DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
 
 
 
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
May 29, 2018  | By David Bianculli

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

 

SEASON PREMIERE: This sitcom, created and occasionally resurrected by Mitchell Hurwitz, has a long and increasingly complicated history. First was its original incarnation on Fox from 2003-2006, three seasons of outrageous originality, with Jason Bateman as the comparatively normal member of the extremely dysfunctional and privileged Bluth family. A fourth season, comprised of individual episodes starring separate characters, appeared on Netflix in 2013, back when a TV series created for a streaming service was still an unusual occurrence. And now, five years after that, comes a more standard Season 5: eight episodes of Arrested Development, with the entire cast popping in and out as the plot requires. That includes Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter as the Bluth patriarch and matriarch, even though, in real life, she has accused him of verbal harassment. But just watching the episodes, and judging them in their own comedy context, Season 5 of Arrested Development works very, very well. Ron Howard, providing narration, remains the glue that holds everything together. Walter and Portia de Rossi, as acerbic mother and daughter, trade barbs beautifully. Alla Shawkat, as young Maeby, finally gets to steal scenes by disguising herself as an elderly rest home resident (pictured). And Henry Winkler, already having a banner year as the acting coach on HBO’s Barry, sticks the landing on his scenes here as well, dispensing awful advice as the Bluth family attorney, whose name happens to be Barry. The plot of this new season is as twisty and interconnected as a Curb Your Enthusiasm story line – and, when it’s clicking, comparably laugh-out-loud funny. And Bateman? Still one of the best deadpan-delivery actors in the business.

 
 
 
 
 
Leave a Comment: (No HTML, 1000 chars max)
 
 Name (required)
 
 Email (required) (will not be published)
 
VTQEQ
Type in the verification word shown on the image.