The Folly Of Man

Ok America, listen up. Remember that whole ‘Iraq thing?’ Well, that made a lot of people over here in England very upset indeed. (I know, I know you weren’t overly pleased with it either but to admit that ruins my opening sentence; which I don’t mind telling you took a lot of work.) Now this whole ‘special relationship’ thing, it works both ways; we’ve done our bit, now do yours. For god’s sake please watch ‘Arrested Development’ because if you don’t watch it we don’t get and I for one will be very angry at that. You see ‘Arrested Development’ is possibly the funniest TV show ever made. Yet it apparently continues to attract poor ratings over in the ‘Land of the Free’ (admittedly it isn’t cleaning up over in Blighty but what do you expect? It’s shown around midnight on a Sunday.)

Now I’m being careful not to wander off into racial stereotypes but why is it that this clever, dark and downright funny comedy has, and still is for we all we know, struggling to be commissioned. Is it because the public aren’t clever enough to ‘get’ it. And before I get angry letters I’m not just referring to America; it increasingly seems that all over the world people are more keen on watching ‘Top 100 Celebrities Toilets From Hell’ or whisper it…’Big Brother’, than something so chest-achingly, side-splittingly funny as AD.

You may have noticed that so far I have spent very little of this lecture actually referring to the show itself, I could for example include some of my favourite lines, but, taken out of context and when not delivered with such grace and timing by the superb cast they lose their clout. For example; my favourite line comes late on in the series (penultimate episode I think) and is;

Lucille to Gob: ‘Who’d want a bee as a gift?’

Now you may not find that particularly funny, however in the context of what has gone before and the manner in which it was said it cracked me up, and I’m guessing diehard fans of the show are laughing at this point too. Special mention must also be made to the direction, I know very little about camera angles, direction etc. except that in this case a documentary/’The Office’ Style method is used and perfectly complements the lines which can come at you like a scatter gun at times, no bad thing, I think we all agree! The direction style also complements the acting as well, it allows the show to look like a glimpse into the life of the Bluth and as such doesn’t appear ‘stagey’, the line above for example is almost overheard as the camera looks at something else, very clever!

In conclusion, America, please, please watch this show, don’t ruin it for the rest of us. Also; if you haven’t watched it yet, pleaes do somehow; stay up late and skip work; borrow it from a friend, hell steal a copy, but please do your best not to let such televisual gold be taken from our screens. Watch this show, buy this DVD then be prepared to laugh for days.