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AV Club takes on Arrested Development "Good Grief"

post #1 of 18
9/9/10 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 
This might be the most perfect hour of television ever!
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post #2 of 18
9/9/10 at 8:03pm
It was only about 22 minutes of television, really. Otherwise I agree. A great piece.

You don't really think about it if you've been watching it from the beginning, but AD was just so incredibly dense. So much going on in any given episode. I can definitely see how someone coming in halfway through could get lost.
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post #3 of 18
9/9/10 at 9:33pm
Awesome review. Though the comments on the article it just remind me just how much I hate a lot of AD fans. Their smug sense of 'getting it' drives me around the bend.
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post #4 of 18
9/9/10 at 9:37pm
Maybe my favorite AD episode? It's very hard to pick. My least favorite episode, however, is Ready, Aim, Marry Me!, in which Martin Short almost single-handedly sinks a well-written episode with his awful awful performance. Any good will I ever had towards Martin Short was sucked out of my lungs (that's where I store my good will) that day, and replaced with the black sludge of hate.
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post #5 of 18
9/9/10 at 9:51pm
Wacker is right on the money. Till I read the AV Club piece, I'd never really gave much thought to just how dense the show's humor got as it went on. It all just came across so effortlessly.

I'M EVEN GREATER THAN I THOUGHT I WAS!!!! (that bit of smugness is for Ryan)
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post #6 of 18
9/9/10 at 10:19pm
The correct answer is, and always will be, "Spring Breakout."

You're welcome, America.
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post #7 of 18
9/9/10 at 10:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
Maybe my favorite AD episode? It's very hard to pick. My least favorite episode, however, is Ready, Aim, Marry Me!, in which Martin Short almost single-handedly sinks a well-written episode with his awful awful performance. Any good will I ever had towards Martin Short was sucked out of my lungs (that's where I store my good will) that day, and replaced with the black sludge of hate.
I was with you till I rewatched Three Amigos a few days ago. Now the black sludge I harbored toward him has grayed somewhat.
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post #8 of 18
9/9/10 at 10:39pm
I liked Martin Short when he was on the show, actually.
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post #9 of 18
9/9/10 at 10:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raspberry Leper View Post
I liked Martin Short when he was on the show, actually.
My girlfriend agrees with you. Both of you should be banned from the Earth. He was so horrible.
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post #10 of 18
9/9/10 at 10:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
My least favorite episode, however, is Ready, Aim, Marry Me!, in which Martin Short almost single-handedly sinks a well-written episode with his awful awful performance.
Woah, woah, woah. I got to the last post in this thread reading it as Martin Sheen every time it came up. So confusing.
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post #11 of 18
9/9/10 at 11:09pm
During its original broadcast, the relatively saner 1st season was still recent and that character stuck out hard. Blatantly. Considering how crazy the show got in its third season, I feel like Martin Short's character would've fit in better around then.

Taking the whole series into account, I've also softened on Martin Short's guest appearance. I actually laugh when Dragon shakes him. STOP SHAKIN'! STOP SHAKIN'!
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post #12 of 18
9/9/10 at 11:14pm
He was really bad. His personality doesn't mesh at all with the team concept of comedy of Arrested Development. To continue sports metaphors, motherfucker is a major ballhog in that episode.
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post #13 of 18
9/9/10 at 11:23pm
"To the nuts, Dragon! No, The bridge mix, you fool!"

Funny.
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post #14 of 18
9/9/10 at 11:32pm
They might be right. Although, I have a soft spot for "Pier Pressure", since it's the episode that made me fall in love with the show.
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post #15 of 18
9/9/10 at 11:58pm
He was playing it almost horrifically broadly, but I think he's got a solid 1/1 ratio of cringe-inducing to hilarious moments in that episode. For every "Shoot me!" there's an "Ignore it. Ignore it! It’s just something the body does when you shake it!"

As much as I enjoyed the article, it puts too much emphasis on loyal viewing being necessary to really 'grasp' the show. The beauty of most of the call-backs is how seamless they are. Considering how much of the narration is devoted to explaining some of the more ridiculous eccentricities it's really one of the most welcoming shows there is, assuming you're willing to accept a lot of weirdness in bursts instead of having it slowly seeded in.
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post #16 of 18
9/10/10 at 12:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raspberry Leper View Post
"To the nuts, Dragon! No, The bridge mix, you fool!"

Funny.
My perspective as well. Really anything with Dragon. And when Dragon leaves him unattended on the rail of the balcony. He doesn't quite fit in the grand scheme, but it's still a funny episode.

Body chocolate!
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post #17 of 18
9/10/10 at 1:13am
That episode sounds like such a cluttered clusterfuck when synopsized in detail, but, like most of the episodes, it just flows so cleanly and moves so quickly everything just seems organic. That said, the show absolutely needs to be seen from episode one, and ideally re-watched in order.
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post #18 of 18
9/10/10 at 5:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erik Wacker View Post
It was only about 22 minutes of television, really. Otherwise I agree. A great piece.

You don't really think about it if you've been watching it from the beginning, but AD was just so incredibly dense. So much going on in any given episode. I can definitely see how someone coming in halfway through could get lost.
Ha! Well, its so jam packed I forget its only a half hour show.

I've definitely tried to get people into the show when it aired who would watch and episode and find it funny, but not hilarious because most of the jokes are subtle and self-referential. However, they have very different reactions when I let them borrow mt DVD set.
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