Arrested Development (series): A good supplement to a series repertoire

First, let's explain what repertoire means: It is just a collection of things that you plan to play. It doesn't need to be a bunch of digital movies and it may have originated from playhouses or operas. It just means that stock that you are drawing from the play or to do whatever.

For me, I tend to watch multiple series at once especially now that we have returned to the trend of releasing one episode per week on streaming.

Arrested Development is something that was recommended to me a long time ago and I think I tried to watch a few episodes but couldn't get into it. Like most things, you need to get a bit invested into the characters before it becomes funny.

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While there is no definitive central character a lot of the focus is put on Michael Bluth, who is played by Jason Bateman and I think we can all agree that Bateman is a pretty solid actor who can perform a wide range of things.

You may recognize a few of the other people in this picture as well because this did a lot for their careers in particular Michael Cera who plays the rather important role of "George Michael", the son of Michael.

The plot here is ever-evolving but it all centers around how the Bluth family empire has crumbled because of legal reasons and the patriach and father or grandfather of the Bluth family is in prison awaiting trial for charges related to running the Bluth business in a less-than-100%-legal capacity.

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Michael Bluth (Bateman) is trying this best to put the company back together but experiences a great deal of difficulty in doing so because his other family members have grown accustommed to a life of luxury that was established by the now-imprisoned George Bluth. They refuse to accept that they must cut back on expenses and this creates a lot of problems.

The problems are comedic in nature though and it's not like we have to keep the family above a certain level of money for the stories to continue.

This is a comedy, but there are some life-lessons built in there in a Scrubs sort of way. AD is a comedy first, but there are some touching moments thrown in there as well.

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There are faces and voices in there that you are going to recognize and then spend a while trying to imagine where it is that you know that voice from.

This isn't a new series though and it started in 2003 and went to 2006, where it was cancelled, it was later picked up, strangely, for 1 year in 2013 and then had another season, season 5 that strangely was released across 2018 and 2019. The interest in the show had fizzed by then and there are a lot of people that think the first 3 seasons were great and the last 2 were the time of corporate and media misinformation trying to trick us into watching a show well past it's use-by date. This is evidenced in the stark contrast between when the paid (almost certainly) professional critics opinions and the ratings and normal person opinions for the last 2 seasons. While I am certain they always tried to do it, I feel as though the people who release this or any other sort of entertainment try to manipulate us into watching bad products rather than creating actual good products.

Should I watch it?

I don't think this stands on its own well enough but there are several reasons why it should be a complementing series that you keep in reserve. While the episodes are somewhat interconnected there is no reason why, once you understand who the characters are, that you can't just jump in and out from this series. The episodes stand on their own just fine but are more humorous if you know the people in them a bit better from previous watching.

The episodes or the old-school 22 minutes long so it is low-commitment viewing as well. I often will use this as something to just unwind with when I don't know what to watch or just as a buffer between serious films or series.

One of the best things about this show though, is the fact that there is NO LAUGH TRACK. I am quite tired of that sitcom tactic and celebrate it's absence. You may not laugh your ass off the entire time, but it is done very well. It's a Modern Family before there was Modern Family and I like that. I think you will as well.

_{You can legally watch this show on just about all of the major streaming sites as part of a subscription, but due to the fact that the various seasons are owned by different production companies, the only way to have all 5 seasons in one place it so "go sailing".}