Hesitantly Optimistic. I would be more optimistic, but the lack of momentum for the film already at this point has me doubting whether there's much validity to this claim.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Cue the "ugh, can't Micheal Cera learn to play a different character? this is just like that one character he used to play on TV."
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
I thought it was more that George Michael Bluth really needed to figure out how to play someone other than Michael Cera.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Think it'll be as good as people remember?
Whenever people talk about Firefly coming back, I usually say "meh," because it seems like once fans have a few years to idolize a show, it'll just never be able to live up to the fantasy version of it that people have in their minds.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
Where the real credit is due for Arrested Development coming back.
I'm worried about the quality it would maintain were it to return as well; however, I think the cast are all so devoted to the show and the characters themselves that they would be wary to commit to it again if it wouldn't be worth it.
Posted by richd (Member # 12520) on :
I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but anything less than a full on series reboot is not good enough. Yes, I'll watch the new eps and the movie, but it will likely do little more than spur another bout of lamenting the show's short life for me, cause me to rewatch the series again and that's that.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
I was really bothered when the show was cancelled but after the last episode, I felt like it ended well. I started rewatching it on netflix and it was still awesome. Firefly I would want to come back because I didn't feel like I had closure. The movie Serenity didn't work as closure for me either (and to be honest, I kinda pretend the movie didn't happen).
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
Speaking as someone who watched Arrested Development after the fact, I thought it was exactly as long as it needed to be. I'm glad it went out on a high note. I'm actually a little wary of it coming back - it risks tainting my near-perfect memory of it.
Strider, I've looked at that picture 9 times today and every time I giggle hysterically.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
I feel like a shorter season on television and a film could, provided the quality is consistent, be a fitting continuation of the show. If they were to jump right back into a 24-episode season, I'd be more hesitant because I don't think the show, at this point, could support such an extended serialization.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
I know, right Raymond!
Posted by richd (Member # 12520) on :
BTW, if you haven't watched the short-lived but brilliant "Running Wilde", check it out. My wife and I just watched it on Netflix.Story and humor-wise, it was just as good as AD. It lacks the large family dynamic of AD, but after a while you stop missing it and enjoy the show for what it is. There are several AD references too.
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
Does Arrested Development hit its stride later than the early episodes? Raymond, we've discussed Parks & Rec before (Haven't given 2nd season a try yet, but I plan to) so I'm curious if you feel the same applies to Arrested Development. I've seen the first four or five episodes and so far its not nearly as cringe-inducing and painful as Parks & Rec, but it's no Community either. I chuckle now and again, but it's yet to truly kill me. What am I missing?
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
What's weird is that I remember it taking a little while for me to really get into it, but when I recently started rewatching it, I thought it was absolutely hilarious, starting at most from episode two. That surprised me because I didn't remember the early episodes being that funny, and because I figured I'd already be familiar with the jokes.
It's not so much that it needs to hit its stride, but that
a) it builds on itself, each episode or two introducing new running jokes that continue to run throughout the entire series, (part of why I thought early episodes were suddenly funny that I caught running jokes in their first iteration, when they weren't originally funny until their third)
b) it's, oddly enough, a very character driven piece. Just with characters that are all despicable. By the end of the show you will understand them all better, and they when they act in a typically-despicable-them fashion, it'll be more endearing than sad.
c) The show has a LOT of references to earlier things. (The most obvious example is that Henry Winkler plays a character who, at some point, jumps over a shark). I am not old enough to get most of them, but I've been told they're hilarious.
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: b) it's, oddly enough, a very character driven piece. Just with characters that are all despicable. By the end of the show you will understand them all better, and they when they act in a typically-despicable-them fashion, it'll be more endearing than sad.
Bingo!
I think this is most likely the problem I'm having. There are certain kinds of despicable characters that I can enjoy, but by and large I just sort of scratch my head and wonder why I'd want to spend so much time with someone so unappealing.
This has been my problem getting through the first book in the Thomas Covenant series, too! The protagonist is just so utterly disgusting, I've had a hard time getting past about chapter 4 or 5. (Whichever chapter it is that the Really Awful Thing happens.)
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:The show has a LOT of references to earlier things
The show has a lot of references to later things, too. They're very clever with their foreshadowing, and it's everywhere.
Yeah, I haven't watched the whole series in a little bit. But I remember last time I watched through it, I was picking up foreshadowings everywhere. More than one about Buster's hand.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
ooh, one just came back to me. I'm not remembering it perfectly, but it's in reference to his hand chair. And he says something like, "I never thought I'd miss a hand so much."
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
I've performed the rites, and shall now cackle as this thread lurches up from its grave to feast on the flesh of the living.
Also, I finished Arrested Development today. And wow. It won me over somewhere in the first season, and now I'm really bummed it's over. Though, like Raymond, I agree that I'm largely glad it managed to go out on a solid high note with some closure.
Posted by Liz B (Member # 8238) on :
I have nothing significant to add, other than fangirl squealing.
Which, upon consideration, probably isn't that significant.
(pleeeeeze more Jason Bateman on the teevee!!!!)
Posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer (Member # 10416) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Think it'll be as good as people remember?
Whenever people talk about Firefly coming back, I usually say "meh," because it seems like once fans have a few years to idolize a show, it'll just never be able to live up to the fantasy version of it that people have in their minds.
Futurama was able to remain brilliant even through several years of cancellation. I'm not saying a comeback like that is likely to happen for either Firefly or Arrested Development (the former of which I am currently watching and loving, the latter of which I have only sort of heard about), but it does offer a counterexample to this rule.
Though I'm out of touch with the Futurama fanbase, so for all I know the majority of fans of the original run could be rabidly outraged over the recent episodes. The newer seasons certainly didn't disappoint me, at any rate.
Posted by Godric 2.0 (Member # 11443) on :
So... Any thoughts on Season 4?
Posted by ctm (Member # 6525) on :
It was not as good as I hoped but it was better than I expected.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
I thought it was great. Starts slow but ramps up significantly. And it feels ambitious in the same way Seasons 1-3 did when they first aired.
SPOILERS BELOW . . . .
Maeby's episode may be my favorite episode of the series - yes, including Seasons 1-3. AD's hallmark, the constant recontexualization of previous scenes, reaches its peak here. I just about died at the revelation of the shaman's identity (and at the source of the bird sounds heard throughout the earlier episodes).
The GOB/ Tony Wonder episode was brilliant as well, and surprisingly emotional by the end.
Posted by Jeff C. (Member # 12496) on :
I'm only on the fifth episode of the new season so far. It's decent, but I'm hoping it gets better.
Posted by Godric 2.0 (Member # 11443) on :
It does. There's a lot of set up in the first few episodes that you won't get until much later.
I'm kinda in awe of this season. I think it helps if you think of it as a sort of massive 8 hour episode broken up into "chapters."