EWB TV Club Session #1 - Arrested Development

[Berober]

On the suggestion of mph, this is the discussion thread for the episodes of Arrested Development, so go bananas in here.

Episodes To Look At:

• Pilot
• Top Banana
• Bringing Up Buster
• Key Decisions
• Visiting Ours
• Charity Drive
• My Mother, the Car
• In God We Trust
• Storming the Castle
• Pier Pressure

Note: Thanks for being patient with me on this, the logistics when starting anything are always more effort than when we get into full swing, I promise

[MNM X Koofi e R-Truth]

I'm Mr. Manager.

Good suggestion, though. I'm gonna check this show out again. It's been about two years.

[Ruki]

Just watched the first episode...and man, Michael Cera is young!

Edit: Bwaha, ice cream sandwich to the face! And I feel sorry for George-Michael, young, confused, and in love with his cousin.

"Don't be afraid to ride her....hard."

I really like the actress who plays Lindsay. She is great in this AND Better Off Ted.

[LL!]

I really like the actress who plays Lindsay. She is great in this AND Better Off Ted.

She is a lesbian and married to Ellen DeGeneres. Boom. Just blew your mind to bits.

[apsham]

"There's always money in the banana stand."

[RPS]

I really like the actress who plays Lindsay. She is great in this AND Better Off Ted.

She is a lesbian and married to Ellen DeGeneres. Boom. Just blew your mind to bits.

Which makes her role on the show even funnier, with her husband being gay and her inability to have any normal sexual attraction from any man on the show.

[Ruki]

I really like the actress who plays Lindsay. She is great in this AND Better Off Ted.

She is a lesbian and married to Ellen DeGeneres. Boom. Just blew your mind to bits.

I actually knew that

[Meacon Keaton]

I really like the actress who plays Lindsay. She is great in this AND Better Off Ted.

She is a lesbian and married to Ellen DeGeneres. Boom. Just blew your mind to bits.

Which makes her role on the show even funnier, with her husband being gay and her inability to have any normal sexual attraction from any man on the show.

Tobias isn't gay! How many times...must he...have this...conver...

[Your Mom]

This is my first time really watching this. There have been some good funny moments but I'm not sure I'm sold yet. My favorite part so far is Ron Howard.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

This is one of my all-time favourite comedy series, and it gets FAR better than 'Pilot,' although there are some good lines to be found ("Illusions, Michael. A Trick is what a whore does for money.") 'Top Banana' is closer to the quality of the first season as a whole.

It helps that the series becomes increasingly self-referential, making references to and jokes about things that happened numerous episodes ago; or by making the same gag each show for a few weeks - in a Sideshow Bob stepping on the rakes way these gsgs are funny, then not-funny and then become funny again BECAUSE of the repetition.

Of course, you can't possibly know all this after just two episodes. If people stick with the whole series (or at least the first season) it may help to watch the early episodes again afterwards. Not only might you find things to laugh at that you missed the first time around, you're also much more likely to pick up on the initial reference to something they're still going to be joking about 10 episodes from now and it'll have gone completely over your head the first time around.

[Pizza]

It helps that the series becomes increasingly self-referential, making references to and jokes about things that happened numerous episodes ago; or by making the same gag each show for a few weeks - in a Sideshow Bob stepping on the rakes way these gsgs are funny, then not-funny and then become funny again BECAUSE of the repetition.

I actually watched the show out of order, and there's a whole bunch of gags that are designed to only make sense when you're rewatching them.

Such as...(Season 2 spoilers regarding Buster)

The foreshadowing of Buster losing his hand. Specifically when he gets his chair shaped like a hand back and says something to the effect of "I never thought I'd miss a hand this much". Not funny or even notable at all the first time you see it, hilarious once you know what happens.

[apsham]

There are things about Arrested Development that it took me years to realize - I forget what the most major one was, but the bit where Barry Zuckerkorn jumps over a shark just blew my mind when I realized.

[Ron]

It's weird re-watching the pilot after all this time. It's amazing how young George Michael is. And Tobias. Tobias is so fantastic.

As for Top Banana - George Sr. is always great in his prison scenes (NO TOUCHING). I love awkward George Michael and the George Michael/Maeby dynamic always pays off for laughs (I want you to stay on top of her, don't be afraid to ride her. HARD.)

And as mentioned before, re-watching it is interesting the things you don't notice at first that are part of the later episodes.

I dunno how much of a spoiler it is, but for instance in the two shower scenes with Tobias in Top Banana he's in his cut-off jeans. And it hasn't been mentioned yet about his being a never nude. I never noticed it until I just re-watched.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Ron

[Meacon Keaton]

I've gone through the whole series at least a dozen times, and have gone back and watched episodes out of order countless times, and I still find stuff every so often that I missed or that connects perfectly with something else. The show is absolutely brilliant like that.

[Guest mr. potato head]

Not entirely related to the first two episodes, but I've been wondering something about George Sr.'s character.

With Lucille, it's pretty obvious that she'll do anything to manipulate anybody (except George and Oscar) to get what she wants. Even when she's doing a motherly favour for her kids, there seems to be an undercurrent of "I'm only doing this because then they'll owe me a big one".

Is George the same way? Sometimes you get the feeling he has to be, but other times he shows a softer and more tender side (especially with Michael) that's convincing enough it makes me wonder if it's really legit. What do the rest of you think?

[Timmoru Suzuki]

I think that he genuinely loves Michael and Lindsay, and assuimg that doing something for them won't ENTIRELY fuck himself over then he will do what he can for them. Probably the same with George-Michael too. I don't believe sure he feels exactly the same way about GOB and Buster, but he isn't going to manipulate them for the hell of it either.

[Pizza]

I wasn't going to do this, but I decided to watch the pilot this morning. You can already see the running jokes pile up 5 minutes in.

Lucille saying "Good grief, I dipped into the kitty a couple of times" is two right there.

The writing and planning on this show is amazing.

[Skummy]

Not entirely related to the first two episodes, but I've been wondering something about George Sr.'s character.

With Lucille, it's pretty obvious that she'll do anything to manipulate anybody (except George and Oscar) to get what she wants. Even when she's doing a motherly favour for her kids, there seems to be an undercurrent of "I'm only doing this because then they'll owe me a big one".

Is George the same way? Sometimes you get the feeling he has to be, but other times he shows a softer and more tender side (especially with Michael) that's convincing enough it makes me wonder if it's really legit. What do the rest of you think?

I think, generally, George Sr. is too inept to be manipulative, and when he is, it's more out of a misguided morality than anything else - he wants to do the best for the company, and for his family, even if it involves lying and doing horrible things. So it's a little bit of both.

Obviously, there's the possibility that the softer, tender side is just another way of manipulating people - and that could well be true - but I think, especially in later seasons, there's definitely a change in the writing to make George more of a bumbling fool.

[Benji]

[Berober]

Okay, a week has passed, so I'm opening up the next two episodes for discussion, these are: Bringing Up Buster and Key Decisions