killthenet Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Huh, will be interesting to see if it improves it in any way. The focus on a single character per episode definitely made the series feel more fragmented, its never a good thing when you can see the casts scheduling issues reflected in the quality of the storytelling. Arrested Development seasons 1-3 are my go to show to put on as I'm going to sleep and I must have watched through those series dozens and dozens of times but most of the time when I reach the end I don't continue on with season 4, I just start at the beginning again. I think the change in format, as well as being dictated by scheduling issues, was also reflective of the relative freedom making a show on Netflix has compared to doing it on network television but the restrictions in runtime and content on Fox seem to have made the show stronger and snappier than it was on Netflix, hopefully they have reigned it in a bit with this remix and got each episode closer to 22 minutes rather than the languid almost 40 minutes of some episodes in season 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 Well it's gone from 15 episodes to 22 so I guess they will be shorter. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEVILMURRAY Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 41 minutes ago, killthenet said: Huh, will be interesting to see if it improves it in any way. The focus on a single character per episode definitely made the series feel more fragmented That's one of the only things I enjoyed about the last season. It had a nice Tarratino-esque feel that characters were affected by others and no one knew. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 While I wish the scheduling wasn’t an issue for them, I think they worked around it in a very good way. It may be more fragmented but the story was still there and mostly cohesive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killthenet Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 (edited) One issue it certainly won't solve is the casual racism and homophobia that was unfortunately part of season 4. The problems had been present in the original series but it was more blatantly ironic than it was in season 4, it went beyond feeling like the characters were bigoted and more that Mitch Hurwitz and the other writers were the ones with questionable views. And the fragmented narrative wasn't an issue for me, it was that it was blatantly obvious who was available for each scene - seeing the schedule conflicts reflected in the blocking of each scene really takes the viewer out of the story, making the scheduling issues invisible should be relatively simple for a skilled crew but sadly a lot of the writing and production on season 4 felt horribly amateurish for what must have been a pretty big budget Netflix show. Edited May 2, 2018 by killthenet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted May 5, 2018 Author Share Posted May 5, 2018 Watched a few episodes (yay illness) and it is a bit better. The storylines spread out make the more tedious ones (such as George Sr) more digestible. Putting some of the scenes as 'next time' is an interesting way of keeping the gag of them not actually happening while also making good use of them. Shame they didn't try and fix the awful Henry Winkler blue screen or Portia's distracting wig. Forgot Terry Crews was in this and boy is his storyline uncomfortable now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killthenet Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 I've watched the first few and it is a bit zippier but the episodes I've watched have felt like they lasted a lot longer than 22 minutes. I don't remember what Terry Crews' storyline entails apart from him being a senator but I just watched the episode where Lindsay and Tobias go to India and theres a lot of really uncomfortable stuff in that, all the jibes about India being overpopulated are so misguided and Alia Shawkat dressed up as an Indian guru is pretty cringeworthy. Was Dan Harmon added in the recut or did I just not notice his cameo until now? I must have watched it on a pretty small screen originally because I totally don't remember noticing the Henry Winkler blue screen stuff, it really is awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 Would appear that Season 5 comes to Netflix on the 29th. At least in the USA. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 10 hours ago, killthenet said: I've watched the first few and it is a bit zippier but the episodes I've watched have felt like they lasted a lot longer than 22 minutes. I don't remember what Terry Crews' storyline entails apart from him being a senator but I just watched the episode where Lindsay and Tobias go to India and theres a lot of really uncomfortable stuff in that, all the jibes about India being overpopulated are so misguided and Alia Shawkat dressed up as an Indian guru is pretty cringeworthy. Was Dan Harmon added in the recut or did I just not notice his cameo until now? I must have watched it on a pretty small screen originally because I totally don't remember noticing the Henry Winkler blue screen stuff, it really is awful. It's only mentioned briefly, but he'd been accused of harassing some secretaries or aides or something. Harmon was in the previous version. I think the only new thing added is voice over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted May 7, 2018 Author Share Posted May 7, 2018 Hopefully a good sign that they'll all be together more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killthenet Posted May 7, 2018 Share Posted May 7, 2018 It does look better, will probably still go into it with pretty low expectations though in the hope it exceeds them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEVILMURRAY Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 I like how they censored the word plunger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted May 17, 2018 Author Share Posted May 17, 2018 Oh. Season 5 is going to be split in two. The first 8 this month, the other 8 some time later:https://news.avclub.com/netflix-to-split-season-5-of-arrested-development-in-ha-1826081816?rev=1526497051422 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killthenet Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 That's odd, why not just release it as two separate seasons then? Seems like it might be Netflix's decision as they have also decided to split the last season of Kimmy Schmidt into two, the first 6 coming on May 30th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnus Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Blah, I hate split seasons. There's nothing like a five-month break in the middle of a season to make me completely lose track of any ongoing storylines. I'm extra annoyed because I recently started rewatching the series in preparation for season 5, but now any callbacks in the back half of the season will be completely lost on me anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEVILMURRAY Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 It seems to be something Netflix keep doing of late. You get about half a season of something, then 1-2 months later get weekly episodes. I dunnae get it. Your platform is primed for binge-watching, don't stretch dat shit out. I waited for over a year for the new old Yu-Gi-Oh seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted May 17, 2018 Author Share Posted May 17, 2018 51 minutes ago, killthenet said: That's odd, why not just release it as two separate seasons then? Conflicting reports from "this is just what they're doing now" to "trying to artificially inflate the number of new shows they have per year" even to "behind the scenes issues". It's a pain because this is the kind of show that benefits from being able to keep on top of things. I'd rather they released weekly (and start a bit later if there are production issues) than some episodes now and more some undetermined part down the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Could it also be to stop people paying for one month of subscription and binge watching the whole thing? This way, they have to get at least two months (or wait until the second half drops) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted May 17, 2018 Author Share Posted May 17, 2018 I mean, it's one Netflix subscription @bob. How much could it cost? $700? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happenstance Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Maybe its the same as Agents of Shield and they're pushing back the second half so it doesn't clash with Avengers 4. The first half will explain the Arrested Development cameo in Infinity War. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Sure, the guy with the £90 Netflix subscription is gonna wait around three months for the rest of the series? Come on! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happenstance Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Finished watching the first half of season 5 earlier. Didnt think it was that great and I probably enjoyed season 4 more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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