Another series of 'Arrested Development'... and a movie!

EPAndlee

Finished it today, didn't think it was that bad. Tobias and his way with words gave a few laughs like wise with Gob. Overall I think it's well overdue to pull the plug on this show

Roar

Penn wrote: »

Finished it earlier. Better than the first half of season 5, but still pretty bad for the most part. Maeby and Gob save it. Also, they must have rewrote a huge portion of it because the dubbing was beyond awful and there was so much of it, to the point I almost thought it would turn out to be a meta joke involving the Chinese.

It had a few laughs in it, but at this stage, it's time to end it.

Yeah the dubbing was abysmal. It was blatantly obvious. They were using complete different takes to what was being shown on screen.

I laughed a lot during the second lot of episodes. Still not classic AD but enjoyable nonetheless.

Biggest laugh for me was

The Guilty Guys. “You paid us to plead *not* guilty??”

Frank O. Pinion

There's always been (bad) dubbing in the show. Always.

"Best 17K Mom and Dad ever spent!" https://i.redd.it/eamfoxaumsm21.jpg

Pronouncing "God" as "Jode".

"Howard you like me now, Dad?"

There was some hilarious stuff this season.

The entirety of Michael being a suspect in Lucille 2's murder, beginning with the first episode of season 4, was building up to that moment where

his chicken dance

was finally revealed.

kerplun k

It’s an incoherent mess yet I still find myself laughing at some the lines.

Tobias‘s double entendres are still hilarious.

Will Arnett looks a hot mess which I think adds to Job as he looks more pathetic than ever and Lucille is always great.

It’s a dam shame too see how far this has falling.

Unfortunately I think this chicken has seen it’s last dance.

Penn

I think the main problem is with the first few seasons, it was ultimately about the families relationships with each other. Being thrown together and having to learn how to get along, fix grievances etc. Gob seeking Michael's approval. Michael trying to be a good father. Maeby's relationship with her parents. George & Lucille's relationship.

Now because of season 4 where they were all separated, the stories mainly revolve around their own stuff, occasionally intertwining but it's not about the Bluths, it's about the Bluths' individual stories. Their relationships with each other have become secondary, or in some cases non-existent.

I don't see how they could bring it back. To be honest, I'd prefer for Mitch Hurwitz to start a new show with a clean slate.

pixelburp

Yeah, there's way more "plot" in this series and it's meandering twaddle of the highest order.

I'm giving up myself; three episodes in and it's just so awful. Kinda sorry I pinged the thread to let folks know this was out

kerplun k

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

The entirety of Michael being a suspect in Lucille 2's murder, beginning with the first episode of season 4, was building up to that moment where

his chicken dance

was finally revealed.

Funniest part of the whole series. Probably the only bit I cracked up.

mloc123

kerplun k wrote: »

Will Arnett looks a hot mess which I think adds to Job as he looks more pathetic than ever and Lucille is always great.

He looks strange, bloated or something?

Penn

mloc123 wrote: »

He looks strange, bloated or something?

Just age I think. He barely looked like he'd aged between Seasons 3 and 4. I guess it hit him between Seasons 4 and 5. Started to look a lot more like Steve Holt

STEVE HOLT!

pixelburp

Yup, I think Arnett is just hitting middle-age a lot harder than the other cast. Bateman, Cross & Hale all look about the same, bar an extra line or two, ditto Tambor & Walter. DeRossi of course fought age through surgery. Alia Shawkat looks like a grown woman now - obviously - but it's quite jarring how much she has changed even between seasons 4 and 5.

mloc123

The series was okay, but the story is pretty disjointed and feels like it has gone on forever at this stage? Unsure what will happen next, I kinda hoped that they would wrap the entire thing up into a satisfactory ending.. but they didn't

Penn

mloc123 wrote: »

The series was okay, but the story is pretty disjointed and feels like it has gone on forever at this stage? Unsure what will happen next, I kinda hoped that they would wrap the entire thing up into a satisfactory ending.. but they didn't

I think they did in a way.

Michael finally learned that he's just as bad as the rest of them, so no longer feels obliged to stick around and save them from themselves. He's finally able to go off with George Michael and leave them behind. Aside from that, nearly everyone's relationships with each other are repaired and most of the stories have come to their conclusions (FakeBlock, Gob/Tony, the Chinese, Maeby in the old folk's home, whatever the f*ck Tobias' story has been for Season 5). Except now it's obvious Buster is legit crazy and will probably be going to jail for murder, but there's nowhere really for that story to go either.

I wouldn't say it's a satisfactory ending, but unlike most other seasons, it did have an ending, and it's why I think (hope) they'll leave it at that.

pixelburp

Finished it off this evening in a hurry, and yeah that was rubbish. So disappointing that a show once regarded as one of the great sitcoms has come to this. Hopefully that'll be that

Frank O. Pinion

pixelburp wrote: »

Finished it off this evening in a hurry, and yeah that was rubbish

You confined yourself to hating it, having it on as "background TV", even the Netflix seasons are not "background TV" and are full of great quotes.

"At least she never tried to sleep with any of my boyf-oh, no, wait, Steve Holt. Ah, but he's family."

Almost all of the stories colliding in one big "there's always money in the banana stand" call back.

Inside. Outside. Inside. Outside. What a great running (walking) gag.

I love that in the opening of S5E15 Lindsay is singing Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks on what is supposed to be her and Michael's 14th birthday. She's adopted though and is actually 3 years older than him, meaning she actually is 17 in the scene.

I said it before, but whole point of the Netflix seasons is Michael's chicken dance! The footage of it shown in season 5 is from when they filmed season 4.

"I'm the worst Bluth." "Oh Michael. GOB's the worst."

"Where is that from? Must be from South Park."

Buster: But Oscar and I are living in the attic. I mean that's because I'm a wanted man.
GOB: Well that's impossible, you weren't even a wanted child.

Season 5 definitely would have been received better if it released all at once. A lot of it is quite brilliant.

J. Marston

It's good and still snappier than 95% of sitcoms out there but the gap in quality between the Netflix seasons and the original three is large. Still enjoyed it though.

pixelburp

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

You confined yourself to hating it, having it on as "background TV", even the Netflix seasons are not "background TV" and are full of great quotes.
.

Ah g'way with you, if it makes you feel better I watched the episodes with full cognition and attention cos I had some spare time, but still found them poor. :rolleyes:

Still some great lines here and there for sure, but that's a far cry from the production line of gags the original run had going for it. 46 minutes for the last episode was a crazy length for a sitcom: and as someone here mentioned, the rambling plot was probably an offshoot of the disjointed 4th season, when the cast were split doing their own thing.

*Shrug* it's done, and that'll probably be it. The odd chuckle here and there but a lot of comedic radio silence too IMO.

Frank O. Pinion

pixelburp wrote: »

Ah g'way with you, if it makes you feel better I watched the episodes with full cognition and attention cos I had some spare time, but still found them poor. :rolleyes:

pixelburp wrote: »

Watched the first episode from that back half and bloody hell, it was torture. Think this has become relegated to a show left burbling in the background while I do something else.

The value of someone's opinion who's not evening properly watching the show is worthless. You would have missed loads of jokes and funny lines. You had already judged the show based on season 4 and the first half of season 5. If you don't like the show anymore, fine, but I'm debating the point that it was "rubbish", when there was a MASSIVE amount of funny lines and ideas. I still found the show hilarious. Debate the things I quoted. Are they not funny? If you don't enjoy some of them, the show is simply not for you.

G'way with you.

kerplun k

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

The value of someone's opinion who's not evening properly watching the show is worthless. You would have missed loads of jokes and funny lines. You had already judged the show based on season 4 and the first half of season 5. If you don't like the show anymore, fine, but I'm debating the point that it was "rubbish", when there was a MASSIVE amount of funny lines and ideas. I still found the show hilarious. Debate the things I quoted. Are they not funny? If you don't enjoy some of them, the show is simply not for you.

G'way with you.

The only thing your killing is my battery.

But in all seriousness, I’d echo what most of what Pixel said and I did give the show my undivided attention.

There’s no two ways about it, season 4 & 5 were a hot mess.

Frank O. Pinion

kerplun k wrote: »

There’s no two ways about it, season 4 & 5 were a hot mess.

Definitely not as good as the first three seasons, no, but just not as bad as some reviews and people online make it seem. Plenty of funny stuff, bizarre to label the whole thing "rubbish" or "torture".

pixelburp

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

The value of someone's opinion who's not evening properly watching the show is worthless. You would have missed loads of jokes and funny lines. You had already judged the show based on season 4 and the first half of season 5. If you don't like the show anymore, fine, but I'm debating the point that it was "rubbish", when there was a MASSIVE amount of funny lines and ideas. I still found the show hilarious. Debate the things I quoted. Are they not funny? If you don't enjoy some of them, the show is simply not for you.

G'way with you.

You're reading way too much into a flippant attempt at comedy / hyperbolic comparison that the show is far from ... whatever the TV equivalent of unputdownable is. Season 5 was baggy, overlong, badly paced and often, simply not funny (eg, everything with Dusty, Gobs stammering and gay panic lines, George Snrs insecurity, the entire of Tobias' scenes, double entendres notwithstanding). Made more frustrating because the season 4 redux, 22 minute runtime n all, worked brilliantly and made the fourth season retroactively work better.

Yes I have watched the entirety of season 5.2, fully attentive to its jokes or threads, and still found it wanting. Lucille was still on form - especially any scenes with Michael as was often the case in the original run - but like I said, a scattering of good lines didn't make the overall experience enjoyable.

Let's agree to disagree here because you're being weirdly over intense about a AD fan simply finding this new season ... well yes, a bit rubbish. This show is for me, I love it dearly and those first 3 seasons are some of the best TV comedy written, but *shrug* it all felt a bit tired.

Frank O. Pinion

Look, you said it was "background TV", you weren't giving it your full attention, etc. But now you're saying those comments weren't true. I can't read your mind, I just felt the need to point out watching AD that way, even new Netflix AD, is a terrible disservice to the show, because there's still a mountain of jokes and quick lines every episode.

I'm not trying to be weird or intense, I'm discussing enjoyment and quality of the new season. But if you want to proclaim watching the new episodes is "torture" AND have no one challenge your statements? Okay...have fun talking to yourself.

mloc123

There were great jokes, lines and scenes in season five... but it was how they were packaged together that is the problem IMO. Still better than most sitcoms today tho, at least the humour is clever.

Autecher

Finished this today, I think the second half of season 5 is better than the first half. Does anyone know if they filmed them all together then split the season up or was the season split because they could only get the cast for certain times? The scene where

Buster tries to do a surprise out of the elevator only for his hand to get caught in the doors had me in tears

then

when Buster gets arrested but Gob thinks it's a surprise for him and starts singing the instrumental to Final Countdown, that made me fall off the couch with laughter

JP Liz V1

Jessica Walter has passed away at the age of 80

RIP

pixelburp

Shoot, that's said. Such a fabulous performer on AD, she stole so many scenes throughout the run.

deisedude

Sad to hear of her passing. She was absolutely brilliant as Lucille

kerplun k

Angron

I really enjoyed her in both Archer and AD. Didn't realise she was as old as 80.

loyatemu

sad news, her performances on AD were superb. As a tribute I'll be having a vodka on the rocks, with my breakfast tomorrow.

Penn

loyatemu wrote: »

sad news, her performances on AD were superb. As a tribute I'll be having a vodka on the rocks, with my breakfast tomorrow.

Have a banana with it. I mean how much could one banana cost? $10?

RIP. Her performance is one of those where you can't imagine anyone else ever playing the role as well.