The year is 2003. A new Fox sitcom appears on the airwaves, featuring an ensemble cast with relatively unknown actors including Michael Cera and Will Arnett. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before – no laugh track, no fixed set. Instead, there’s a narrator and a nearly documentary-like method of filming. On top of the originality of this show, it is sharply funny, each episode packed with so much wit and humor that it often requires multiple viewings to hear and appreciate every joke. Sadly, however, it was doomed from the start, suffering from poor viewer ratings despite garnering critical acclaim. Like all good things, it came to an end, airing its third and final season in 2006. Suffice it to say that its cancellation a huge mistake.
In the years that followed, however, this show received cult status, with more and more people discovering it after its tragic cancellation. One could say that the show had been ahead of its time as well, with its pseudo-documentary style becoming prominent in later years with shows such as The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and Community. However, after years of fans clamoring for more, basic economics took hold, and the high demand has led to a television miracle. Seven years after its cancellation, the show is returning for a fourth season, produced by and for Netflix.
On May 26th, 2013, a decade after it originally aired, Arrested Development will once again grace the small screen–which in this case means laptops nationwide. And, as in 2003, the producers of Arrested Development are playing with serialized television. On the date of its release, all fifteen episodes of the new season will debut simultaneously onto Netflix servers. Instead of waiting a week between episodes, one will be able to watch them in a single sitting, marathon style. The episodes have also been primarily written to follow the exploits of a specific main character and to catch up with the story after the ten-year hiatus.
The potential success of Arrested Development Season 4 could truly impact the future of television. As of April 2013, over 36 million people worldwide subscribe to Netflix, and it is steadily managing to compete with more established subscription-based services such as HBO. More and more people are electing to view television programs on their computers, and websites such as Netflix and Hulu provide an alternative to illegal and expensive sources of television. And while Netflix’s original series – Lilyhammer, House of Cards, and Hemlock Grove – have been met with mixed critical reception, they regularly entertain a significant number of viewers. Amazon Prime is also gambling on internet-based content, producing fourteen original pilots for subscribers to vote on, including a series based on the movie Zombieland. Online distribution appears to be the wave of the future.
It certainly appears to be working for Arrested Development, with heightened excitement for Season 4. If you have not seen it before, give it a shot. If you don’t subscribe to Netflix, borrow somebody’s password. It’s worth it. Arrested Development is a comedy of the highest caliber. It doesn’t talk down to its audience by priming them with laugh tracks or going for the easy punchline every time. Rather, it rewards those viewers who follow it in sequence, extending gags over multiple episodes and peppering each episode with sophisticated humor and some of the sharpest dialogue of all time. And at the end of the day, there’s nothing quite like Tobias Fünke admitting that he accidentally blue himself yet again.
