Arrested Development, 12/05

Cafe Society
61

Nope, I didn’t. They had set it up absolutely perfectly. For the people who demand a rational explanation for everything (in a show where people fake pregnancies, people drive around in stair cars, British ethnic neighborhoods exist in Orange County, and seals bite off human hands), they’d already established that GOB had a trick planned involving water.

But the last scene was played perfectly – Michael’s going on about how he’s narcissistic and Rita says that doesn’t make any sense to her. Then she says, “you’re such a grown-up” and walks off across the pool. That’s what elevated it past make-fun-of-the-poor-dumb-retard humor into actually having something to say. A genuinely sweet message about just being happy instead of being bogged down in neuroses and worried about what other people are going to think.

It was all completely in character, too. They’d already shown how two of the only other characters who still have a trace of a soul left – Maeby and Lindsay – had been won over and were actually happy. But then as soon as they found out Rita was retarded, felt embarrassed like they’d been the butt of a joke, so Maeby has to change her love story and Lindsay has to take off her bridesmaid’s dress. George Michael saw through it all instantly, because he’s been forced to be the most mature of any of them.

Now, if they had just left it with GOB’s “No, that wasn’t my trick,” then that would’ve been schmaltzy. But if it’d just ended with Michael looking across the pool confused, it would’ve been a great moment. The “next on…” bit wasn’t terrible, it’s just that it’s the Arrested Development Formula: 1) defuse sentimental moment, 2) catch phrase from main character (‘it’s not a trick, it’s an illusion’), 3) reference video we’ve seen earlier in the episode, 4) Tobias screaming, 5) everyone’s back to being miserable, 6) comedy ensues.

It bugs me that they can’t just let a nice moment go without fear of being accused of “schmaltz,” they have to always short-circuit it. And the genius of the show is that sometimes they do the short-circuit a lot more cleverly: like in the first season, when George Michael and Michael are finally connecting as father and son over the cornballer, and Michael points out, “That’s a little cornball.”

62

Not when we have you as the…what’s the word?

63

Good. Sitcoms with sentiment have had their run, and now it’s time to put the comedy back into comedies. The way they killed the sentiment reminded me of Cheers, where every tender moment was just a setup for what was probably the best joke of the episode.

64

Good thing there isn’t, as this thread would have to be locked.

With invisible locks.

65

I think they would have made a huge mistake.

66

Was the first line a pun?

The second line is a reference to AD, but I was just about to post that the thread would be LOCKEd. :smiley:

67
  1. Good. Somebody wants sentiment? Well, there’s always a Friends rerun on somewhere.
  2. Catche phrases are one of the beautiful things about this show. “Her?” “I’ve made a huge mistake.” “The fact that you call making love ‘pop-pop’ lets me know you’re not ready for it.” Ilove how they always come back, oftentimes by a different character, sometimes referring to a different person or thing.
  3. That’s what this show does: flashback and foreshadow.
  4. Screaming funny, Michael.
  5. If everyone’s happy, there’s nothing to laugh at.
  6. I’m not gonna argue there.
    And the other over-the-top things you mention (driving a stair car, faking pregnancies, biting seals), are all over-the-top, but not supernatural. Every one of those things is explained. Rita walking on water needed to be explained too, otherwise I think too many viewers would’ve been yelling “COME ON!”
    Happy
68

I still don’t get the three houses of parliament bit, unless there’s some kinda mega-super-double-whoosh going on.

“The fact that you call it that tells me you are ready…” Heh. And Maebe realizing she’d have to rework Ocean Walker… cool.

69

I took it to mean that not only did Michael and Rita not know the number of Houses, but neither did the smug, all-knowing narrator.

I may have been whooshed.

70

I agree. To paraphrase the lead of the show, the reason Seinfeld worked is because no one ever learned a lesson, there was no room for “very special” episodes, and nothing was more important than whatever comedy they could pull out of a situation.

It would be a fatal error for the AD to try to elicit an “Awwwwwwww” from the audience. Full House filled that niche several times over.

71

Nor did the normally smart George Michael.

72

I thought the three houses thing was a joke on the narrator until George Michael repeated it. So I looked it up. Apparently the monarch is considered a House of Parliament. From here:

73

Anyone else think the three houses thing was the writers going, “Let’s think of the most useless nitpick that we can think of, and see if we can get the geeks to argue about on message boards.”

:smiley:

74

“I can’t even SEE half the locks!”

75

Then Michael went to climb in thru the window, and she opened the door and told him to hurry. He turned around, looked at her, and said…something(I can’t remember-laughing too hard).

76

No way. The whole point of the “Oceanwalker” joke with Maeby was that it’s precisely the type of simple-minded (heh!), sentimental dreck that audiences mistake for uplifting and magical. There is not, nor should there ever be, anything uplifting and magical about the Bluths.

Plus, “Why won’t my head go underwater?” is just gut-bustingly funny.

77

I’m so glad that the Rita subplot is over. But they ended it very well. The scene with Michael was nice, and I’m fine with AD being touching on occasion. I think it worked just fine: the scene was legitimately touching, and then she walks away, and I said “Aww, that’s like a little homage to Being There.” Then GOB said it wasn’t a trick, and I said “Wow, they really did that!?” And then “It’s an illusion,” where the whole thing explodes.

I agree, though, that they’re overdoing it with the callback lines. Sometimes they’re funny even when they’re unnecessary, but it can also be lazy.

Just for a minute, I thought “Oh no, when Michael breaks it off, she’s going to marry GOB!”

78

Well, I hope the writers of “Arrested Development” are listening. It doesn’t matter that they’ve shown a near-genius level of writing talent and have proven that they can make a series that is consistently hilarious and has jokes that work on multiple levels at once and has genuine continuity and real character development and can have farce, dick and pussy jokes, subtle political humor, religious satire, political humor, black humor, racist jokes, and referential in-jokes all in the same scene, much less the same episode.

That’s all well and good, but they shouldn’t get ahead of themselves or have any delusions of making anything other than comedy. They need only aspire to be the anti-“Blossom.” Because just saying “no hugs” and “no lessons” means you’re edgy.

And I didn’t know there was a show called “Cheers” other than the schmaltzy, formulaic, over-talky sitcom with Ted Danson that ran for 6 years longer than it should have.

Well I always thought that there was something TV writers were trying to do other than “not be ‘Friends.’” And I mistakenly thought “Arrested Development” was doing that, being funny on the quality of its writing and performances first. But apparently it’s funny and smart just because that thing he said that time is just like that thing he said that other time.

And people are saying it’s “Fox execs” and “Middle America” that are dumbing down intelligent television?

You know, you may just be right. I hadn’t thought about it from that angle – that the writers were talking “through” the bit with Maeby. And the message, if any, is that only a retard would think the ending was uplifting.

I’d be disappointed if that were the case, though, because it would’ve been a nasty, self-defeatist cop-out and a case of the writers shooting themselves in the foot for fear of looking dumb. And it would’ve been inconsistent with the show so far, which has always worked by showing that most of the Bluths are nasty, bitter, stupid, self-obsessed, dishonest, and mean-spirited people. And the show’s funny because we stand mostly outside and make fun of them, instead of just jumping right in and making fun of the retards and Japs and spics like they do. (Mitch Hourvitz put it a lot better on the DVD commentary, paraphrased: “We make fun of everybody equally, the white gays, the black gays, the hispanic gays…”)

79

There was a little sign next to the Poppin that had a little poem telling people to get out of the way, but I can’t remember it now.

IMO, the joke at the end didn’t take anything away from the truly touching end of the Michael-Rita relationship. I don’t think it pulled away from the sentimental moment at all; it just made yet another joke at Michael’s expense.

–Cliffy

80

Ron Howard was on Leno last night. I missed about a minute, right after a commercial break, but I didn’t hear the words “Arrested Development” said once. :frowning: