Arrested Development is overrated and not funny.

Cafe Society
81

So, it is resolved. Community rocks.

I’ve been a big fan of Joel McHale via The Soup for many years, and I was excited to finally see him star in a sitcom of his own (and Alison Brie swoon being involved helped, too), but very much came into the show with tempered expectations. IIRC, the first episode or two were a little slow in starting, but once it took off, it took off and far exceeded all expectations I had, combining some of the types of humor from AD that I liked with a somewhat more mainstream sitcom approach with characters you can empathize with.

82

OK. You’ve convinced me to give 30 Rock one last go-around. I’ve been told it’s important to start right from the beginning. Thoughts? I think the last time I tried, I just picked up at the beginning of Season 2 or something like that. I half-heartedly watched through three or four episodes, before giving up. Perhaps I started in the wrong place.

83

Well, it helps (hurts) that I dislike most of the actors on AD, and actively loathe the rest.

84

I think that is what it is about AD, The Office and 30 Rock that doesn’t work for me. If I don’t generally like the characters, I don’t care about them. I got tired of Seinfeld after 4-5 years as they became ever worse humans and I really enjoyed the early years. I mean the show needs to appeal to my sense of humor, but the AD characters were not people I liked on my few viewings. Even Earl with its criminal dumbass element had people that seemed nicer overall. (Except for Joy but any show can have a Joy or two. Loved Louie on Taxi but he was nearly evil.)

85

The first handful of episodes started slow. If you go from the beginning, keep watching until the poker game. (Maybe episode 3?) If it still hasn’t clicked for you by then, it’s probably not for you. Maybe give it one more episode to say you gave it every chance and then wash your hands of it.

86

It seems like this thread has been dead for a while but I just happened to stumble on it and thought maybe I’d offer my two cents:

From what I’ve seen from a lot of people who dislike AD, a big notion that they question is the claim that it is “The most intelligent comedy on TV,” going on to quote jokes such as: “I just blue myself” or the “She’d best watch her mouth” joke as being childish, silly, and certainly not intelligent. And while I agree with the first two adjectives, I think that there is a misunderstanding where one hears that the show is intelligent and then goes in looking for intellectual humor. I think a good contrast between intelligent humor and intellectual humor is actually offered by comparing Arrested Development with Big Bang Theory. Big Bang Theory has intellectual humor, but not intelligent humor (the jokes often use niche intellectual references to work and the writers obviously have a legitimate understanding of high science and mathematics as well as geek culture and literature [based on what I’ve seen], but the comedy itself isn’t intelligent as it is quite conventional: it uses common tropes [fish out of water, dysfunctional families, misunderstandings] and never pushes the form or gets too complex). Arrested Development I would argue is the opposite, it never deals with any type of intellectual subject matter, but the comedy itself is extremely complex [having set-ups getting paid off episodes or even seasons later, small references that one can’t get until a second or third rewatch, constant meta and self-referential humor] and is often inventive in the way it tells jokes [having the characters and the narrator interact without knowing it, filling out the world by having the background comment on the action]. So I think that one can easily make an argument that it’s not an intellectual show, but I’d find it more difficult to argue that the comedy in it is not very intelligently woven.

As if that ramble wasn’t enough, I just wanted to touch on one more thing: the charge that it’s predictable. I’m slightly tempted to agree…but only to a point. I think there’s a fine line between being predictable and using comedic payoff. It’s very true that if you watch the first five minutes, everything that is eventually going to happen by the end of the episode will have been foreshadowed or set up, but that’s also a principle of good storytelling (and it’s even more important in comedy). If there’s no setup for what will be coming, there’s no payoff or feeling of satisfaction by the end and there’s a deus-ex-machina feel to the whole thing. One of the things that I think was very strong in AD was that rather than making comedy by a constant series of one-off jokes or adding on of new complications, they take one joke or one premise or one character and stretch them to the limit (and, admittedly, sometimes beyond) over the course of an episode, or a season, or even the series (chicken dance). So as far as the meta-references or predicted endings, usually the way I think that stuff should be judged is by whether or not it also made sense in the context it was used. In Lord of the Flies, for instance, the whole novel can be read as a straightforward tale of boys turning against each other when deserted on an island, or as an allegorical tale of how wars start, countries manifest, etc. The beauty of that novel is that both aspects work and never seem to compromise the other: the plot never seems to move in an illogical direction just to feed the allegory, and the allegory never seems to stretch in order to serve the plot. That’s the same way I feel with many of the references in AD: Henry Winkler jumping over the shark in season 2 makes sense in the scene, but it also is meta-referential, same with Buster trying to hurt himself when the house is falling but ending up slipping through the window.

Sorry, I’ve gone on long enough. Just wanted to engage as a comedy geek.

87

This thread seems to have been dead for a while, but considering the imminent revival of AD, I hope it can become a place again for those who do NOT think AD is “God’s Gift to TV Sitcoms” to bond, get things explained to them, or engage in lively debate with the rabid believers over the merits of AD.

Here is my issue with the show:

It is just too unbelievable. But in a really really bad and stupid way.

Ok look, yes, I think that the show is funny in terms of slapstick humor, word play, situational irony, etc. Things like “I blue myself,” or “blah blah blah law blag,” are funny, and if you pay attention and are intelligent you should get those, the meta-humor, and laugh.

HOWEVER.

If you are in fact intelligent and attentive to the show, other serious flaws should pop blazingly out at you. FOR EXAMPLE the fact that nearly every part of the show makes absolutely no rational sense. And not just minor details… but entire plot lines, character developments, decisions made by characters, and in aggregate, the way the world works in the fictional reality of AD. Now look, I will agree that a little bit of deviation from reality (bending of the rules) is ok in TV shows because, well, it’s TV! But when everything is based on a world without rules, well shit! It is just stupid!

I am not going to give specific examples because I could go on for days talking about the irrationality of the plot and the characters. But I will say this: It seems to me that the plot of AD is derived from the humor, and not the other way around. It is like the writers came up with a clever play on words and then tried to figure out a way to contrive a plot to fit that quip. This is backwards and just kind of dumb.

People call this “intelligent humor” or rave about AD being the “smartest comedy sitcom,” but I would argue there is nothing overly intelligent about coming up with cheeky quips in a fictional world where anything is possible because the characters are built stupid or selfish enough to do anything (BUSTER, JOB, TOBIAS, LINDSAY, POP-POP, LUCIEL) and the world has no real consequences no matter what they do.

So here is my question… Do people who love this show just not see these flaws that are unfortunately so obvious and frankly cringe inducing to me and just laugh at the slapstick humor? Or do they know they are there but chose to ignore them?

88

I’m only going to speak for myself, but I personally love a respite from plot-driven comedy. Arrested Development is a comedic playground, where everything and anything is possible, and the more absurd, the better, in my opinion. That is exactly one of the main reasons I love the show. There is a fresh, imaginative anarchy to it. It has a loose plot line that frames the characters in enough of a world to feel like a familiar sitcom, but then manages to subvert those conventions. The “slapstick” humor is probably the smallest part of what makes this show funny to me.

89

One man’s flaws are another man’s features. Besides, half the stuff you’re ranting about is subjective, anyway.

90

I really don’t care at all whether a show is realistic. Some of the best *Community *episodes have been those that got wildly unrealistic, and drove other fans to complain as a result (like the Halloween zombie one).

But this show just doesn’t make me laugh. I keep trying to watch it, including again recently because Netflix is convinced it must be right up my alley (as a huge fan of the British Office, early 30 Rock and Parks and Rec, Party Down, etc.). And it keeps failing to make me laugh. At all. Nor do I find myself engrossed in it as a drama (not that one should expect that, but if I’m not laughing I need something). I alternate between being bored and annoyed by the things the characters do and say.

91

I too have been noticing the hype over the return of AD and it made me curious as I’d never seen it.

Downloaded first 3 seasons aaaaand

I don’t get it.

I’m not stupid. I don’t enjoy other, just as bad or worse, shows like How I Met Your Mother **** or BBT****

Someone said earlier, it’s not that I don’t “get” the jokes, it’s that I “get” them and they’re not funny. I agree.

If anyone’s curious I enjoy comedy shows such as The IT Crowd, Father Ted, The Office (british and american both have their own edge), Spaced and early Scrubs.

All of them are slightly quirky, intelligently written and original.

92

Rereading this revived thread, I noticed panocha2’s attempt at distinguishing canned laughter from audience laughter.

Nope. One and the same. The Big Bang Theory is a glaring example. There is an audience, but what you hear is “sweetened” laughter in the extreme. It is not the actual original audience reaction.

Mrs. FtG was walking thru the room while I was watching an episode and noticed they used the exact same burst of laughter 3 times in a row. And she doesn’t usually notice these things. It’s that obivous.

Here is the famous “Flash Mob” prank on the set of TBBT. Notice how unevenly distributed the audience reaction is. Lots of slow build, tapering off, many random outbursts, etc. Completely unlike the canned stuff that you hear on the show.

A laugh track is a laugh track is a laugh track. Always annoying.

93

Hm. Maybe I should give Arrested Development another chance.

94

This is the absolute best way I have ever seen my opinions on AD expressed. I simply can’t buy into the show because the plot and characters are too ridiculous. The characters just make me shake my head.

Additionally, it makes me fume when someone says “it’s intelligent humor, you must not get it”. I watch television with the keenest eye possible and I’ve watched AD two times through and I’ve caught almost everything. To confirm this, I like to go on the AD wikia page for each episode and look at all of the “hidden jokes” and such, and I’ve caught pretty much all of them. Sure, a lot of them are cool Easter Eggs, but they’re not funny. I would love if a show that I found funny *also *had those things, but for me, they aren’t enough to make a show funny. AD seems to live off of puns and that just isn’t good enough for me.

95

I can see some humor in this show but I feel the way the characters were made to be bigoted parodies was not done in a tasteful way. Take the Office where there was blatant bigotry. At least you could see the targeted minorities being portrayed as the normal characters they were and the slight discomfort from other characters. With this show, you can, as a watcher, be a flaming bigot and enjoy a good belly laugh with no hint from the show there is anything wrong with it. Then pseudo intellectually declare it was a parody and what is funny was with how wrong it was. Even though the characters are depicted as ridiculous, i feel the humor most reaches out to the bigoted. It would be different if the types of jokes were less insulting. Also i think that anyone who does claim it is an intellectual parody which they find amusing is certainly not in one of the groups the show makes fun of. i wonder if you would still find it funny if it was a foreign character uttering quips about how stupid white Americans are, and depicted white people politely ignoring the comment? The people who would laugh at this in some way agree with the sentiment. I feel this show may provide entertainment but I think it takes us a step backwards.

96

Are you sure you’re talking about the same show we’re talking about? The one about the Bluth family, where one of the sons has to kind of take over heading up the family business because his dad goes to jail?

97

I’m usually incredibly critical of shows that have racist or sexist humor in them, so this is coming from a comrade in the PC Brigade. What did you find so bigoted about Arrested Development? I’m not going to say there’s nothing problematic about the show at all, but generally speaking I think it’s very good at staying away from those types of “jokes”. I feel the target of the jokes is usually the Bluth family themselves, not any groups of people. Can you elaborate, with specific examples?

98

I agree with you that the joke is on the Bluths when it comes to racist and sexist humor.

However, I’d think even the most die-hard fans would have to admit that homosexuals get a particularly raw deal on the show. Tobias and his, erm, phrasing, is debatable - a lot of the humor there comes from irony and wordplay rather than homophobic bashing. On the other hand, most of that humor sits on a framework built up from stereotypes.

Leaving aside Tobias, though, homosexuals are depicted pretty stereotypically throughout the episodes, from the Hot Cops, to those at the Gothic Castle (or however that’s spelled), to those that show up for Tobias’ book signing.

It is what it is. I can’t say that the humor about homosexuals makes me gag, but I must admit it does leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, even if I’m otherwise fully enjoying myself.

99

Come on!