Is Season 4 of Arrested Development worth it?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

I recently got Netflix. I spent the first week or two binge watching the British sitcom The IT Crowd, and I don't know if I've ever laughed as hard as I have at anything else in my life. One of the few other shows I remember having that similar effect was Arrested Development in its first three season on network TV.

Seeing that Netflix recently aired the fourth season of Arrested Development exclusively, I decided to check it out. I've only seen the first two episodes, and honestly, they only come off as so-so. They are more chuckleworthy than laugh till you cry, which is how I remembered the first three seasons being (Mrs. Featherbottom, the Hot Cops, George Michael's student election campaign video come to mind as incredibly hilarious moments).

Maybe I just feel like I'm coming off the high of The IT Crowd and Season 4 just doesn't match up. Or maybe it gets a lot better as the season goes along.

Without giving away too much, does Season 4 match the hilarious quality of the first three seasons?

[Orrex]

1. The IT Crowd is mangificent.

Arrested Development is worth watching because it has some great moments, but the format is altered somewhat, and I found this a bit off-putting.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. I laughed so hard at times during the IT Crowd I literally had problems breathing.

Like the time where Moss answered an ad for German cooking lessons but when he gets there, the ad was actually for a German cannibal who wanted to eat him. And he just laughs about it as if it was nothing and they end up watching a movie together on his big screen TV.

And I'll never thing of a wheelchair van lift the same without thinking, "I'm disabled!"

As for Arrested Development, I noticed that they have altered the format--they basically spend an entire episode on one character. As much as I like the characters, I liked seeing them all in one episode. I feel like I'm missing out.

[Orrex]

3. The fire @ Sea Parks kills me every time.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. A fire?!? At a Sea Parks?!?

I think what makes that so hilarious is Chris O'Dowd's simple delivery of that line. I can't imagine anyone else saying that and it being nearly as hilarious as it came off.

"Lots of water everywhere."
"Yeah, I mean, I would imagine a whale needs a lot of water".
"I don't think you can have whale in a place where there isn't a huge amount of water. It just seem like a weird place to go on fire."

I loved the scene where Douglas is acting as his own attorney in his divorce case, and he calls Moss as a witness, and he's unable to get past a single question, "You're name is Maurice Moss, is it not?" without Moss literally falling all over himself. And yet he keeps on asking him that same question without getting an answer.

[Sheldon Cooper]

5. I think the single-character format really detracts from the show.

So much of what made AD hysterically funny was the ensemble acting. Apparently they couldn't get all those actors freed up at the same time so they changed the focus, but it's a real detriment in my opinion.

[fishwax]

7. My thoughts exactly

It's barely the same show.

[fishwax]

6. It was disappointing, mainly because the characters were separated.

I get why they had to do it, but the show suffered as a result.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. I watched the third episode last night. It was definitely an improvement.

I loved the bit with the barter restaurant and Tobias' Method One acting clinic.

The fourth episode wasn't quite at that level, though.