The Rock8man Ginger Yellow inversion nexus is as strong as ever, it seems. And I say that as someone who doesn’t hate season 4.But it absolutely feels like a show that went on hiatus, and never came back.
Yeah to me seasons 4 and 5 might as well not even exist.
I’ve not watched 4th season but you’re the only other person I’ve ever found that feels this way about the original seasons. It’s a clever, entertaining show, and it has its moments, but I’ve never quite been able to square the universal praise with my actual experience of it. Maybe I should give it another watch one of these days and see if it hits different.
If you’ve seen the whole thing, and it didn’t hit, it’s not going to hit the second time.
In my experience that’s not necessarily true. There have definitely been shows that I watched a second time in a very diferent state of mind and enjoyed much more (or for that matter much less). And anyway, it’s not as though I disliked it on first watch, I just didn’t find it as hilariously funny as a lot of folks apparently do. Humor is pretty hugely dependent on mood and context, it seems to me.
I rewatched the entire show last year and loved all of it. I feel like the S4 and 5 hate is not earned.
Maybe if they could have gotten the cast actually on set at the same time, it would have been better. Seasons 4 and 5 just felt off, there was a lot lost in the reunion, and part of it was how difficult it was getting everyone together. So many stand-ins and obvious cuts/framing where you can tell that not everyone was in the same room.
They lost a lot of the ensemble comedy feel because of this. There are definitely still some great gags and funny bits, but it just feels off.
Part of the reason I didn’t care for the Netflix seasons was that the original run ended perfectly. If you stick the landing, it’s better to just walk away sometimes.
The problem with sticking the landing, ironically, is that it leaves everyone thinking so well of the show that it’s more likely to be (often needlessly) resurrected. Great shows with bad endings seem to be dug up and reanimated far less often.
I’m up to S4E12 now where Michael is visiting with Ron Howard.
I’m still really enjoying this 4th season. I’m glad I’m watching this before it goes away. Again the humor is based really strongly on word-play and it just tickles a different part of my brain than other TV shows, I really enjoy it, even if it doesn’t make me laugh out loud or even chuckle most of the time, but I do find it very pleasurable to watch.
Nothing quite like a new start. Maybe not the best license plate tho.
I’m about 2/3 done with the original season 4, and while it loses something without the manic energy that having the ensemble together in one scene gave the series, it does have a strong echo of the charm of the first three seasons.
Also not sure about all the hate for the format - I’m really not finding it repetitive at all as it hits shared scenes from completely different viewpoints/angles.
The remixed season made big improvements to the flow overall. The last season however…
I’m rushing to watch seasons 4&5 as well, I just noticed the date has changed - it now says the last day to watch is the 24th, so if it’s true I can slow down a little. I’ve seen 25 episodes in the last week, enjoying it well enough but close to overdosing!
The remix is vastly better than how the original 4th season was portrayed.
I thought I was the only one… :D
It would be a boring place if our tastes aligned all the time!
In the episodes at Imagine, they talk about Brian all the time. I’m assuming I’m supposed to know this Brian? They finally showed him in the previous episode without revealing his last name, and my thought was, wait, am I supposed to know him by his face, like with Ron Howard? Who is this Brian? Bryan?
I’m sure I’ll find out later in the season, but it was a bit of a strange reveal.
I loved the elevator gag though. And the guy from Inside the Actor’s Studio. I wonder if that show is still going? I haven’t seen it since I cut cable decades ago.
Very much agreed. Our takes on media rarely align but I always enjoy reading your perspective on things.
Brian Grazer - he’s the other head of Imagine Entertainment. I knew that, for whatever reason, but can see how others might not know that he’s Ron Howard’s other half (at work anyway).
Hearing about DVDs from Blockbuster at the top of this thread was a real blast from the past!
With decades of wisdom and hindsight, it’s safe to say that Arrested Development was the best comedy on TV in that era, even if it didn’t fill up the whole decade between Seinfeld and Community, which were the best comedies of their time, even if the ratings didn’t always say so. (Computer Games Magazine, still alive in this thread’s day, taught me to speak opinions declaratively, so I assert these Very Strong Opinions™ as facts.)
The first season or two are quoted to this day—even, or perhaps especially, the first episode. It’s hard to think of another comedy pilot that came out the gate hitting homers like that.
“Illusions, Michael. Tricks are something a whore does for money.”