# Tracy Lord just doesn't get it **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 12, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761 "2005-11-12T20:43:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/41 "2005-11-13T22:49:18Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > You’re making a point, right? I get that these are common criticisms of the TV viewing public. > > Uck. I don’t like the show, but hey - de gustibus non est disputandum, eh? So please drop all references to this false idea that most people are just too dumb to get it. I’m not saying most TV is brilliant, but this show wasn’t exactly highbrow either. Its unpopularity is because it’s something interesting to a niche audience, not because most people just can’t understand it. That argument - whether you’re applying it to the SDMB or not - is both elitist and inherently obnoxious because it automatically belittles those who disagree with you. Knock it off. No, I’ve had people watching it with me complain that these people should be in jail, and if the cops were any good they could just watch the show and figure out that George was in the attic. (Granted, that was one incident, and I’m pretty sure most of her critical thinking brain cells had been killed by The Devil Weed.) Still, yes, that actually happened. I was thinking about what the difference was last night while I was watching my S2 DVDs, and Dan Castellaneta’s guest episode came on. Let me try another pass at definition. There’s two parts of being an AD fan: 1. Understands/appreciates where jokes occur. 2. Thinks they’re funny. There’s a lot of really subtle almost meta-humor, like the narrator (played by Ron Howard)'s line after a character insults Opie, Scott Baio following Henry Winkler as the family’s lawyer, the visible boom mike after “someone in this room is wired.” So, I would all the difference between someone that “gets it” and “doesn’t get it” is someone who recognizes those as attempts at humor. They don’t have to think they’re funny, but they have to see what the show is trying to do. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/42 "2005-11-13T22:56:14Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > No, I’ve had people watching it with me complain that these people should be in jail, and if the cops were any good they could just watch the show and figure out that George was in the attic. > > (Granted, that was one incident, and I’m pretty sure most of her critical thinking brain cells had been killed by The Devil Weed.) Still, yes, that actually happened. > > I was thinking about what the difference was last night while I was watching my S2 DVDs, and Dan Castellaneta’s guest episode came on. Let me try another pass at definition. There’s two parts of being an AD fan: > > 1. Understands/appreciates where jokes occur. > 2. Thinks they’re funny. > > There’s a lot of really subtle almost meta-humor, like the narrator (played by Ron Howard)'s line after a character insults Opie, Scott Baio following Henry Winkler as the family’s lawyer, the visible boom mike after “someone in this room is wired.” > > So, I would all the difference between someone that “gets it” and “doesn’t get it” is someone who recognizes those as attempts at humor. They don’t have to think they’re funny, but they have to see what the show is trying to do. It’s insulting, though, to assume that folks who don’t think it’s funny probably simply don’t understand it. That’s obnoxious, pretentious, insufferable - whatever term you like, it’s not polite and it’s not gonna win you friends except within the subset of _Arrested Development_ fans who are also irritatingly smug. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/43 "2005-11-13T23:19:08Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > It’s insulting, though, to assume that folks who don’t think it’s funny probably simply don’t understand it. That’s obnoxious, pretentious, insufferable - whatever term you like, it’s not polite and it’s not gonna win you friends except within the subset of _Arrested Development_ fans who are also irritatingly smug. The people I’ve met in real life who don’t like it tend not to understand it. I have _no problem_ with the people who do understand it and don’t like it. Am I smug and irritating for seeing patterns in behaviour and predicting future behaviour based on those observations? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/44 "2005-11-14T04:22:37Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > “I’ve got no idea what’s going on but here’s my stupid opinion anyway” Tee hee! Okay, laughing boy, enlighten me. Over the past few years, Fox has boned Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Firefly, Wanda At Large, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Cedric the Entertainer, The Tick, Greg the Bunny, and of course, Futurama. And a whole lot of other shows as well. Now what, may I ask, is so special about Arrested Development that _this time_, cancellation is an injustice up with which intelligent people should not put? ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/45 "2005-11-14T04:40:47Z")
Why the fuck do people feel the need to justify their personal preferences to the world in general, anyway? You don’t need a reason to watch it or not watch it. It’s a TV show, not a job applicant, ferchrissakes. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/46 "2005-11-14T04:56:53Z")
> [@soulmurk](#): > > **soulmurk** 1 > **CynicalGabe** 1,562 I’ve thought about it, but I really have no idea what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/47 "2005-11-14T05:34:01Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > I’ve thought about it, but I really have no idea what you mean. Meaning I beat you to the punch once, while roughly 1,562 times I’ve gone into a thread with something goofy to add and found that you’d beaten me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/48 "2005-11-14T05:34:34Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Okay, laughing boy, enlighten me. Over the past few years, Fox has boned Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Firefly, Wanda At Large, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Cedric the Entertainer, The Tick, Greg the Bunny, and of course, Futurama. And a whole lot of other shows as well. Now what, may I ask, is so special about Arrested Development that _this time_, cancellation is an injustice up with which intelligent people should not put? Um… there isn’t anything that much more special about it? There was similiar outcries of injustice and calls for the blood of Fox executives when Futurama, Firefly, and the Tick were cancelled to name a few. The rest of them weren’t as popular here. It’s sure as hell not got anything to do with “whiney characters” though. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/49 "2005-11-14T20:33:45Z")
I’ve never watched it, and I never planned to. But only because it has three people I really really hate to watch: Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walters, and the nails-on-the-chalkboard-of-my-soul David Cross. Recast the roles those three play, bring it back, and I’ll give it a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/50 "2005-11-14T20:41:20Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > Am I smug and irritating for seeing patterns in behaviour and predicting future behaviour based on those observations? In a word, yes. You are. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/51 "2005-11-14T20:49:41Z")
> [@Crow T. Robot](#): > > Nobody ‘gets’ me baby, I’m the wind. 12 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/52 "2005-11-14T21:21:15Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > It wasn’t all that clever - the humor usually revolved around crap like the aforementioned chicken dance and other “zany antics”, and I guess I’m not really into zany antics. I’m sorry, but you are wrong here. The genius of AD, the reason why it has such a devoted (though small) audience, is not because of the “zany antics.” It’s the dense layers of humor, the subtle gags, and the callbacks to previous jokes. There’s so much humor packed into each episode that it takes multiple viewings to appreciate it all. Now, I don’t give a crap whether you watch Arrested Development or not. It’s a TV show. Whether you “get it” or not is not a sign of intelligence. People who feel superior to others because of their taste in TV shows are only revealing their own insecurities. I personally think AD is hilarious, but it doesn’t make me a better person to have watched every episode of the first two seasons multiple times each. It doesn’t make me a worse person that I haven’t seen any of season three yet. But if someone says the humor of AD lies in the “zany antics,” then they clearly don’t “get it.” Who cares if you don’t “get it?” Not me. Should you care that I think you don’t “get” a TV show you haven’t seen all that much of? Probably not. Should you waste your time watching a show you don’t like in order to say that you “get it” but still don’t like it? That would be silly. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/53 "2005-11-14T21:24:32Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Yeah, that sucks. > > But so did she! > > Ba-da-boom! Who’d like a banger in the mouth? ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/54 "2005-11-14T21:33:42Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Who’d like a banger in the mouth? How bout some liquor in the rear? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/55 "2005-11-15T00:15:50Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Crow T. Robot > Nobody ‘gets’ me baby, I’m the wind. [That was Tom Servo](http://www.mst3kinfo.com/satnews/catalog/Catalog1.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/56 "2005-11-15T12:03:34Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > In a word, yes. You are. Whoosh? > [@HowieReynolds](#): > > Now, I don’t give a crap whether you watch Arrested Development or not. It’s a TV show. Whether you “get it” or not is not a sign of intelligence. People who feel superior to others because of their taste in TV shows are only revealing their own insecurities. I personally think AD is hilarious, but it doesn’t make me a better person to have watched every episode of the first two seasons multiple times each. It doesn’t make me a worse person that I haven’t seen any of season three yet. > > But if someone says the humor of AD lies in the “zany antics,” then they clearly don’t “get it.” Who cares if you don’t “get it?” Not me. Should you care that I think you don’t “get” a TV show you haven’t seen all that much of? Probably not. Should you waste your time watching a show you don’t like in order to say that you “get it” but still don’t like it? That would be silly. YEAH! That’s what I’ve been trying to say. Sorry for all the confusion and misunder[del]estimating[/del]standing! We now return you to your regularly scheduled MST3k and dick jokes. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/57 "2005-11-15T14:06:36Z")
> [@HowieReynolds](#): > > But if someone says the humor of AD lies in the “zany antics,” then they clearly don’t “get it.” This bears repeating. To anyone that says “I get it, it’s all about zany antics”, no, it isn’t, and no, you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/58 "2005-11-15T14:41:06Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > This bears repeating. To anyone that says “I get it, it’s all about zany antics”, no, it isn’t, and no, you don’t. Those are balls… ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/59 "2005-11-15T14:43:24Z")
> [@kingpengvin](#): > > Those are balls… Happy Fun Balls? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761/60 "2005-11-15T15:01:21Z")
> [@kingpengvin](#): > > Those are balls… Evidently, Iraq. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracy-lord-just-doesnt-get-it/330761.md?page=4)