Thoughts on Arrested Development

Arrested Development (2003-2006):
I recently finished watching all three seasons of the television comedy series "Arrested Development" for the first time. It's probably most famous for being an incredibly clever show that got critics and certain fans gushing over it but then getting cancelled in its third season despite being, you know, good. Over the last few months I watched the three seasons of the show and I can attest to the fact that it's not one of those movies or shows that's got all this acclaim but is actually just okay. It's an extraordinarily fun show to watch and a very rewarding comedy.



The show makes you laugh, but also gets you involved in the plot by rewarding people who are paying attention. There is a lot of interconnectedness and callbacks to prior moments in the show that make it real fun and involving. When it comes to comedy on TV, I haven't seen anything as funny or clever ("Seinfeld" is probably closest from what I've seen of it, and "Community" is becoming quite remarkable). The writing also picks up on certain themes or characteristics that continue throughout the whole show. Certain things like a characters sexual orientation, or a character infatuation with his cousin get picked up on and hinted at.

Much of the creative crew that worked on this series recently started a new series on FOX called "Running Wilde," which ended up being a major disappointment because it was hardly as good as "Arrested Development." The failure of that show makes you think about what elements of "Arrested Development" made it so good. There are definitely many factors to why "Arrested" was great and "Wilde" was horrible. I'm sure some of it has to do with the ambition and motivations of the creator, Mitchell Hurwitz, and his writers. But one of the defining factors I think was the chemistry of the cast and how lucky the show was to get a talented cast that understood the material and actually could interact well with each other. Michael Cera and David Cross have both gone on to do big things and really show their talent in other things, and though some of the other actors, like Jason Bateman, have had success, it's been mostly them playing the characters they played on the show. It's kind of the "Star Wars Effect," a cast that does great together but maybe don't have a lot of range on their own. It just shows the amount of luck the creators had in casting the show and how important cast chemistry is to the process of making a TV show, especially comedy.

So is there any lasting value to the show besides make you laugh? I'd say the biggest one is making you feel smart. It rewards smart viewers by including all these subtle things that make you feel good about yourself when you catch them. It's certainly good for your self-confidence but also, this type of ultra-awareness can only be good for the business since it does increase your standards for writing in movies and TV in terms of writers being used to fan analysis which would then result in writers increasing their own personal standards. Besides all of that, the themes of family responsibility and devotion will definitely stay with you, especially if you re-watch many of the episodes (which the series definitely lends itself to be).

If I had been watching the show when it was on air back in 2006 I probably would have been really disappointed it was getting cancelled just like many fans were at the time, but in retrospect the cancellation was the best thing that happened to the show. The series rarely had a bad episode or even a moment, and to think that would have continued in the long run is preposterous and giving way too much credit to the cast and crew (who obviously benefitted a lot from luck). It's obvious that eventually the show would have gotten down in its quality and only disappointed fans in a much worse way than getting cancelled. Even though the series was abruptly cancelled the series does end naturally and there's no sense of dissatisfaction at the end (besides maybe the end getting a bit rushed in the last season).

This is definitely a series I'll come back to many times if I want some laughs. It's very easy to watch one random episode and enjoy it. There's been talk about a movie, which is exciting for the reason of getting to see everyone back together, some more famous than others now (Michael Cera compared to pretty much everyone else in the cast). I don't have high expectations for the film but I do hope it gets made (my dream director for it: Wes Anderson).

As for a grade, compared to all other comedy shows it receives an "A." When including dramas, it would probably be an "A-" only because of my personal preference for great drama over great comedy (though on the other hand, I'd rather watch a bad comedy than a bad drama).