Yesterday's post was originally going to segue into today's, but it ended up becoming too long. So, I'll just use it as a reference to sing the praises of Arrested Development. As I mentioned, I didn't have access to American television while in Japan, but often read about programs that generated a lot of buzz. Most of them (i.e. Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey's Anatomy) didn't really appeal to me anyway. I mean, do we really need another hospital drama? By the time I got to the States, Arrested Development was in its third and final season, despite critical praise and a loyal, albeit small, fanbase. I never watched an episode and figured I probably wasn't missing much anyway.
In September '07, I met Jeff at the LCD Soundsystem/Arcade Fire show. Jeff was an avid fan who sang the praises of AD almost ad nauseum. His sense of humour was very similar to mine, but still, I resisted. Then, when Jay came to visit in January, we were relaxing after a long day of boarding, and he suggested we rent some movies. I picked "Once" and he picked AD, Season 1 Disc 2. (Disc 1 was out.) We ended up watching all eight episodes in a row, and laughed the whole time.
After I got to Italy, I saw Shaun had purchased the first season at the BX for $30. After some research, I bought all three seasons from Amazon.com for only $45. (I'm such a bargain hunter.) Since I was off yesterday, I had the opportunity to finally finish the last two episodes of the entire series; and I am very pleased.
If you haven't seen it, it's a very fast-paced show, with inventive characters and witty dialogue. It's shot with a documentary feel, which includes reel footage and photographic footnotes. There are tons of non sequitors, double meanings, and even some post-modern ideas floating around. There were several times in each episode I'd have to pause my DVD player, either from laughing so hard, or to go back and catch side comments or a visual gag in the background.
The story is built around the Bluths, a wealthy real-estate family whose patriarch is arrested for financial schemes in the first episode. It's up to his son, Michael, to keep everything together. The other family members have very few redeeming qualities, and it's interesting to see Michael wrestle with them and still try to maintain a good relationship with his own son, George Michael. Constant foils include his older brother, Gob (pronounced Job), his twin sister Lindsay, and his mother Lucille. Each episode is narrated by Ron Howard, who throws in background information from a third-person perspective.
It really is a shame it got cancelled, as I'm sure there could have been so much more to the story. The final episode gave things an appropriately hilarious ending, and luckily, there's talk of a feature film in the next couple of years. Along with Six Feet Under and The Simpsons (which is still in the midst of being released), this is one of the few television series I'm happy to own. So, Mad Props to Arrested Development. I think I'll go start again from Season 1.
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