TMC
09-01-2024, 02:04 AM
https://jacksonupperco.com/2024/08/27/the-eight-best-arrested-development-episodes-of-season-two/
I think this is, overall, Arrested Development’s best season, for as we’ve seen, most sitcoms reach their peak when “novelty meets knowingness” — when a premise and its key conceptual particulars are still new enough to regularly inspire fresh laughs and story, but the show has also come to better understand its characters (and character dynamics), so they can better offer support. For an idea-driven sitcom like this, novelty is vital — the speed and consistency with which this series consumes jokes and plot means that it prioritizes having creative, funny, clever ideas above all, especially given its growing reputation for intelligence aided by the mockumentary setup, which enables a unique sense of humor and storytelling that must also remain innovative, upheld by self-referential gags dependent on short-term and long-term narrative notions. In other words, story and style matter so much on Arrested Development — that’s what makes it special — so its success hinges on them still getting displayed in exciting ways.
I think this is, overall, Arrested Development’s best season, for as we’ve seen, most sitcoms reach their peak when “novelty meets knowingness” — when a premise and its key conceptual particulars are still new enough to regularly inspire fresh laughs and story, but the show has also come to better understand its characters (and character dynamics), so they can better offer support. For an idea-driven sitcom like this, novelty is vital — the speed and consistency with which this series consumes jokes and plot means that it prioritizes having creative, funny, clever ideas above all, especially given its growing reputation for intelligence aided by the mockumentary setup, which enables a unique sense of humor and storytelling that must also remain innovative, upheld by self-referential gags dependent on short-term and long-term narrative notions. In other words, story and style matter so much on Arrested Development — that’s what makes it special — so its success hinges on them still getting displayed in exciting ways.