Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Arrested Development: Season Three

Page: (1)2 3

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

00:15 / 20.09.05

Astounding.

After the incredible first season, one couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of disappointment run through oneself as the second season trundled along. It was funny, hilariously so, and God, it gave us Franklin and for that we should all be greatful, but it never punched you as hard as the first season did.

Well, if this season's premiere is any indication, this is a whole new ballgame. There was so much fantastic stuff in this episode, with hardly any returning humor. Each gag felt like all those amazing Season One gags that you felt instantly become classic. "Taste these tears, Michael. TASTE THEM." The quadruplets? "Whose going to want to spend the night in that old claptrap?"

Fucking. Irridescent. Genius. My week is back to being "The Time Between New Arrested Developments" again. Hallelujah.

15:44 / 20.09.05

Did anyone else rush to look at I'm Oscar dot com?

Of course Oscar would write haikus in prison.

16:08 / 20.09.05

Not enough Lucille. I want more Lucille.

Eve Holt!

17:28 / 20.09.05

I also thought it was a return to form. Agreed, last season just didn't satisfy as much as the first had. Though, I did feel the season got better as it went along -- after the ultra-terrible Martin Short episode, things corrected themselves. And of course, Franklin showed up right about the time the episodes got better. Coincidence?

I think my favorite line last night was Michael to George Michael, "Why don't you go pitch a tent for your cousin?" Or something to that effect. The whole episode was funny, filled with the early-in-the-episode set-ups and late-in-the-episode payoffs that made the show so great in Season 1.

20:50 / 20.09.05

Huh, I loved season two, dangit...

But, yes, this episode was very funny, but not enough Lucille and Buster, dammit!

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

21:35 / 20.09.05

Hey. I loved Season Two as well. I just didn't want to, you know, go all the way with it.

I mean, Franklin.

01:02 / 21.09.05

"the happy tears taste like the sad"

and of course, one of the greatest lines in the history of television (hyperbole much?):

"Whose going to want to spend the night in that old claptrap?"

I missed the joke that came after that I was laughing so hard.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

12:38 / 21.09.05

I'd forgotten this classic already:

"Why aren't you crying, ROBOT."

15:46 / 21.09.05

Any of you have a favorite episode? I think mine would have to be "Pier Pressure," from Season 1.

00:58 / 25.09.05

It wasn't the brilliant "claptrap" line itself that made the joke so perfect, but the hard glare and long --- beautifully, painfully long -- pause that came after.

Lucille and Michael are TV's best mother/son act since Endora and Darrin.

02:34 / 27.09.05

"You could say I'm buy curious."

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

03:12 / 27.09.05

"Oh, your father and I are into all kinds of freaky stuff, Michael."

05:17 / 28.09.05

"In prison, you just have to close your eyes and take it, but here you have to close your eyes and give it."

12:59 / 28.09.05

From next week's preview:

"We're not here to talk nonsense with Bob Loblaw."

But anyway. What I really like about this season so far is the introduction of the British plot. I think a season-long theme/plot might work great.

BTW, didn't mean any disrespect to Season 2 above...I think it got off to a strong start (Ice needs to return one of these days), but the middle half just underwhelmed me. I mean, that Martin Short episode was not only stupid, but boring, which is something you should never be able to say about AR. But then the season got back on-track, not-so-coincidentally when Franklin showed up. And also, GOB's narration during his anti-Steve Holt video contained my all-time favorite AR line: "Steve Holt's a bastard. He doesn't even know who his father is!"

Looks like the producers are trying different approaches this year, as some of the material in episode 2 was more slapstick than the dry wit the show is known for (ie the British town, the car chase, etc). But I'm still enjoying it, and I think Season 3's already off to a stronger start than Season 2.

13:35 / 04.10.05

Wonder what kind of schooling is involved to become an "analrapist?"

14:08 / 04.10.05

My favorite part was Buster's display of "Barbara".

15:30 / 04.10.05

"What a fun, sexy time for you!" Amazing. I still haven't seen all of Season Two, but I'll be picking up the DVDs on the day of release...

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

15:36 / 04.10.05

"Good. I was hoping he would be gifted sexually."

17:20 / 05.10.05

Another fantastic episode. I think, besides the "analrapist" lines and George Michael's "happy to hear he's talented sexually," my favorite line was the very last in the episode -- Steve Holt's "I won't forget this, Dad!" and GOB's "I will." (long, soap opera pause) "I will." Couldn't have gotten a better delivery from Arnett on that one.

19:31 / 05.10.05

How the fuck do you get away with not one, not two, but THREE rape jokes in a prime time sitcom on a commercial network?

Just thinking of the "analrapist" business cards had me laughing out loud at various times the following day.

15:18 / 21.10.05

Arrested Development made the Parents Television Council's list of the worst shows on TV, here's the hilarious charges:

"Arrested Development also employs some of the most outrageous double-entendres ever to find their way into prime-time. In one episode, for example, Tobias says he was an analyst and a therapist, making him the first "analrapist." Other episodes have delved into the bizarre sexual proclivities of the main characters, such as Lucille's revelation that she and George derive sexual pleasure from being strangled with a belt. "

23:58 / 07.11.05

Holy Christ did the second episode beat the first tonight.

Annyong?!

And Rita is retarded? I thought she was only acting?

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

06:23 / 08.11.05

As much as I loved "Balls In The Air" and its attendant montage, yeah, the second kicked the first's ASS. I was genuinely surprised by pretty much every twist (I had seen the finger painting on the wall with Rita), and that Godzilla set up. Genius. Although now that I think about it, Notapusy was also so great.

"I'll put this fag in my mouth and think of your lips."

And that Startled Straight bit?
"I'm glad he won't be there."
"He's ugly."

ALTHOUGH, pretty much the best delivery of the season goes to Tobias in the second episode:
"You're blowin' my mind here, Frank."

To Tobias! And his like 4000 hair plugs.

Matthew Fluxington

09:13 / 08.11.05

Oh, good. Have sex with this girl right now. Do it, go. Get in there. Have some sex with her right now. I didn’t think so. Ann, you need to decide whether you want a man or a boy. I know how I’d answer.

18:28 / 08.11.05

JETPACKS WAS YES!!!!

18:39 / 08.11.05

The show is working on a completely different level than any other comedy being produced today. No film in the past ten years was as funny as those two episodes last night. It seriously feels like every new episode is the best one they've ever done.

"Oh, George Michael, she’s a girl. I need to teach her how to be a woman. Within her lies a queen. Let me out that queen."

Matthew Fluxington

00:25 / 09.11.05

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

00:51 / 09.11.05

YES.

12:42 / 09.11.05

I'm with you guys -- two more high-quality episodes. Though I liked both of them about the same. I'd say my favorite line was Tobias in the first, "Have sex with this girl right now," as someone else quoted above. Also, a big thanks to Matthew for the animated image of the George Michael/Tobias Godzilla tribute fight, surely one of the best scenes in AD history.

So who thinks GOB is the "man" Anne met? Also loved the return of the "Who's Anne?" stuff.

Tobias did have a bunch of great lines in both episodes, including "Do you want a boy or a man? I know what MY choice would be."

"Balls in the Air" was great, as was Steve Holt's nonsensical training tips: "Don't ask 'can I!' Ask, 'I can!'"

Murray Hamhandler

21:37 / 10.11.05

From Variety

'Arrested,' 'Kitchen' cut back
Fox pulls both shows from sked

By JOSEF ADALIAN

It's not looking good for "Arrested Development""Arrested Development" or frosh laffer "Kitchen Confidential."
Fox has cut back its episode order on the critically-admired "Arrested" to just 13 segs, down from 22. Producers of "Kitchen," meanwhile, have been told the show won't be getting a full-season pickup.

More worrisome: Fox is pulling both shows from the schedule, effective immediately. "Arrested" returned from a month-long hiatus this week, while "Kitchen""Kitchen" was slated to return Monday.

Instead of the two laffers, Fox will air repeats of drama "Prison Break" in the 8-9 p.m. Monday slot for the rest of the November sweeps. It's presumed "Arrested" and "Kitchen" will return to finish out the remainder of their runs in December. Come January, net has long planned to move "House" into the Monday slot.

Fox wasn't commenting Thursday morning, and for now, nobody's using the word "cancellation." But in the case of "Arrested," the handwriting appears to be on the wall.

While numbers for "Arrested" were underwhelming this week, it's worth noting that a number of returning laffers -- including Fox's "Stacked" -- aren't doing much better.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

22:10 / 10.11.05

And just when I was starting to get them recorded in Hi Def Widescreen.

"NNNNOOOOOO!"
- Fred J. Dukes
aka The Blob

I can't get the knife in. Too much skin.

22:45 / 10.11.05

That SUCKS. What a consolation - Stacked is failing too. I mean, if a shitty comedy about a B-celebrity's tits can't make it, who can??

Prison Break effing sucks, what the fuck.

23:47 / 10.11.05

I've been trying the grassroots method. So far, I've turned six households into Arrested Development freaks. I bought the Season 1 and 2 DVD sets and haven't watched either in four months. I just keep loaning them out.

What can be done?

13:08 / 11.11.05

I wonder what the possibility is that AD could be picked up by another network? I think it would be perfect for HBO.

Matthew Fluxington

13:14 / 11.11.05

I would think that it's terribly unlikely that AD would end up on HBO. It's more likely that it would end up on FX.

I do think that it is likely that if Fox drops the series, someone else will attempt to pick it up and keep it running.

Page: (1)2 3