Arrested Development has run its course and we don’t need any more of it

Credit: Netflix

This discussion is likely to be divisive when it comes to the Arrested Development fan base, but I genuinely believe the show’s had its day and, frankly, we don’t need to see any more of the Bleuth family.

Back in the day - well, circa 2003 to be more precise - Arrested Development burst onto the TV scene as the smartest, sharpest and undoubtedly wittiest series in a long time. A cast of unknowns gathering on screen to deliver bitey, intelligent comedy with impeccable timing set it apart from its peers and came at a time where that power shift between cinema and television hadn’t quite happened yet - in no uncertain terms TV was still inferior to the world of the big screen.

But there were some key elements that cemented the show as an all time great. Firstly, the sheer quality of its scripts - more so throughout season two, with season one offering a consistent glimmer - made it so utterly watchable. Quirkiness and oddball humour made it so appealing. Secondly, the idea of Tobias being so far in the closet he’d back out of the other side but couldn’t identify with it himself made for some genuinely brilliant exchanges between him and the rest of the family.

Credit: Netflix

And it was perhaps these two vital components that, when tinkered with, extinguished the fire that made Arrested Development so damn good. Season three began its downfall when the comedy began to enter a more mainstream arena: gone were the recurring, subtle quips that fans felt made it their show. Dumbing down on the comedy quality level morphed it into what a bunch of other sitcoms are: bog average background fodder.

And it was heartbreaking to see the good work of seasons one and two damaged by what the show tried to become. Having been cancelled, perhaps the show’s writers and producers knew they had to make it more accessible to the mainstream if it ever wanted to carry on. But that was without question its biggest mistake.

Trying to make a niche comedy show into a mainstream one is actually not that hard to do. It’s just that in the process it completely loses the spark it had and begins to feel on par with anything else you’d see late-night on ITV 2.

Credit: Netflix

The other big thing they did was to screw with the very thing that made Tobias arguably the greatest character in the series. With some much innuendo over time we had established that this man was unaware he was gay but everyone else around him could see it. It was obvious. And the fact he apparently had no idea was the running joke. So to then make the character more open about his sexuality completely altered the dynamics of who he was: the person changed, as did the scenarios he’d find himself in, but what was most saddening was that the character became rather unfunny; he no longer had an edge.

So for me it was a mixture of surprise and scepticism when Netflix picked it up for a fourth season and, in a similar fashion to season three, the life had well and truly been sucked out of it. AD was no longer fresh, considering all its stars were now known faces hampered its individuality somewhat.. It had become a stagnant attempt at comedy - something indistinguishable.

The talk of more episodes and an actual movie is, in my eyes, a terrible idea. I was a massive fan over the course of the first two season but now I want absolutely nothing to do with it. Heck, even those golden episodes may have even become tainted and that, my friends, is the tragedy here.

Credit: Netflix

Are or were you a fan of Arrested Development? Do you still like it or think it’s irreversibly broken?

Mike P Williams is a freelance TV, film, music and entertainment writer, with an obsession for all things Game of Thrones, Jurassic Park and Pixar. Over the years he’s written for MTV, Total Film, BuzzFeed, Loaded, and currently scribbles for Yahoo Movies and BBC Radio 1.