Here's the deal, if you missed the finale of Arrested
Development Friday on FOX, well, you just aren't a true fan. Not only that, but you missed probably two of the
finest hours of TV comedy that have ever aired. I'm not sure that there was a plotline that didn't get some kind of
mention or wrap-up. Hilarious, funny, crazy, witty, comical, side-splitting, and uproarious are all terms I, and many
many others, have used to describe Arrested Development in the past, but there was one word that wasn't
mentioned enough: perfection. Arrested Development was treated like garbage by FOX. People can say what they
want about FOX giving it more time than most shows to "find its audience," but that's bull and we all know
it. Unless it's an immediate hit (with immediate gratification) networks just don't care about anything anymore (ABC's
handling of Emily's Reasons Why Not was criminal), and FOX jumped AD all over the place, putting it
on hiatus left and right, advertising showings that then disappeared, or just flat-out not advertising it at all. On
with the show!I'm not going to do a typical review. There are summaries all over the web and I figure if you really wanted to watch the episodes, you would have found a way. I'll do a quick rundown, though. Franklin, the loose seal, Ann Young and Annia all make comebacks. The Bluths go on mock trial, but it doesn't mean much. Michaels finds out he may have an older sister named Nelly, but it turns out she's just a prostitute. Nope, turns out Lindsay is Nelly and she's had a crush on Michael all these years. George is cleared of all treason charges, but not the others, so they have a party to officially announce Michael as the CEO, which brings us right back to where we started 3 years ago. Except this time, George and George Michael have decided to run for it.
I remember seeing the previews for this show and thinking "This looks like it could be interesting," and after one episode, I was hooked. For me, every other comedy that comes along is going to be compared to it. As I said earlier, this was perfection. There were enough jokes in every episode that the casual viewer could watch it and love it, and yet, it showed a whole other side and layer of jokes for those who had stuck around with it from the beginning. There are other comedies out there that I love and think are great (Curb Your Enthusiasm, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men), but for me now, I've seen the best, and nothing will compare. Since Friday, I've been asked time after time if I know whether there's going to be a movie; I don't, and I think we would have heard something about it by now if there were going to be. Hopefully we'll get something from the show within the next couple of weeks, so say some prayers, send some good thoughts, rub Buddha's belly, sacrifice a.... never mind; don't sacrifice anything, just do what you do and maybe, just maybe, we'll see what happens to the Bluth family after that fateful day.
I promised you guys something a little different with this review so here it is: we're going to start giving back to you guys--the readers--for making our work so enjoyable, by showcasing some of the best quotes of the night in the chatrooms. So without further adieu the best quotes of the night:
Trumpetplaayer87: ha, mock trial a mockery
Chus Your Daddy: this is the only show that laugh out loud to, even when I'm all by my lonesome.
ArtemisBear: that's what happens with people who have real friends. they miss their beloved william hung.
KLopez704: Portia De Rossi is pretty but i don't think she would be my type if i swang that way
Chus Your Daddy: why advertise any new fox comedy during AD's finale, AD fans will just hate it automatically.
Chus Your Daddy: man, I wish Ron Howard narrated my life
TV107: i never realized until season 3 that "on the next arrested development" was not coming episodes
TV107: fox sucks....they cancelled REUNION the best show ever
Referring to The War At Home eliothackaday: you know, that show you mute between Simpsons and Family Guy
Trumpetplaayer87: is that gary cole?
aurexminus: Lumberg!
Chilijohn4981: let's hope they send the show off with gob doing the chicken dance somehow.
eliothackaday: breakfast! full circle
Chus Your Daddy: man, it's a shame that this is the first... sniff... and maybe the last TV squad AD chat.
panache1971: "George Bush does not care about black puppets." Im still laughing
BleedingElbow84: oh on, anne
eliothackaday: holy god
RaincoatsAreLove: mental fuses... blowing
Chus Your Daddy: hot seaman.
Chilijohn4981: lindsey is nellie
RaincoatsAreLove: this was too good to be depressing
TVSRyan: thanks everyone for joining
TVSRyan: you know the drill guys
TVSRyan: you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here
The TV Squad Podcast: Linda Purl talks about The Office, we talk spoilers, and more
Ask TV Squad: Ghost Whisperer and more!
The TV Squad Podcast: Bill Scheft of The Late Show, Cake Boss, Mad Men and more
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-14-2006 @ 10:38AM
CJ said...
I think the final snub by Fox was running the AR finale with the Olympics opener. I never understand these moves by TV execs. People did watch the show, why not string it out on a normal schedule instead of running repeats of your other cr*ppy shows.
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2-14-2006 @ 11:07AM
LC said...
I skipped out on the last several episodes of AD because of all the schedule flips and multiple one night episodes. Instead I am going to enjoy the final season when it comes out on DVD.
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2-14-2006 @ 11:16AM
Thomas said...
I've almost been overloaded by those episodes - just too many jokes and references to digest.
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2-14-2006 @ 11:22AM
Akbar Fazil said...
Even if no one decides to pick up the show, that ending was on of the greatest endings ever for any tv show.
and for the record, it's not "ann young" It is "Annyong"
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2-14-2006 @ 11:46AM
maddr said...
did anyone notice the irony of the nelly/michael/lindsey plotline...lindsey ended up being michael adopted sister, after she finds out she's not related to micheal, she form a crush on hime, nelly after finding out she may be his sister drops her crush on him, and in real life nelly was played by michael's real sister in real life.. justine bateman...
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2-14-2006 @ 12:05PM
Rachel said...
Did anyone notice the boat Gob was on was the Sea-Ward? (Reference from season 2, I think...)
Gosh, I was never so sad to watch such good comedy. I really hope this show gets picked up. I loved how it ended because I think it could easily go into next season, but if it doesn't, I won't be disappointed with how things ended.
However, I am not ready for it to be over until it's over. At least we got to see Franklin again too.
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2-14-2006 @ 12:10PM
Craig A Horleman said...
There was a line in the last show that harkened back to the very first show. Michael says to George Michael, "What's the most important thing in the world?" GM replies, "Family?" Michael says, "I was gonna say breakfast." In the pilot, Michael asks the same question, GM replies, "Breakfast?" Michael says, "I was gonna say family." RIP AD
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2-14-2006 @ 12:11PM
BGDC said...
Ann Young? It's Annyong.
One of the four episodes was good. The others felt rushed and all over the place. After so many years of belly laughs and being surprised, I frankly wasn't. I'm glad it's over with. It didn't quite jump the shark - like Lost has - but it was coming close.
RIP Arrested Development. I'll buy season 3 on DVD and proudly put it alongside my other Shows That Died Too Soon - Freaks N Geeks, Firefly.
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2-14-2006 @ 12:15PM
Carl Winslow said...
That was the happiest/saddiest finale ever. The last two episodes did such a great job wrapping everything up. I don't see how any fan of the show couldn't have been touched by the obvious effort of the writing staff on those shows. Bringing it all full circle at the end was brilliant.
And the fact that they have been planning that Annyong would be the one to bring Lucille down since at least episode 28 (Afternoon Delight) is mind blowing. Check out the graffiti on the banana stand in that one ("I'll get u Bluth -Hello.")
I am going to miss this show.
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2-14-2006 @ 12:15PM
Usama said...
the 'fake' saddam was crying "im no scar" and gave us a website devoted to this: http://www.imnoscar.com
very similiar to Oscar's websie, http://www.imoscar.com/
all the while the real saddam, scar-faced, is sitting in the Bluth Model Family home in Iraq, as far as I can tell near Haliburton Expressway or Cheney Lane or something else ticklish.
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2-14-2006 @ 12:33PM
scpukk said...
i agree with #6, the first 3 shows felt rushed and I didn't laugh too much. That's not to say they weren't funny episodes. The last episode made up for everything though. The way the wrapped everything up was genius!
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2-14-2006 @ 12:49PM
ali baba ghanoush said...
I don't think I had enough RAM to compute all that transpired. Three cheers for the return of Hello. It would've been nice to see Lucille 2 as well, especially since Lucille 1 got what was coming to her. Allegedly.
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2-14-2006 @ 1:09PM
Brent said...
"Did anyone notice the boat Gob was on was the Sea-Ward? (Reference from season 2, I think...)"
Yeah, except for a slight change. Back in season two there was this great exchange where Michael tells Gob "Get rid of the Seaward", and Lucille, misunderstanding, interjects "I'm not going anywhere". I didn't even catch the joke the first time I saw that episode, only during a second viewing, because it was fairly quick and subtle.
This time around, the boat wasn't named the 'Seaward', it was actually the 'C-Word'. Great throw-back to the joke from season 2.
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2-14-2006 @ 1:09PM
Chris Coyier said...
I was a touch disappointed, until I did a full re-watching of the whole two hours. All of it was really a nice wrap up and very well done.
I love that they did a reversal of the first line of the pilot: "What have I always said is the most important thing?" "Family." "I was gonna said Breakfast."
I think the first time through was just too sad to let it all in.
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2-14-2006 @ 1:15PM
maddr said...
did you ever notice how close Annyong is to annoying....he was kind of....
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2-14-2006 @ 1:27PM
Justin B said...
The references to "Skating with Celebrities" was hillarious. Did you notice the huge sign behind Maebe when she went to the studio?
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2-14-2006 @ 5:19PM
JimK said...
I started watching this show only three weeks ago. I watch 14 in a row the first day, a few more to finish the season, then a week alter watched all of season 2 and the first 9 of season 3 in a marathon.
Why?
BECAUSE I COULDN'T STOP. I COULDN'T FRIGGING STOP WATCHING.
Then I watched them all again when I introduced my wife to the show. Know what?
I wanna do it again. All 53. Right now.
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2-14-2006 @ 9:07PM
C said...
Hey, JimK:
It's always nice to hear from another ADdict, but WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU THREE YEARS AGO?!?!
Welcome to the club.
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2-15-2006 @ 12:57AM
noalarms said...
Do any of you know how lucky we are/were? We almost had 3 seasons of the best television entertainment since tv's were invented. The only thing that comes close for me would be The simpsons and X-files. Lets for one minute forget it was even a television show. That was 26.5 (give or take whatever for commercials ) hours of the best most clever comedy ever created. There is so much going on in just one of these episodes too keep you interested for weeks. Jokes were started in the first season and didn't finish until the 3rd season! Who puts that kind of effort into writing? I hope to god it's not over. Networks should be fighting, clawing, and throwing money at these guys to get the rights to this show. If I was a network here's what my deal would be. I know they have the money for this stuff. Hey Mitch, you let me know when you don't want to make the show anymore.
I have go take some photos. later
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2-15-2006 @ 2:40AM
CBXweb said...
I recorded AD because I knew it was an important moment in modern television history, and I had work. Its amazing how the last two hours came on a Friday and also during the opening ceremony, amazing indeed.
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