Arrested Development

Started by Weak2ndAct, October 24, 2004, 12:25:59 AM

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Sleepless

Cool  :yabbse-grin:

And the ETA is the first half of 2013 for those can't be bothering to read the article. Plenty of time for Netflix to bolster up their streaming side to rival DVD.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Sleepless

From Empire:

For a long time, the idea that Arrested Development might actually, really, truly return was nothing but a pipedream shared by fans across the globe. But now it is actually, really, truly returning, all we have to do is wait. Patiently. Is it here yet? No? How about now?... And even as the new episodes are being made, creator / executive producer Mitch Hurwitz has at last decided to share a bit more about what we can expect.

In an email exchange with the gang at Vulture, Hurwitz covered several subjects (including the fact that the screening order – one at a time, or all at once – has yet to be decided) and hinted at what we can expect from the new instalments. All without giving away spoilers. He's a crafty one, that Mr H.

"The episodes are an outgrowth of the design of what we hope will be the movie. They precede it. They function as an act one of a movie that we all want to do, but haven't 'sold' yet. The episodes take the audience through the experiences of the characters since the family 'fell apart' and how they're brought together to deal with their new problems. I would give you a hint as to what those problems are, but, really, why rob the fans of being disappointed when they see it on Netflix." According to him, each episode will focus on one character, but of course the Bluths will feature in each other's shows.

And as to whether we really will see more than the initial 10 (as hinted at by David "Tobias Funke" Cross recently), it would appear that that's still under discussion. "Our initial order is for ten, but the beauty of Netflix is that we theoretically have an opportunity to provide more material for them. We're definitely shooting some special material just for them. But their whole outlook completely mirrors the ambitions of this show."

He also talked about the first day a majority of the cast showed up to shoot, which was an emotional event. "I will admit that the day a bigger group of the cast did get together really was amazing. We were in an old set and hearing some of those voices together. I think everyone involved was kind of dumbstruck by it. It really wasn't supposed to happen in a way; shows don't come back.' And this was the moment we realized it had."

Finally, we can expect Ron Howard to return not only as narrator, but also in front of the camera. ""He's reprising his role as Ron Howard," Hurwitz says. "We own the rights to Ron Howard completely. I've got $20,000 coming in from a Ron Howard pinball machine."

The Bluths will be back next year, assuming you can wait that long.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Sleepless

Confirmed: 14 new episodes will arrive on Netflix in May (no exact date, but rumor is May 4)

The Guardian: Arrested Development returns in May ahead of planned film
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Sleepless

Mitch Hurwitz's guide to getting a sitcom cancelled:

Have a confusing title
Come up with an unwieldy title that perhaps comes from the realm of psychology, so that the title of your show is almost instantly forgettable. For example, if you were to call the show "Welcome Matt", an audience could immediately understand the concept: this must be a character named Matt and he must either be a welcoming person or stepped on. If you call a show "Arrested Development" it's confusing and sufficiently disorientating to guarantee that a wide audience never discovers the fruits of your labour.

Audiences love fast cars and exciting vehicles
So see if you can put in some heavy machinery like a stair-car, that isn't easily associated with speed or sex appeal.

Try to do too much for a 20-minute programme
If in your particular medium an audience is used to a simple plotline or maybe one or two stories, see if you can get eight in there, and find a way that they somehow intertwine. Also, it's important that you have a lot of anxiety when they don't intertwine, sufficient to deprive yourself of sleep so that you are miserable during the production of the show – but then upon completion of the show, you're guaranteed to be miserable, because nobody will watch it.

Add a sprinkle of incest
They'll never admit it, but viewers love sex. In fact, they love any sort of titillation, with the exception of incest. So focus on that.

First impressions are everything
So if you can screw that up, you're made. With Arrested Development, we tried showing the deep disdain that connects a family. We wanted to hold up a mirror to American society. And, just as predicted, America looked away.

Don't be afraid to give characters the same names
Audiences tend to run from confusion. So a show, for instance, where one character is named George Michael, one character is named Michael, one character is named George and one character is named George Oscar (and perhaps another character is named Oscar), will be the kind of show you can almost guarantee people won't develop a fondness for.

Make easy jokes about minority groups
Whether they be Mexicans, Jews or homosexuals, any group can be dismissed with a few stereotypical cracks. At least, that's what we tried to do. And given their "lack of coming to the party", it seems we succeeded!

Squander iconic guest stars
As an example, Liza Minnelli has famously appealed to the homosexual audience. Note: it's very important to alienate the homosexual audience first, or they might "come to the party".

Don't bother with a laughter track
Audiences don't always know "when to laugh". By omitting a laugh track you can almost guarantee they'll never find out.
Audiences like nicely dressed characters.

They also enjoy nudity
Split the difference by putting your character in a pair of cut-offs and call him a Never-Nude. Advanced: feel free to dip him in a vat of blue paint. That's a real turn-off.

Make a show for British sensibilities
And then show it in America.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Sleepless

He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Lottery

This is actually the best show in the world. If the new season isn't available immediately in Australia, people will die.

Sleepless

If you have Netflix streaming there, then yes, it will be available.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Lottery

A  bunch of sites say that we might get it a bit later which is worrying/enraging me.

Lottery


Pubrick

Quote from: Lottery on April 04, 2013, 03:44:04 PM
This is actually the best show in the world.

not even close.

but people will be talking as if it is even when the 4th season is as lackluster and overly self referential as the third season was.
under the paving stones.

Lottery

Fight me. The third season was a slight dip in quality (for a number of reasons) but it was still pretty damn entertaining. I'm not entirely sure if I love the way they filmed this new season but my eyes should adjust after the first episode or so.

pete

I really liked the third season; it was how I started watching the show. the charlize theron story was nice, the mole man episode was very quintessential arrested development, as was the one where they went to Iraq.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Brando

Season 4 Spoilers

I've only watched the first three episodes and I hate the format they're using. You have this incredible cast of characters that play off one another so well and you decide to scratch all of that to go with this individual character episodes. The great rhythm of the show is already off due to the longer episodes and not having to write within the tv's time frame. Now scenes run too long and shows are overwritten cause you're only dealing with one character. It is beyond me why you would take an ensemble show and turn it into single character show.

Also, they're is a huge amount of exposition. The first three episodes didn't feel like new episodes. It felt like they took the 5 to 10 minutes of exposition they should have made up the beginning of the first episode and turned it into the first three episodes. The Wire and Homeland doesn't have this much exposition for their plots and characters.

If you think this is going to have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.

The Perineum Falcon

Spoils?

Agreed, Brando. I would only echo your sentiments, so I'd like to add Three Points of Distraction/Detraction:

1) "Showstealer Pro" watermark in the flashbacks. I'm assuming this is a jab at Fox, but it's distracting to the point that my focus is solely on the watermark, and it cannot be unseen.
2) The surprising use of greenscreen. Did anyone else notice that some of the actors were not present on the set? I've also only watched the first three eps, but it's present in all three; most noticeably in ep2 with Winkler. Why are they doing it, and such a poor job of it at that? Again, I can only see the false shadows.
3) Portia diRossi's new face.

The wife and I have rewatched the original seasons leading up this, and the new eps have none of the genius.
We often went to the cinema, the screen would light up and we would tremble, but also, increasingly often, Madeleine and I were disappointed. The images had dated, they jittered, and Marilyn Monroe had gotten terribly old. We were sad, this wasn't the film we had dreamed of, this wasn't the total film that we all carried around inside us, this film that we would have wanted to make, or, more secretly, no doubt, that we would have wanted to live.

Brando

Quote from: The Perineum Falcon on May 27, 2013, 01:30:40 PM

3) Portia diRossi's new face.


When Lindsey's episode began with that flash forward I thought it was a joke. I thought it was part of a Scandlemakers with a fake Lindsey in a bad wig but it was an unrecognizable Portia in a bad wig. 
If you think this is going to have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.