3. Arrested Development
So 2013 was the year that Arrested Development finally resolved its own arrested development and debuted a brand new season on Netflix, of all places. Critical consensus was mostly positive, but less muted than the rapturous nostalgia that the three seasons preceding it had gained in the shows absence. For my money, season four of Arrested Development is the best yet, so densely packed with allusions, gags, and frantic wordplay combined with genuinely virtuoso slapstick that it proves without doubt that the first three seasons were no fluke. That the entire cast returned, including guest stars with relatively minor roles (Liza Minelli, Ben Stiller, Carl Weathers, Henry Winkler, and Scott Baio, among others) to the project shows just how much esteem the show is held in by the cast and crew, and to viewers and critics alike.
Season four is presented in an incredibly strange way – each episode gives a different perspective on a single set of events, culminating in a showdown at the Cinco de Cuatro celebrations, through the eyes of each character. Some show up more than others – George-Michael and Buster are woefully underused outside of their own episodes – but all in all the entire season feels like a huge melting pot for a morass of ideas and jokes, watchable in any order. It’s a very experimental way to make a comeback for a show that was cancelled in the first place for baffling an indifferent TV audience, and would not have been possible if not for the support of Netflix. Fox would never have given Arrested Development another series, and even if it had, they wouldn’t have signed off on such an ambitious idea, no matter how great it would eventually go on to be.
There’s nary a weak episode across the entire set of fifteen, which speaks volumes on just how good a job Mitch Hurwitz has done in giving each character a unique but fully-rounded voice. It’s the minor characters who add the detail and flavour of the show – I could watch Bob Loblaw all day, and every gag around his name cracks me up each time I hear it. There’s so many call-backs to previous jokes, and references to other moments within the show, that it makes your head spin to try and focus on them all. As such, it only gets better with every watch. With a movie apparently on the horizon, it would appear that there’s going to be a whole lot more Arrested Development coming right for us, which is a good thing.