Arrested Development - Season 4 incoming!

Finished the season. One thing that kind of hurts the earlier episodes is how many of the jokes don't pay off until later episodes in the season... some even in the last episodes. For instance, there is a Gob joke in the first episode that doesn't get an explanation or payoff until like the 4th to last episode. I know the series is known for running jokes tho but many of the early episode's jokes just don't have any context and thus you can't find them funny which is probably why so many people say the later episodes are better. And they are.

The last 2 episodes and the Gob episodes are by far the best. Laughed a lot during those.

I'm on episode 5 and I'm having to force myself to keep going. This is a perfect example of why things like this don't work. It has the potential to ruin the good memories people had of the show.

@osaladin:

I have to disagree. Season 4 fantastic. I'm laughing my ass off. Arrested Development is back and its way edgier than before.

It's okay. The format of the show as it stands doesn't support the multiple timeline thing. I found myself losing track of the time period at which the current moment was in. It would hop from current to 10 minutes ago to 5 years ago to Michael(if he wasn't the central character) for a couple minutes and then go back to the current time period. I just lost track. Also, not enough Buster or Tobias, but I suppose anything with Buster is hard to do without completely retreading. It's entertaining, but incoherent at times.

Episode 6 right now, loving every minute of it.

I didn't have too big of expectations, I just wanted that AD humor again, wrapped up in the AD atmosphere and pacing, and I'm getting just that! Laughed or smiled several times, this season is shaping up well as I go forward.

The episodes being about the individual characters seemed offputting at first, but they strung the different stories together splendidly and hilariously!

I've finished the season, and this is a classic case of 'Be careful what you wish for'. It's not all bad, by any means, but even when it's good it's not great, not the great of the original show. To be brief, the first half of the season really is weak in terms of story and script, though I appreciate the sterling efforts of the cast to make the material work. It's obvious that everyone involved is really fond of the show and the characters, and the enthusiasm is never lacking (special shout out for Jessica Walter as Lucille). I can only echo other people in saying that the fractured timeline is simply confusing, and the individual focus, whether out of necessity or not, drives home the point that the Arrested Development cast really is greater than the sum of its parts.

Still, it's not all bad, and there are glimpses of the old magic, particularly for me in Maebe's episode and Gob's Tony Wonder storyline, which seemed like the least forced of them all (all those Ron Howard sections? Urgh!). It seems like the possibility of a future is there, and whether or not I believe the show should have been resurrected in the first place, I'm glad that its unique voice is being heard once again.

I started to really laugh out loud in the later episodes. It took a little forcing in some episodes, but in the end I still enjoyed it. I don't agree with the way they ordered a few things because it gets really confusing if you don't pay full attention to the show or miss something. I have no problem that nothing in sequential and I understand why it had to be this way, but it got confusing a couple of times because something else got my attention.

Have to say the new season felt super disjointed. I did however enjoy the last 3 or 4 episodes.

I finished it the other day and I agree that it was pretty fantastic. It does start a bit slow though. Primarily because the family isn't really together all that much in the first few episodes. Trust me, right around episode 5 is when it started to return to its original form. Also, the cameos were largely lost on me as someone who isn't that big into movies. I still can't tell if Seth Rogen playing George Sr. was supposed to be terribly bad or if it was actually was just terribly bad. I felt the latter when I watched it though.

I enjoyed the first episode, then the following episodes were a bit confusing and the jokes weren't making me laugh that much. The Tobias episodes were fantastic though! It really picked up towards the end though when they started making sense of all the nonsense from the first episodes. The last 4-5 episodes were great.

Also, there has to be another season or a movie after that ending. Right?

I just finished it last night, and it does certainly get better towards the end, but I still believe they messed up on the majority of this season. I can honestly say I didn't laugh out loud until George-Michael's episode.

I didn't like how we didn't get more than 2 minutes of Buster until the second-to-last episode!

I thought the first episode was pretty great, the whole voting situation was really well done. After that it was pretty boring until episode 5ish.

"I'm a fan of his Company"

@zombie2011: If anything, I just want to re-watch from season 1 to remind me why I love this show so much.

Just watched it and the thing I worried about the most happened, it's mediocre. Not horrible, but far away from the brilliance it was in it's first 3 seasons. I hated that young Lucille and George was played by different actors, because that didn't happen in the first 3 seasons. Michael actually looked really stupid at parts, wasn't he supposed to be the only one in the family with some sense? I hated how they remixed the theme song. I hated the new format of just following one person per episode. And all in all it wasn't nearly as funny, at times it was just spewing out references and that way trying to make us laugh, but those references were so easy to spot. You could go back to the first seasons and still find something new in the episodes, despite watching them more than a few times. Also, the first 2 episodes are horrible. Maybe I'm just being too negative, but I loved the first 3 seasons so much and actually would be happier if this season didn't exist.

I finally finished Season 4 and came away satisfied. It certainly wasn't perfect and had some stale moments, but was a lot more enjoyable than I expected. Also, they have to continue this right? They intentionally left things unresolved for a reason, right? To be honest, I would've been completely satisfied if the show ended with George Mahar...Michael punching his Dad in the face. I was completely under the assumption this was to end the Bluth family's story. Well, I'd certainly welcome another season or maybe a Movie. We'll see I guess.

They're still doing that film sequel to season 4 right?

I finished it yesterday, it started fairly slow but the last half was up to the standards of the past seasons, I hope the movie comes out soon.

I think this will be very interesting to rewatch, I'd also like to see someone cut it into one long episode with everything in order, with the amount of content that is reused episode to episode I'd be surprised if there was more than 4-5 hours of original content here.