Arrested Development
- Thread starter Maggot
- Start date
El Sueno
Dabbler
I've been following this one from the beginning, good old BBC scheduling... they get a hot US import and bury it. No publicity, it just slides into view at 11.40pm on a Sunday night - just like Larry Sanders used to. And talking of Larry - Hank's in this too!
I love this show, it makes me laugh out loud every single week. Series one DVD is out and it's well worth buying cos you can watch these episodes again and again, the quality of the gags and the acting is about as good as it gets.
I love this show, it makes me laugh out loud every single week. Series one DVD is out and it's well worth buying cos you can watch these episodes again and again, the quality of the gags and the acting is about as good as it gets.
Thunderponce
Vibrating Bum-Faced Goat
I'm still laughing about stuff on last nights episode of this. Its fast becoming one of my fave comedies ever.
As said here previously, why do BBC2 hide it away in the schedules like Larry Sanders or Curb Your Enthusiam.
Mind you, maybe it reflects the tastes of the Great British Public (TM) - utter shit like Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps gets 5 series, and Curb Your Enthusiam can't even get arrested on terrestial telly, and is mucking hard to find on cable an all.
As said here previously, why do BBC2 hide it away in the schedules like Larry Sanders or Curb Your Enthusiam.
Mind you, maybe it reflects the tastes of the Great British Public (TM) - utter shit like Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps gets 5 series, and Curb Your Enthusiam can't even get arrested on terrestial telly, and is mucking hard to find on cable an all.
Is Curb Your Enthusiasm showing on C4? I thought it was on BBC2?
Anyway, AD is not just funny, it's laugh out loud funny. The voiceover is Jason Bateman and it works really well as it's ironic. Fabulous series, just as good as series 1.
Who's the best in it - Gob (proncounced Jobe), the failed magician...genius
Anyway, AD is not just funny, it's laugh out loud funny. The voiceover is Jason Bateman and it works really well as it's ironic. Fabulous series, just as good as series 1.
Who's the best in it - Gob (proncounced Jobe), the failed magician...genius
andy2002
To the Bat-poles!
Maggot said:
Friends is just sanitised Seinfeld. They've taken the same 'bunch of kooky mates' idea and filled it with sexier, younger characters who are supposedly a bit more likeable and bit less dysfunctional.
That said, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is more attractive than Kudrow, Aniston and Cox put together.
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
Academically Friends is a funny TV show - as in from a technical 'How to write comedy' perspective so you're simply re-stating a subjective opinion here.
Besides which there are millions upon millions of people around the world who disagree with you on this issue, me among them so your protestations are as nought.
And both you and Andy are wrong - Seinfeld is predicated on the whole notion that nothing at all happens to any of the characters in any episode. There are no long term plot arcs, or development based on character interaction. 'Friends' is an ensemble comedy that covers off all the main bases covering farce, slapstick, satire and parody, bathos and parthos with several major character storylines that ran over multiple seasons (altho I do agree that 'The Season Which Was All About Monica's Wedding' wasn't that good).
My guess is that all the critiscisms come down to 'they're a bunch of cute, smug Americans' rather than the scriptwriting, acting etc. I don't mind engaging on that level but this 'they're pretty americans/it's just like Seinfeld' rubbish isn't criticism, it's opinion (and inaccruate opinion at that)
And Janeanne Garafalo is much better looking than JL-D.
andy2002
To the Bat-poles!
kyser_soze said:
I'm not sure that contradicts what I say at all. The structure of Friends and Seinfeld are very different, but that doesn't alter the notion that the former show was clearly inspired by the latter's premise of a 'kooky ensemble doing wacky things together'. All the makers of Friends did was make a more air-brushed version of Seinfeld – attractive stars, a singalong theme tune, soapy storylines, hugs and morals replacing Seinfeld's mix of misanthropy, immorality and cynicism. Friends may be the flipside of Seinfeld, but is still clearly influenced by it.
I'm sure it's something Larry David has commented on before so it's hardly an idea that has been imported from the realms of fantasy.
I thought Friends was often very funny, just not in the same league as Seinfeld, or, for that matter, Arrested Development, CYE or Larry Sanders.
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
So Shakespeare can be laid open to criticism for writing 4 plays where the central theme is the tragic flaw of the hero which had already been done to death by the Greeks?
This idea has been around as long as comedy mate - go back to Greece and you'll find ensemble comedy pieces revolving around a bunch of dissaffected/nihilisitic characters. To claim that Seinfeld somehow invented the ensemble piece in comedy is way, way off. Cheers was an ensemble comedy with the same premise - the key differentiating factor in Seinfeld was that 'it's a show where nothing happens'.
And to criticise something because it's been influenced by another comedy is bunkum
IMO Friends at it's best is very much up there with Seinfeld and co, but one thing it is worth bearing in mind is that Friends humour is far more universal - I've got more than a few friends who can't stand Seinfeld and love friends simply because they find the characters easier to relate to and not as narcissisitic as Seinfeld.
Sorry - I'm a really big Friends fan and I'm happy to debate actual criticism of the show, but not the more usual 'They're American and cute therefore it's shite' opinion usually offered around here.
andy2002
To the Bat-poles!
In replying to my posts you seem to be debating things I haven't actually said. Saying Friends is influenced by Seinfeld isn't a criticism – everything is influenced by something and I liked Friends. Also, nowhere do I suggest that Seinfeld 'invented ensemble comedy', just that it was extraordinarily good at it.
All this stuff you say about Friends being more universal kind of makes my point for me – Friends is a feelgood spin on Seinfeld populated with good looking characters and a rosier outlook on life. Again, it's Seinfeld's flipside. That's all I'm saying – oh, and that Seinfeld is the better show, obviously.
The idea that Seinfeld is a 'show about nothing' was really just a clever way of marketing it but doesn't really stand up to closer scrutiny. Of course Seinfeld is about 'something' – the alienation/isolation of big city life, the breakdown of community, misanthropy, the idea that we might not actually like the people we hang out with, the crushing awfulness of most relationships, the tedium of everyday life. Take your pick!
All this stuff you say about Friends being more universal kind of makes my point for me – Friends is a feelgood spin on Seinfeld populated with good looking characters and a rosier outlook on life. Again, it's Seinfeld's flipside. That's all I'm saying – oh, and that Seinfeld is the better show, obviously.
The idea that Seinfeld is a 'show about nothing' was really just a clever way of marketing it but doesn't really stand up to closer scrutiny. Of course Seinfeld is about 'something' – the alienation/isolation of big city life, the breakdown of community, misanthropy, the idea that we might not actually like the people we hang out with, the crushing awfulness of most relationships, the tedium of everyday life. Take your pick!
El Sueno
Dabbler
Jayshat said:
He's my favourite - brilliant character. I love his little whizzer he flies around on, and hearing 'The Final Countdown' every time he does a magic turn...
Plus anything with Jeffrey 'Hank' Tambor in it is always worthwhile. Now if I could just stop having naughty thoughts about Maeby...
El Sueno said:He's my favourite - brilliant character. I love his little whizzer he flies around on, and hearing 'The Final Countdown' every time he does a magic turn...
Plus anything with Jeffrey 'Hank' Tambor in it is always worthwhile. Now if I could just stop having naughty thoughts about Maeby...
The Final Countdown...lol
Poof! magazine...lol
I'm getting to quite like AD now. It's light, not laugh-out-loud stuff but very quick and consistent. I do value speed in comedies, where they don't labour on jokes and simply say catchphrases again and again (I'm looking in your direction Lucas and Walliams). It's similar to Scrubs in the way that it's based around the central character who's vageuly normal and their reactions, voiceovered, to the various weirdos they're with. I do love Scrubs though, especially Dr. Cox.
For current US sit-coms Malcolm In The Middle deserves a mention because it's just such slick, family fun. Also Lois is so much like my Mum it's scary.
Finally in C4's trailers for their new digital channel there's a very brief shot of Larry David which leads me to think they might finally show some CYE.
For current US sit-coms Malcolm In The Middle deserves a mention because it's just such slick, family fun. Also Lois is so much like my Mum it's scary.
Finally in C4's trailers for their new digital channel there's a very brief shot of Larry David which leads me to think they might finally show some CYE.
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
'COME ON!!!!'
Arrested Development just hits the nail on the head for me.
The cast of Friends always look like they're trying too hard. Curb always seems a bit slow & claustrophobic, Scrubs just seems to be whacky for the sake of it.....
But Arrested Development - definitely one to savour on DVD, especially in light of it's treatment by the BBC schedulers. They really should be horsewhipped, y'know.
The cast of Friends always look like they're trying too hard. Curb always seems a bit slow & claustrophobic, Scrubs just seems to be whacky for the sake of it.....
But Arrested Development - definitely one to savour on DVD, especially in light of it's treatment by the BBC schedulers. They really should be horsewhipped, y'know.
The whole premise of a group of thirty-somethings lives taking place more or less all in a Manhattan apartment and coffee shop. Except the Friends characters struggle for one dimension between them when the four in Seinfeld are from right across the board. What Friends did was rip-off the basis of Seinfeld and sugar-coat it, taking no risks whatsoever for fear of offending anyone or testing the viewer's capacity. What is truly disgraceful is the way that British channel treat Seinfeld, with once very late nights and now nothing. This was the biggest sit-com ever in the States, far bigger than Friends, prompting magazines to wonder what the country was supposed to do when it finished.
I think I may have a new favourite episode of Seinfeld. It's always been The Soup Nazi but I've watched The Note a few times and it's great. George gets a massage from a man and gets very worried because "it moved".
I think I may have a new favourite episode of Seinfeld. It's always been The Soup Nazi but I've watched The Note a few times and it's great. George gets a massage from a man and gets very worried because "it moved".
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
AND...it has the huge benefit of a 'Hey, I've had a meal' Portia di Rossi as a true Californian kook...
'I have an open relationship with my husband, altho neither of us have had sex with anyone else yet'
'I have an open relationship with my husband, altho neither of us have had sex with anyone else yet'
strung out
💩 🤣 🍆 💦 🧐 👻 🐝 🐈⬛
Just discovered this after my housemate got hold of the season one boxset. Absolutely hilarious I keep changing my mind on who my favourite character is, but I think I love them all especially, Tobias... and Buster... and Gobe... and Michael... and especially Portia di Rossi's character 
I keep changing my mind on who my favourite character is, but I think I love them all especially, Tobias... and Buster... and Gobe... and Michael... and especially Portia di Rossi's character 
Skim
Well-Known Member
Finally, I discover Arrested Development 
I can't get enough of this show – watched five in a row last night. Each character really earns their keep and the show moves at such a cracking pace that no scene ever outstays its welcome.
Tobias Funke – the never-nude "actor" in cut-offs – had me in stitches
I watched a couple of episodes a few weeks ago and didn't find it that hilarious at first, but gave it another chance because it took me a little while to get into Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I grew to love. I'd put Arrested Development up there withl Curb as one of the funniest US comedies I've seen.
I can't get enough of this show – watched five in a row last night. Each character really earns their keep and the show moves at such a cracking pace that no scene ever outstays its welcome.
Tobias Funke – the never-nude "actor" in cut-offs – had me in stitches
I watched a couple of episodes a few weeks ago and didn't find it that hilarious at first, but gave it another chance because it took me a little while to get into Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I grew to love. I'd put Arrested Development up there withl Curb as one of the funniest US comedies I've seen.
Skim
Well-Known Member
Look what Alef just sent me – a link for never-nude sufferers, which afflicts dozens of people around the world
Never Nude
Never Nude
Similar threads
