2/21/2023 0 Comments Grim dawn family mattersIn another fit of resistance, he jumped into the ocean unsupervised, only to have his hand bitten off by a seal. After a lifetime at his mother’s side, Buster rebelled and joined the army, though he stopped short of serving (he skipped training in favor of gaining prowess at an arcade claw-machine). Of those siblings, brothers Gob (Will Arnett) and Buster (Tony Hale) were given especially meaty storylines in Season Two. The show is fearless (occasionally perversely so) in its willingness to make the likable Michael - the heart of the show - as foolish as his lazy siblings. This was clear in his passive-aggressive opposition to teen son George Michael’s (Michael Cera) relationship with religious zealot Ann (Mae Whitman). This season, those influences took their toll, and Michael’s own actions were increasingly selfish. “Good” son Michael (the peerlessly deadpan Jason Bateman) struggles to teach his family lessons, to do the right thing, only to be undone by the farce and selfishness of those around him. (There’s also no pesky laugh track, but plenty of extra sight gags, wordplay, and in-jokes.) The family’s “children” are grown and saddled with insecurities, equal parts childish and sadly-adultish. Arrested crossbreeds that same sharpness and surrealism with the more complicated dynamics of a “family” sitcom, but without the pesky kids. By dispensing with life lessons, family exchanges, and serious love interests, Seinfeld followed its own comedic muse, to a result both real and surreal. I mention Seinfeld because Arrested is the only live-action sitcom to advance the form since that ’90s megahit. So was Seinfeld, particularly near the series’ end. And I do mean saga: with about a dozen major characters and another dozen recurring guests (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Liza Minnelli, Judy Greer, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Henry Winkler have stepped in and out of the show over its 40 episodes), Arrested is dense. A faux documentary, it follows the ongoing saga of the Bluths, a wealthy, spoiled family nearly brought down by their patriarch’s (Jeffrey Tambor) shady business dealings. Not so with Arrested, which springs unexpectedly from former Golden Girls writer Mitchell Hurwitz. It’s as if coming strong out of the gate is a liability: many of the best recent comedies ( Simpsons, Seinfeld) took a few years to hit creative peaks. And none lived to see a second season, much less the chance, however slim, at a third. Only a few series ( Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, My So-Called Life, Andy Richter Controls the Universe) have delivered first seasons as good as Arrested‘s. The network won’t announce its fall lineup until mid-May, and meanwhile is spending untold millions promoting any and every show created by Seth MacFarlane. Several weeks after completing an abbreviated second season (Fox cut its episode order from the standard 22 to 18), the show’s fate remains in limbo. TV critics have been unusually united behind the question, “Why aren’t more people watching Arrested Development?” Though it garnered Fox a rare Best Comedy Series Emmy last fall, Arrested couldn’t bring in big ratings in the plum post- Simpsons time slot.
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