Thanks to Netflix, "Arrested Development" has finally returned after nearly seven years of waiting. But after such a long time apart—and with many of the original stars tackling much bigger Hollywood prospects—does the Bluth family story still hold up?
The original three seasons of the show are some of TV's most celebrated. The series has garnered a total of six Emmy Awards, one Golden Globe and spots on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list and Time Magazine's "All-TIME 100 TV Shows." "Arrested Development" has accrued quite a passionate fanbase that has been waiting with bated breath for the return of the show. And the new 15-episode season finally debuted May 26.
The good news is that the entire cast returned for the new season, including guest stars Carl Weather, Henry Winkler as "Barry Zuckerkorn," Ben Stiller as "Tony Wonder," Judy Greer as "Kitty Sanchez" and Liza Minnelli as "Lucille Austero."
The "bad" news is that early reaction to the new episodes has been fairly polarized. The season features a very different storytelling format than the previous three. Instead of the mostly self-contained plots of the first three seasons, each episode of season four focuses on a different character and takes place over roughly the same stretch of time.
This means that the new season features fewer "ensemble" moments than the previous ones. The disjointed narrative left many fans scratching their heads over the first few episodes.
David Pierce of The Verge wrote that he "laughed out loud exactly once during those three episodes, and nearly gave up watching the show entirely - the first 90 minutes of season four felt longer than the next six hours."
But the major consensus seems to be to just stick with it.
Many appear to be in agreement that the series starts off slow, but once it gets going, it really works.
"After Episode 7, Arrested hit its stride, leading up to a final fantastic four episodes... I even believe that if I went back and re-watched Episodes 1-6 - now knowing how it ends - I'd find a whole new appreciation and enjoyment in them," said Sadie Gennis of TV Guide.
Still, many feel that while the storytelling is ambitious, it just doesn't quite fit with the tone of "Arrested Development."
"If nothing else, the ambition of the season is overpowering, but perhaps better suited to a mystery series rather than a comedy," Matt Goldberg of Collider said.
But fans on both sides of the argument seem to agree with Goldberg on one thing: "At its heart, this is still the same Arrested Development that made us hurt from laughing so hard."
The end of the fourth season brings up some interesting possibilities. And without spoiling anything, the series concludes with a fairly open ending and leaves a lot of room for more stories involving the Bluth family.
Many fans are hopeful that Netflix can get a fifth season in order and, even more optimistically, maybe a feature film. "The season plays out as part of something bigger, serving as both an epilogue to Season 3 and the set-up for whatever's next, whether it's another season or a movie," said Kelly West of Cinemablend.
All four seasons of "Arrested Development" are currently available to watch instantly on Netflix.
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