Arrested Development
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Jim of Seattle
- Ice Cream Man
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Arrested Development
Just caught this show for the first time last night. I liked how different it was. I had trouble following everything, not knowing the characters and all. Should I keep watching? Is this show good? It looks pretty good after half an hour, but it's hard to tell.
Here's my record label page thingie with stuff about me if you are so interested: https://greenmonkeyrecords.com/jim-of-seattle/
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mkilly
- Ice Cream Man
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God damnit, it's the best fuckin' show ever. I'm so glad they renewed it.
Do yourself a favor, Jim, and go buy Season One on DVD. It's about $30, goes to a good cause (keeping the show on the air), and is a laugh riot, absolutely, for forever.
Do yourself a favor, Jim, and go buy Season One on DVD. It's about $30, goes to a good cause (keeping the show on the air), and is a laugh riot, absolutely, for forever.
"It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards." Søren Kierkegaard
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tonetripper
- Mean Street
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Saw this show once and I couldn't agree more with you. My main pet peeve with this show is technically it kinda sucks. All the handheld shit, crossed axes, flat lighting and video look, fuct up eye lines drove me to such distraction that I couldn't watch it at a point and had to change the channel. Reminded me of Traffic. And you are right 1516 the voice overs coupled with the bad ADR at points kinda got to me. Sometimes the sync was even off...... arggggh.15-16 puzzle wrote:I saw a whole episode last week. Do they always have such extensive voice-overing?
Other than my general jab at the technical work the content and characters are pretty out there and funny in an outlandish kind of way. Possibly something that I would give another chance, but if the same shit persists from the last time that I saw technically, I'll be switching the channel or just turning the TV off (I don't have cable so only 5 channels).
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mkilly
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I bought the DVD and have now watched all the episodes twice or three times. I couldn't give a higher recommendation. It works much better when you see everything in sequence.
"It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards." Søren Kierkegaard
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mkilly
- Ice Cream Man
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...They cut the order for Season Three from 22 episodes to 13 and are pulling it from the November sweeps (replacing it with Prison Break reruns). I'm very bummed about that. Maybe some other network will pick it up.
"It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards." Søren Kierkegaard
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Mogosagatai
- Mean Street
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Edge of LA
- Somebody Get Me A Doctor
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I have seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. I don't watch it regularly on TV because I don't want to miss an episode. I sat through all of season 2 in about 2 and a half days!!!
Regarding the handheld cameras and voice overs, (oh, that review was posted in 2004!), it is set up to be somewhat Documentary-ish and makes the action seem all that much live. I'm sure the voice overs have to do with the sets and locations used. Hospital hallways echo, the beach noice, LA Traffic. I don't think they film in OC at all. A number of scenes in Season two were in Marina Del Rey and Playa del Rey.
Regarding the handheld cameras and voice overs, (oh, that review was posted in 2004!), it is set up to be somewhat Documentary-ish and makes the action seem all that much live. I'm sure the voice overs have to do with the sets and locations used. Hospital hallways echo, the beach noice, LA Traffic. I don't think they film in OC at all. A number of scenes in Season two were in Marina Del Rey and Playa del Rey.
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slowRodeo
- Somebody Get Me A Doctor
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- Location: Auburn Hills, MI
This is one of my favorite shows me and my wife rented season one and two on dvd and pretty much watched them all in a row over two days.
loose seal! loose seal!
She can't control me anymore!!!
I've made a huge mistake.
I'll be your wingman. i dont care if i have to take a chubby, i'll suck it up!
tobias you really need to record your self for a day and listen to it.
I think tobias and gob are the funniest characters on the show. i have heard rumors of it going to showtime. as long as it isn't cancelled i dont care although i would have to get showtime then.
BTW did anyone ever watch andy ricther controls the universe?
loose seal! loose seal!
She can't control me anymore!!!
I've made a huge mistake.
I'll be your wingman. i dont care if i have to take a chubby, i'll suck it up!
tobias you really need to record your self for a day and listen to it.
I think tobias and gob are the funniest characters on the show. i have heard rumors of it going to showtime. as long as it isn't cancelled i dont care although i would have to get showtime then.
BTW did anyone ever watch andy ricther controls the universe?
"I'd give my right arm to be ambidexterous." - Smalltown Mike
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mkilly
- Ice Cream Man
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No, it's over. Here's creator Mitchell Hurwitz's interview with Entertainment Weekly:
When Fox canceled its critically acclaimed sitcom Arrested Development after three seasons of low ratings, the show's loyal fans had reason to hope: The pay cable channel Showtime was considering picking up the series. That glimmer of hope faded on Monday when the show's creator, Mitch Hurwitz, announced that he was ending his involvement with the series, thus virtually guaranteeing that AD would go off into the syndicated limbo of series that shoot fewer than 100 episodes. We caught up with Hurwitz and asked him to explain what drove his decision.
Why did you decide to bow out?
You know I really wrestled with the decision for a long time, and what I discovered was that I love wrestling, and I think I want to go pursue professional wrestling.
But seriously...
In truth, I had taken it as far as I felt I could as a series. I told the story I wanted to tell, and we were getting to a point where I think a lot of the actors were ready to move on. My instinct was that it was over when Fox pulled the plug. I considered continuing the show because I felt I owed that to the fans. But I am determined to give them some other kind of entertainment that will satisfy them at some point, I hope.
Were you worried about disappointing fans who just want more episodes?
I'm more worried about letting down the fans in terms of the quality of the show dropping. For whatever reason, because it's certainly not a large fan base, I've been devoted to delivering what these fans have come to expect. So it's really just the opposite. I know what it's like to love shows and have them go away, and I really feel for them, and I'd be very happy if there was a way for someone else to pick up the slack and deliver the show for them.
Could the show really go on without you?
I'm open to anything that isn't a weekly series commitment that I have to make to producing this, because I've creatively exhausted the story I wanted to tell. I really gave my life to this. I mean, I am not exaggerating when I say that it was seven days a week, and on an average until four or five in the morning. I'm okay with any kind of future for Arrested Development, whether it be a movie or a special now and then — even a Saturday-morning animated series, like Arrested Development Babies. Wouldn't that be good? I have a feeling the merchandising on Buster alone would be just enormous. Everyone would have a little stuffed Buster. Or a series of Burger King cups, or I could see it working well in the context of a Colorform game.
Is there anything Showtime could have done?
Showtime was great. I really did not want to give [Showtime entertainment president] Robert Greenblatt a lesser version of Arrested Development. There were a lot of advantages of going to Showtime. If I had had that opportunity last year or the year before, I would have jumped at it. I was just convinced the ship had sailed a bit on Arrested.
I did look into whether there was enough financial incentive to say, ''To hell with health, to hell with my family, and to hell with fans' expectations for quality. Is there enough money to let me sell out and do this?'' And I'm happy to say there wasn't. I say that a little tongue-in-cheek.
Was it tough breaking the news to the cast?
I think they knew. And I think we're all really proud of the accomplishment, and we really feel privileged to have gotten the chance to do it. And at least so far, we have all been able to feel very fortunate about it. We never had an expectation that this unusual, dense show that required an audience to really pay attention was going to be a hit show. It was instead a really meaningful creative exercise that we all gave our lives to, and we always knew it was going to be a temporary endeavor.
We all feel that the work we did on the show has put us in this privileged position to be able to attract other work. Even though Arrested Development had a record low viewership, the main demographic appears to have been movie-studio executives, so hopefully the cast will be able to benefit from that.
If the show had stayed on Fox, would you have kept doing it?
I don't think it would have been much different. I think if it had stayed on Fox, there would have been a willingness to let me take more of a background position on the show. It really got a little too onerous to deliver this on a weekly basis. It's hard to say — maybe there was an element of being discouraged on all of this, particularly on the third season, where we did our most ambitious work and we never had a chance to have it seen or really have it promoted or even aired consecutively. So the cast and the writers and all of us felt discouraged by the experience of the third season, so it may very well have been psychologically detrimental to this whole thing. My honest feeling right now is that it played out creatively. We told the story.
It seems like it's never really over, doesn't it?
It's the determination of the fans and the determination of the critics that has kept this thing alive. It's truly an audience-driven experience. And for me, anyway, if there's a way to continue this in a form that's not weekly episodic series television, I'd be up for it.
What are you up to next?
Well, at first I have to think of a professional wrestling persona. I mean, I can't just go out there as Mitch Hurwitz and take on some guy that calls himself the Exterminator. I need an angle and I need a look. Also, I'm not in great shape.
Other than that, I really don't know. I'm going to take a little time and figure out what the next story I want to tell is — whether it's in TV or movies or other forms. It's less about the medium and more about the story.
When Fox canceled its critically acclaimed sitcom Arrested Development after three seasons of low ratings, the show's loyal fans had reason to hope: The pay cable channel Showtime was considering picking up the series. That glimmer of hope faded on Monday when the show's creator, Mitch Hurwitz, announced that he was ending his involvement with the series, thus virtually guaranteeing that AD would go off into the syndicated limbo of series that shoot fewer than 100 episodes. We caught up with Hurwitz and asked him to explain what drove his decision.
Why did you decide to bow out?
You know I really wrestled with the decision for a long time, and what I discovered was that I love wrestling, and I think I want to go pursue professional wrestling.
But seriously...
In truth, I had taken it as far as I felt I could as a series. I told the story I wanted to tell, and we were getting to a point where I think a lot of the actors were ready to move on. My instinct was that it was over when Fox pulled the plug. I considered continuing the show because I felt I owed that to the fans. But I am determined to give them some other kind of entertainment that will satisfy them at some point, I hope.
Were you worried about disappointing fans who just want more episodes?
I'm more worried about letting down the fans in terms of the quality of the show dropping. For whatever reason, because it's certainly not a large fan base, I've been devoted to delivering what these fans have come to expect. So it's really just the opposite. I know what it's like to love shows and have them go away, and I really feel for them, and I'd be very happy if there was a way for someone else to pick up the slack and deliver the show for them.
Could the show really go on without you?
I'm open to anything that isn't a weekly series commitment that I have to make to producing this, because I've creatively exhausted the story I wanted to tell. I really gave my life to this. I mean, I am not exaggerating when I say that it was seven days a week, and on an average until four or five in the morning. I'm okay with any kind of future for Arrested Development, whether it be a movie or a special now and then — even a Saturday-morning animated series, like Arrested Development Babies. Wouldn't that be good? I have a feeling the merchandising on Buster alone would be just enormous. Everyone would have a little stuffed Buster. Or a series of Burger King cups, or I could see it working well in the context of a Colorform game.
Is there anything Showtime could have done?
Showtime was great. I really did not want to give [Showtime entertainment president] Robert Greenblatt a lesser version of Arrested Development. There were a lot of advantages of going to Showtime. If I had had that opportunity last year or the year before, I would have jumped at it. I was just convinced the ship had sailed a bit on Arrested.
I did look into whether there was enough financial incentive to say, ''To hell with health, to hell with my family, and to hell with fans' expectations for quality. Is there enough money to let me sell out and do this?'' And I'm happy to say there wasn't. I say that a little tongue-in-cheek.
Was it tough breaking the news to the cast?
I think they knew. And I think we're all really proud of the accomplishment, and we really feel privileged to have gotten the chance to do it. And at least so far, we have all been able to feel very fortunate about it. We never had an expectation that this unusual, dense show that required an audience to really pay attention was going to be a hit show. It was instead a really meaningful creative exercise that we all gave our lives to, and we always knew it was going to be a temporary endeavor.
We all feel that the work we did on the show has put us in this privileged position to be able to attract other work. Even though Arrested Development had a record low viewership, the main demographic appears to have been movie-studio executives, so hopefully the cast will be able to benefit from that.
If the show had stayed on Fox, would you have kept doing it?
I don't think it would have been much different. I think if it had stayed on Fox, there would have been a willingness to let me take more of a background position on the show. It really got a little too onerous to deliver this on a weekly basis. It's hard to say — maybe there was an element of being discouraged on all of this, particularly on the third season, where we did our most ambitious work and we never had a chance to have it seen or really have it promoted or even aired consecutively. So the cast and the writers and all of us felt discouraged by the experience of the third season, so it may very well have been psychologically detrimental to this whole thing. My honest feeling right now is that it played out creatively. We told the story.
It seems like it's never really over, doesn't it?
It's the determination of the fans and the determination of the critics that has kept this thing alive. It's truly an audience-driven experience. And for me, anyway, if there's a way to continue this in a form that's not weekly episodic series television, I'd be up for it.
What are you up to next?
Well, at first I have to think of a professional wrestling persona. I mean, I can't just go out there as Mitch Hurwitz and take on some guy that calls himself the Exterminator. I need an angle and I need a look. Also, I'm not in great shape.
Other than that, I really don't know. I'm going to take a little time and figure out what the next story I want to tell is — whether it's in TV or movies or other forms. It's less about the medium and more about the story.
"It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards." Søren Kierkegaard
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The Sleestak
- Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
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