And now the story of a rabid fan base who got another season of their beloved show, and the unreasonably high expectations that kept them from enjoying it.
The new season of “Arrested Development” has been the highlight of my summer thus far. Some friends and I got together to enjoy refreshments and marathon our way through the 15-episode arc that began streaming nearly a full 10 years after the first season aired on Fox.
It was magical to see our favorite characters return to the screen and watch the new hijinks as they unfolded.
Like every other TV show, film, book or video game to ever exist, the new season has its haters.
The general sentiment seems to be “it’s just not the same” — not necessarily that it isn’t as good as the original series, but that it doesn’t capture the same whimsical and mischievous absurdity that was more or less the defining feature of “Arrested Development.”
To those people I say, “Were we watching the same show?”
The new season is clearly not the same. It is more of a spin-off, taking the plot in a million different directions that eventually mesh together (but only once you’ve gotten through a few episodes.)
But after 10 years, how could any show have delivered on the insanely high expectations so many of its fans placed on it?
Too many “Arrested Development” fans seem to have been expecting the second coming of Michael Bluth and adjusted their expectations accordingly. Anyone who has watched the series knows that any time one of the characters expects to be successful, their efforts usually end in disaster or at least mild hilarity. It’s fitting, then, that the spider web of plot lines ends in a disappearance and yet another Bluth family member whose development is arrested (hey, that’s the name of the show!)
One of the worst things a fan can do is expect more of a work than can possibly be delivered. The most we can reasonably expect from any TV show or film is to be entertained. If we’re looking for particular qualities that make it “good” or “bad” — acting, directing, cinematography, whatever — those are secondary features to the overall goal, which is to entertain (and encourage or facilitate advertisements.)
If we aren’t entertained, the work has not succeeded. That’s all the new season of “Arrested Development” had to do. It didn’t have to adhere to the standards of every single fan. It just had to entertain us. If you were entertained, as I was, we can be satisfied.
If you were not entertained or felt let down by what you think is or was one of the greatest TV shows to have ever aired, you must have had wildly inflated hopes for a simple TV show.
To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, reserving judgment and managing expectations is a matter of infinite hope. Expecting greatness will lead to a let-down, but hoping your expectations will be exceeded leaves room for wonder and awe.
Tell Savannah what you thought about the new "Arrested Development" season at skthoma4@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @SavannahKThomas
