside jokes because this show is chock full of them and will never hesitate to use them time and time again, even when you least expect it. Another thing I will say about the writing is while Arrested Development is first and foremost a comedy, the storyline is not horrible. Unlike numerous sitcoms, a continuous storyline actually exists and has its own little surprises, twists, and turns. And, because of the continuous storyline, this is not a sitcom where you can jump around. In order to fully understand what’s going on in an episode and all the jokes an episode might have, you must have seen all the episodes prior to that episode respectively. The storytelling becomes much more of a focus with the Netflix seasons than the original series, which provides the story as a backdrop for all the crazy comedic scenarios that occur, as well as a relief from the otherwise non-stop one-liners and on-running gags. Finally, Ron Howard is the narrator. In the first season, he more or less acts as a normal omniscient narrator. However, as the show continues, Howard starts saying more and more witty one-liners and clever, comedic quips, and he gradually becomes one of the comedic highlights of the show.

Arrested Development is a hilarious, ridiculous, absolutely crazy comedy that also knows how to tell a compelling story. This show never fails to make me laugh, and with the release of the fifth season and the upcoming summer break, I hope you will give this show a chance. For those of you who already like this show, aren’t we glad that Netflix is keeping this show alive? And for those who do not like this show… we’ll agree to disagree.

 

Editors: Renée Vazquez and Leo Milmet