TV can be a cruel mistress. There have been a handful of shows whose genius was realized too late. Low viewer ratings and cancellations have taken away some great shows before everyone has a chance to truly appreciate them (on the other hand, there are shows that have never been good that have been around for FAR too long-- I'm looking at you CBS). Arrested Development is one of those shows. It was too smart for a 2003 audience. Had the show been released in the 20-teens, it would've soared and assumedly been one of the highest rated shows on television. But, alas, lovers of the show only got three (more like two and a half) seasons of one of the smartest and funniest shows ever created. I've been an Arrested D fan for as long as I can remember. What's great about the show is that it has a very high re-watch value because of how intelligent and intricate its writing is. Each subsequent viewing of previous seasons-- there's something new to catch. There's subtle jokes you can miss having watched the seasons as often as even I have. There's callbacks missed. Easter eggs discovered. It's like watching a new show each time. Hell, it's one of those shows where it's difficult to pick a favorite character because they're all so uniquely amazing (and terrible) that you're unable to leave anyone out of the favorites list.
So, when Netflix announced five years ago that they'd acquired the rights to the show and were planning on releasing a new season, all the fans that had turned the show into a cult following rejoiced. However, due to the popularity of nearly everyone in the cast, getting everyone's schedules to fit into filming another season of the show became problematic. The creators found a somewhat clever way around this-- to change up the format of the show. Each show's format centralized on the main character, Michael (Jason Bateman), and the absurdity of the chaos the rest of his family creates in his everyday life. This is how it was for the first three seasons. The family dynamic is what made the show so great. Now, with everyone's celebrity booming, the new structure had dedicate its episodes to only one character at a time with other characters crossing over only briefly and generally never more than one crossover per episode. By the end of the season, the seemingly random episodes have all collided into one large narrative that would take a hundred viewings in order to piece together and make fully coherent. This was not really the problem with Season 4. The show has always had a bit of an esoteric approach to the arc of each season and that's what makes re-watching them so much fun. The problem with the season was separating the characters.
The beauty of Arrested Development was watching each of the characters interact. Each character's flaws have something to do with how others in the family view them and treat them (and how they were raised). Each scheme concocted by every character influenced and wrecked other characters on the show. When one character decides he/she has had enough and finally stands up for him/herself, it inevitably leads to a catastrophe for another character. These interwoven stories were what brought the best comedy. Plus the fact that this cast had some of the best chemistry in television history. In the last twenty years, I would say the only rival for cast chemistry to Arrested D is The Office. And while the season wasn't a complete failure... it didn't FEEL like classic Arrested D. The jokes became more funny in concept than in execution. The farcical narrative was funny "if you think about it" and not laugh-out-loud funny. The new characters in each episode were able to contribute to the nature of the show, but didn't hold a candle to the old formula. There's a reason the character of Michael is the focal point of most episodes because some of the characters are BETTER as side characters. Gob doesn't have enough character weight to be able to lead two full half hour episodes alone. Neither does Lindsay. Or Buster. Or Tobias. And that's what they tried to do. And while I didn't hate Season 4 of the show... because, come on, it's Arrested Development and I'll take what I can get while I can get it... when re-watching the seasons several times over the past five years, I always attempted to watch Season 4, but each time gave up after a couple of episodes.
This is why what creator Mitchell Hurwitz decided to do before the release of Season 5 this month, is remix the season to give it more of a structure like the first three seasons. Because he's literally the only human being on the planet who would be able to put more of a linear storyline together out of Season 4, the show now feels like the classic episodes of the earlier seasons. Instead of 13 individual episodes featuring one singular character as the focal point for thirty plus minutes, it's now 22 episodes with interweaving storylines at about 22 minutes a pop. And it's much better. Even through the majority of the season the family isn't all together and you can tell how each separate character's stories played out-- they're interspliced with the other stories and it FEELS like the older episodes. Instead of watching Lindsay's thirty minute solo story, we get to see what's happening with Tobias and Michael and George Michael and Gob throughout the episode. And, by doing this, we can follow the overall season-wide narrative a lot more clearly. Now, some of the laughs that were only funny in concept, are a little more laugh-out-loud worthy. I found myself chuckling while watching this remix of Season 4 than I ever did watching it the way it was originally released.
If you weren't a fan of the way the creators pulled off Season 4 originally, I would say give this re-edited season a chance. I'm not saying it's strong enough to live up to par as the previous three because it is still the weakest season of them all-- but it's not as weak as it used to be. It's a lot more fun to watch and the way it's presented now almost tricks your brain into believing that all the characters were in the same episode together (even though none of them really ever interact with one another). Also, it gives those solo episodes that were on the weaker side and lacking comedy, a bit more funny while interspliced with episodes that had more comedic weight. Overall, I think it was a great decision for Hurwitz to try this experiment because what we've been given now is a better product-- one that feels a lot more Arrested Development than it did. Another positive to take from this is that Hurwitz actually LISTENED to what fans of the show had to say about it. He took their criticisms as constructive and hopefully carries that over into Season 5.
No matter how strong or weak Netflix's first foray into the world of Arrested D is... it's still one of my all time favorite comedy shows and I genuinely can not wait until the 5th season arrives. There hasn't been a specific date announced as of yet, but it's been confirmed that it will be released sometime this month in May. I assume Netflix and Hurwitz will wait a few weeks for the fans to catch up with the show and get an opportunity to watch the remix of Season 4 (that had to have taken more time to re-edit than it did to film and write) and be fully prepared for an all new season.
Until then, Happy Cinco De Quatro, everybody!
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