# Arrested Development Season 4 re-edit - thoughts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528 "2018-05-03T18:05:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/1 "2018-05-03T18:05:14Z")
Tomorrow, season 4 of Arrested Development re-hits Netflix in 22 minute or so length episodes. They re-edited all the episodes to make it so they can sell it to syndication, which prefers that episodes do not have to be watched in order. Ron Howard has added new narration, which I remember seeing him record 3 years ago(they’ve been sitting on this a long time). Season 5 hits Netflix soon. Like, I think it’s going to be up by June/July. And I believe they got everyone for each episode so they could make normal ones this time. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/2 "2018-05-03T18:12:42Z")
I’m glad they re-cut it. I absolutely did not like (won’t say “hated”) it. Too hard to follow, too gimmicky. Hopefully it’ll feel more like the AD of old. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/3 "2018-05-03T18:39:06Z")
Holy crap! There’s a season 5? How did I not know about this? And wasn’t the point of Season 4 that it was completely non-chronological, so you didn’t really have to watch it in order? I sure as heck didn’t. (That is to say, I watched a few episodes in order, but then realized it was completely disjointed chronologically, and it didn’t really matter what order you watched it in, as opposed to a more standard series where stories build chronologically and if you watch episode 10 before episode 1, you’re completely lost, whereas with season 4, it didn’t really matter: you were supposed to be a little lost no matter which episode you started with.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/4 "2018-05-03T18:44:53Z")
Ok, it looks like the gripe is more about [each episode not being self-contained](https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianmorris/2018/05/01/netflix-has-an-exciting-new-development-coming-this-friday/#57f013ab3a41). > [@](#): > > Originally season four was designed to tell a story over the entire set of episodes. Rather than, as a traditional network would require, having each episode self-contained the show told stories around the characters, with each having their own dedicated episode. This allowed viewers to watch in any order, something that Netflix makes possible by putting all the episodes up at the same time. So the “watch in any order” thing was quite deliberate and part of the point of Season 4. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/5 "2018-05-03T22:13:02Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Holy crap! There’s a season 5? How did I not know about this? Yes, they’ve been pretty secretive about details, but Jason Batemen did tweet out a pic of the Bluth house set being unmothballed a few months ago. The creator said the season is coming so soon, we’ll all be surprised we didn’t realize earlier. Pretty neat. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/6 "2018-05-03T23:19:26Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Yes, they’ve been pretty secretive about details, but Jason Batemen did tweet out a pic of the Bluth house set being unmothballed a few months ago. > > The creator said the season is coming so soon, we’ll all be surprised we didn’t realize earlier. Pretty neat. Oh, I am so stoked. My favorite comedic series of at least the past 20 years, maybe all time. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/7 "2018-05-04T00:01:46Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I’m glad they re-cut it. I absolutely did not like (won’t say “hated”) it. Too hard to follow, too gimmicky. Hopefully it’ll feel more like the AD of old. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Holy crap! There’s a season 5? How did I not know about this? And wasn’t the point of Season 4 that it was completely non-chronological, so you didn’t really have to watch it in order? I sure as heck didn’t. (That is to say, I watched a few episodes in order, but then realized it was completely disjointed chronologically, and it didn’t really matter what order you watched it in, as opposed to a more standard series where stories build chronologically and if you watch episode 10 before episode 1, you’re completely lost, whereas with season 4, it didn’t really matter: you were supposed to be a little lost no matter which episode you started with.) I’ll also say that Season 4 did not work for me on first viewing. Maybe I would appreciate it more if I rewatched the original cut again once I understood what was going on. The problem I had was that the episodes didn’t go anywhere. Admittedly a great thing about Arrested Development was the call backs to earlier episodes, but in this case you had to remember everything across all the episodes rather than follow on from the last one. I watched it too sporadically over too long a period of time to make the connections. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/8 "2018-05-04T00:43:42Z")
I watched the episodes in order and thought it was brilliant, though a few fan-written timelines ([like this one](https://i2.wp.com/remarked.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Screen-Shot-2014-08-29-at-18.42.41.png)) made it easier to follow. Watching the episodes out of order loses some of the jokes, i.e. the gradual reveal that none of the family showed up at Lucille’s trial. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/9 "2018-05-04T01:45:26Z")
I loved what they did with it. Utter brilliance. But it required flexible thinking and the ability to understand the concept. I hope that version doesn’t vanish. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/10 "2018-05-04T08:21:34Z")
League of Gentlemen series 3 - the final of the main run - used the same technique. Different characters’ stories were pursued, generally not intersecting until a big set-piece car crash at the end of each episode. I thought it (League) was brilliant, because your understanding of each character’s story was modified by the following revelation from another character’s perspective. Arrested Development’s Series 4 attempt, to my mind didn’t work quite as well, but still hats off to them for trying and getting it pretty right, if not perfect. On non-linear narratives generally, i heard (without feeling compelled to bother looking it up) that you could reprogram your Tarantino movies to play scenes in proper chronological order in LaserDisc. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/11 "2018-05-04T22:33:00Z")
It’s online now. It seems to have replaced my regular season 4, but I have not looked fully yet. Is the old version still online? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/12 "2018-05-04T23:55:48Z")
As I remember (and I haven’t watched it in a long time), the problem wasn’t in the concept, but the execution. Maybe editing it down to 22 minutes might make it better? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/13 "2018-05-05T02:23:47Z")
Watching the first episode of the remix now. Boy, it’s choppy. They didn’t film any new footage, so it’s a hard job to edit the whole thing into regular episodes. Tons of new narration to try to make sense out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/14 "2018-05-05T03:40:21Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Watching the first episode of the remix now. > > Boy, it’s choppy. They didn’t film any new footage, so it’s a hard job to edit the whole thing into regular episodes. Tons of new narration to try to make sense out of it. Does Ron Howard sound really reluctant and flat, like Harrison Ford did in _Blade Runner_ ? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/15 "2018-05-05T19:19:03Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Does Ron Howard sound really reluctant and flat, like Harrison Ford did in _Blade Runner_ ? No, not at all. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/16 "2018-05-11T21:01:10Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It’s online now. It seems to have replaced my regular season 4, but I have not looked fully yet. > > Is the old version still online? The old version is still there, but you have to go to “Trailers and other” or something to find it. That might be temporary, since they’re obviously promoting the re-cut. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/17 "2018-05-17T03:30:26Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I’m glad they re-cut it. I absolutely did not like (won’t say “hated”) it. Too hard to follow, too gimmicky. Hopefully it’ll feel more like the AD of old. Ditto. It felt like “webisodes” rather than a new season when I first watched it. I hope the new edit is an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/18 "2018-05-17T03:47:51Z")
I’m about half-way through the re-cut episodes. I’m liking it better, but it still isn’t as top-notch as the seasons of yore. I’m hoping the new season is better than this one. A lot of the scenarios feel forced. Like GOB’s thing with Egg. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-season-4-re-edit-thoughts/813528/19 "2018-05-17T14:55:26Z")
Who?