The highly anticipated fourth season of Arrested Development hasn’t even been in the world for two weeks and already fans have made it their own. We’re quoting it, meming it, creating merchandise based on it and now… completely altering it.
Creator Mitchell Hurwitz created a complex, labyrinthine story for the fourth season. It is told largely out of order to keep the audience guessing, and because he could rarely get his full cast together at the same time. Personally, I applauded the slow burn season as something truly special, but others found the new structure off-putting.
And so the Internet edited the fourth season of Arrested Development in chronological order. This is sure to be controversial, much like The Godfather Saga and later The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980, in which Francis Ford Coppola’s films were cut into one chronological run, or the Memento DVD edit, which reversed the film to remove all the surprises. And those were official, while this is not.
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The fourth season of Arrested Development was never meant to be the end. From its earliest conception, creator Mitchell Hurwitz said the fourth season was just a long recap and preamble to a movie. Now that the fourth season is out there, it’s no spoiler to say there are more than enough stories to populate not only a movie, but maybe even additional seasons.
Exactly what the future of Arrested Development will be after its fourth season debut is still unclear, but one of its major champions is on board to continue. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said though the company is currently contracted for only one season, he’d love to buy another season of the show if the talent is willing to come back. Read More »
Arrested Development has never done things by the book. From its very first episode on November 2, 2003, creator Mitchell Hurwitz and his cast made it clear they wanted to push the boundaries of comedy. Jokes were layered, complex and topical. Each character was daring in their own unique way. Every time you rewatched an episode, something new was revealed. The show was so smart, unconventional and groundbreaking that it was almost totally ignored, and Fox cancelled it after three seasons. Like most great art, it was under-appreciated in its time.
Seven years have passed since the third season of Arrested Development finished on February 10, 2006. Since then, the fanbase has grown by leaps and bounds. People continue to discover the show through word of mouth, home media, and through the increasing fame of its stars. On May 26, 2013, the unusually long hiatus ended when the cast and crew unveiled a highly anticipated fourth season on Netflix. Fifteen episodes were released all at once, totaling almost eight hours of brand-new content to continue the story of the family who lost everything and the one son who had no choice to keep them all together.
Keeping with the tone of the series, nothing about this fourth season is traditional. There’s a new structure, a new delivery system and a new spin on comedy. The jokes are sharp as always, but as the season unfolds the idea of consistent laughs becomes less important. The true pleasure in this latest season of Arrested Development is letting the labyrinthian narrative unspool in surprising ways. In comedy, it’s rare to be this hypnotized by a story. Read More »
All that’s missing is the voice of Ron Howard’s narrator, but otherwise everything you want from Arrested Development is here in the first trailer for the show’s fourth season. The primary cast (Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter) all make appearances, and there are some great jokes.
Actually, while the trailer stars slow, it builds a good head of steam fast, and there are a lot of great jokes. As soon as Buster hits the screen, it’s all systems go. Can it be May 26 now? (And also, seriously, where’s Ron Howard?) Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 by Angie Han
In today’s extra-cinematic edition of TV Bits, a film franchise gets adapted into television series, a classic show turns into a movie, and a certain brilliant-but-cancelled television series that’s been trying to get a big-screen sequel off the ground looks increasingly likely to make a temporary return to the small-screen. After the jump, read about:
- Hulu and IFC’s interest in new episodes of Arrested Development
- The big-screen adaptation of the classic talking horse series Mr. Ed
- The development of a series based on film franchise Universal Soldier
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Posted on Sunday, October 2nd, 2011 by Angie Han
Update: EW has confirmed that Showtime and Netflix are in talks with producers about airing the miniseries.
Keep holding out hope, Arrested Development fans. Five years after the series finale, creator Mitchell Hurwitz is still insisting that, yes, a movie based on the brilliant-but-cancelled sitcom is definitely in the works. And what’s more, he’s now hoping to do a nine- or ten-episode lead-in miniseries as well. Intriguing news indeed, but I don’t think I’ll be holding my breath. More details after the jump.
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Looks like development on that rumored Arrested Development movie will be pushed back once again. Mitchell Hurwitz, the creator of the classic canceled comedy, has just signed on to direct The Boss of It All, an American remake of a 2007 film of the same name by controversial director Lars von Trier. The film centers on a man who invents a fictional boss to blame for firing employees but then has to hire an actor to play that boss when the company is sold. Imagine and Universal have teamed up for the project, which will be executive produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Emma Forrest will write the script. Read more after the jump. Read More »
Saturday saw not one but two separate special events with Mitchell Hurwitz take place in Austin, Texas and luckily I had remote ears attending both. The first was a panel discussion called “The Art of Storytelling,” also featuring Ron Howard and Steve Zaillian, and the second was the clearly-titled “Conversation With Mitchell Hurwitz.” Both saw some talk of the upcoming Arrested Development film.
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