How wrong is it that Ellen Degeneres was “banging” her (Portia DeRossi).
The only spot in the whole run where it was a bit weak by AD standards, which still meant it was funnier than just about anything else on TV, was the short stretch with Charlize Theron in S3. That was more than forgiven by the episode with the mole. I will chicken dance at anyone who suggests otherwise.
Given the shortened length of season 3, that was a long stretch with Theron, but yeah, that’s basically why season 3 was the weakest.
lindsay chicken dance, mother chicken dance, or gob chicken dance?
Chee-chaw, Chee-chaw!
Chee-chaw, Chee-chaw!
To each his own, but I definitely do not agree with that assessment, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard from anyone who does. Season Two is considered by me and seemingly by most to be the best of the seasons by far, and an absolute masterpiece.
I’ll second that. So many things come together in the second season.
Huh. Season two felt like a chore to me, while I enjoyed one and three. Maybe I just didn’t get it.
I think season two was more full of the 110% implausible scenarios though, like the Ben Stiller humor where 85 things go wrong in a row, any two or which are highly unlikely by themselves. I guess I liked the dysfunctional family when it was intrinsic rather than because of contrived situation XYZ.
Season 2 is a gem.
I don’t hate on the Charlize Theron arc as much as most; I think mainly because the payoff “That wasn’t my trick Michael…” is so fucking awesome.
I just finished watching the show on Netflix. (All three seasons are being streamed in case you didn’t know). I’d never seen the show but have been hearing about it for years (after it went off the air).
I enjoyed it more than I’ve been enjoying 30 Rock, although much of the humor seems to be in the same vein. It’s a shame its time got cut short.
Glad you liked it, and yeah, it’s one of the best around. :)
I’ve watched the first few episodes recently, and I can’t decide whether I like it or not. I enjoy the deadpan humor, but the reality-tv production bothers me and none of the characters is likable (so far?).
You’re not supposed to like them you’re supposed to laugh at them.
They all (well, most of them) have likable and relatable aspects, I think, but only George Michael and to a far lesser extent Buster are really intended to be sympathetic.
“And maybe the Bluths just aren’t worth saving, maybe we’re not that likable, you know. We’re very self-centered.”
Like the characters show Seinfeld, I don’t think we’re supposed to like any of them at all except for George Michael.
Yeah, that’s the trick with the show
I’ve been rewatching on Netflix, and it’s certainly brilliant and funny, but it also wears on me. Similar to the British sitcom Peep Show, even though I find it funny, eventually the sheer awfulness of the characters just makes the show unpleasant to watch and I need to take a break. Not because they’re unlikable per se, but because the format requires that (generally) the characters can never grow or change. There have been several instances where character on AD have said (paraphrasing) to Lucille Bluth “You know, if you were just nicer to people you wouldn’t have to manipulate them like crazy to spend time with you.” Well, she’ll never be nicer. None of them will. And while moment to moment that’s really funny, I can only do it in measured doses. The last episode I watched, the entire plot hinged on Michael telling a pointless lie for a stupid reason that brought him way more trouble than the truth would have, and all I could think was “Enh, you don’t need to be this dumb all the time.”
And then I went and watched Das Boot, as a pick-me-up.
Yeah, I watched the entire run of this recently and my reaction was the same. I couldn’t watch more than a few episodes at a time or the desire to see every character on the show die horribly would get to be too much. At first I thought Michael was supposed to be the sympathetic one, but so many of his problems are self-perpetuated I realized he only seems like the protagonist because the people around him are so much worse. I don’t think George Michael really works as the sympathetic one, either, since he’s such a simpering wimp. (Plus there’s the whole kind-of-okay-with-incest thing.)
There were definitely points where the show suffered for not having a real “straight man” to bounce all the crazy off of. Kind of like how The Venture Brothers suffers when Brock isn’t there.
It’s legal to marry your first cousin in MA, you shouldn’t mind George Michael’s predilictions
It’s legal in California too, where the show was set. So obviously George Michael shouldn’t have worried and told his entire family and they would have all been okay with it because it’s legal and that means it’s in no way squicky and bizarre.