I know very few people who took to Arrested Development after seeing just the pilot episode. It’s a show that relies on momentum and the careful layering of its jokes, and so a lot of what the very first episode serves to do is to lay the groundwork for the insanity that would come later. We’re introduced to all the characters, of which there are many even from the start, and with this comes a number of details that are necessary for the show to present even though they won’t be picked up on very much during the first viewing. It’s why the pilot seems so much stronger after having seen the entire first season, or entire series. The characters were clearly conceived right from the start.
Even more impressive than the conception of the characters evident from the first episode is the tone of the show, which was astonishingly fresh and different at the time, to the point of being a little offputting initially. We witness a family full of rather absurd characters, but the actors are playing them completely without irony. Operating without the usual comedic rhythms where clear jokes are delivered at regular intervals is a risky thing, but it also allows the story to breathe without too much pressure for constant gags, and also makes the laughs more surprising when they come. It may not have been easy to identify this the first time seeing it, but Arrested Development’s pilot episode accomplished all these things while making itself interesting and funny enough to keep the attention of most viewers. And we had no idea what we were in for.
Continue reading on the next page…
