The Most Depressing Show About an Animated Horse

Imagine there are two shows. One is a cartoon comedy about a horse who is friends with a dog and a cat. The other is a drama about a washed up former 90s sitcom who is now a depressed alcoholic trying to get his life back on track while continuing to self destruct. What if I told you that both of those were the same show? They are, and that show is BoJack Horseman.

BoJack Horseman follows Arrested Development arnett Will Arnett as the titular anthropomorphic horse trying to get his life back together. The show takes place in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals live side by side. What makes it interesting is that BoJack Horseman is much less of a comedy than it seems to be. The show is actually a dark character study of a group of deeply unhappy people dealing with depression and other mental health issues.  BoJack seeks happiness while trying to move past his dark childhood and overbearing, unloving parents. 

Most of the humor that is present in the series is derived from the background jokes and animal puns that are present while the drama takes place within the characters. The background of every scene is chock full of gags that require multiple viewings to catch. 

There are so many more

The shows first season was given mixed reviews mainly based off the show's first five episodes. However critics agreed that once the show found its footing it became critically acclaimed. Season two was highly praised as being one of the smartest shows on television. I highly recommend watching this show and giving it at least the first season to really get you hooked. Watch this show.

The Arrested Development Pilot: One of the best pilots EVER

Arrested Development aired it's pilot on FOX on November 2nd, 2003. Since then, throughout its four seasons, the show has received 6 Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and recognition for being one of the funniest shows aired on television.

In my personal opinion, the pilot of this show is one of the strongest pilots for a television series I have ever seen. Typically, pilots are ruled out to not be considered the best, but this show breaks that rule. In this episode, you are introduced to every important character in the series. The main character, Michael Bluth, played by Jason Bateman, narrates the episode and gives a detailed description of his highly dysfunctional family members. The fast paced editing and highly saturated coloring make the episode even more intriguing to watch. Lower thirds are used as well as many graphics to point to certain things and create different vectors.

Another aspect that I found interesting is that when they go from one setting to another, they don't just cut it, they create two different boxes on the screen and then bring the next scene into full. I have never seen that done on a TV sitcom before. The dialogue that is used is absolutely hysterical and the conflicts that arrive are so coincidental and unrealistic that they make you laugh out loud. The killer cast of Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, and many more add hilarious antics with each of their lines. Overall, this pilot was incredible and really set a high standard for situational comedies.

Netflix the New Media Titan
      Its the recent phenomenon that captured America by storm, it is what 95% of college students are doing right now, and it is why children under the age of 4 are going to ask “what television was for” when they grow up, it is Netflix. 

         This new fad is a company that provides subscribers a platform for on demand Internet streaming for movies and television shows. It also has the much less used DVD mail rental service, all for less than ten dollars a month. Forbes listed it as 30^th in its most innovative companies list. According to Wikipedia the company was established in 1999 and approximately ten years later it had ten million subscribers and offered over one hundred thousand titles. Then by 2013 is more than tripled its amount of subscribers.

      

      Netflix didn’t stop there; I suppose the company got tiered of just being the medium to films and television programming. That is why in March of 2011 Netflix began producing its own original content to be premiered strictly off of Netflix. Netflix now streams a plethora of “Netflix originals” as well as rebooting and continuing other series, which it bought the rights to such as:

• ·      House of Cards
• ·      Arrested Development
• ·      Hemlock grove
• ·      Orange is the New Black
• ·      Lilyhammer
• ·      Knights of Sidonia
• ·      Love
• ·      Derek

      Netflix is also planning to team up with larger studios such as DreamWorks Animation and Disney to release new series based off of existing shows or franchises. Netflix was nominated for and won a Golden Globe award for its original series “House of Cards” and just this year its original document “The Square” was nominated for an academy award. 

Shows To Watch Over the Duration of What Will Hopefully Be a Rather Long Lifetime

Over the years, a great many people have asked, "Ryan, what television shows are worth watching?" (Editor's Note: Only one person has ever actually asked him this.) I have spent much of my own time pondering what one's time would be put to best use, in terms of television gazing. 

And so with nothing else to do, (Editor's Note: He wrote this about an hour before a final he had not studied for at all up until that point. And he spent half an hour writing this.) I wrote up a guide to shows that deserved to be watched. Hope it is of some use to someone someday:

Essentials

- The Sopranos (My pick for the best TV show of all time.  It’s about a mob boss in New Jersey named Tony Soprano who is stricken with panic attacks. He goes to therapy to try and solve them. Through both his therapy sessions and his life, we see him struggle with sin, lust, greed, anger. Basically everything that makes us human. And it’s about whether he can overcome those things, or if he’ll be crushed by them. If Freud, Shakespeare, and Martin Scorsese all made a show together, it’d be this. There’s much more to it than that (He’s not the only character), but all this is what that’s what makes the show interesting to me.)

- The Wire (The general consensus pick for the greatest show of all time. Slow, but so worth it. It’s a very smart dissection of the drug war on a Dickensian scale, analyzing every single possible angle of “The Game”.  If you want to understand that’s wrong with the drug war, this is where to find out.)

- Deadwood (The other pick that sometimes people make for the greatest television show of all time. Of the top 3, it is probably the most optimistic, but that is not saying much. Takes place in a gold mining town in South Dakota during 1877. All about how societies slowly grows. Think Shakespeare if Shakespeare used the word cocksucker every thirty seconds. )

- Mad Men (It is The Great Gatsby on television. All about people and their attempts to acquire happiness, or what they believe is happiness, during a very iconic era of this country. Riveting stuff.)

- Breaking Bad (Favorite show of the last five years. What does it take to break a good man?)

- The Simpsons (Trust me, early Simpsons changed the game. They’re brilliant. For the 90’s, greatestAmerican satire there was. I mean, they’ve invented words that are now in Webster’s Dictionary. That’s how good it is! THEY MADE UP WORDS.)

Not Quite in Top 6 But Might As Well Still Be Essential

- The Shield (Ifyou combined The Wire and Breaking bad. Plus, best series finale to a showever. Taking place in a drug ravaged area of L.A. called Farmington, it’s all about this small squad of cops that is allowed to deal with drug dealers by anymeans necessary. Sometimes they do the right thing. Other times, they don’t. But then, what price are you willing to pay for your safety?)

- Arrested Development (If you haven’t seen this, I’ll be disappointed.)

- Battlestar Galactica (The newer one. I haven’t actually seen it yet, but the general acclaim surrounding this inclines me to say to watch this one.)

- Game of Thrones (Lord of the Rings with more blood, sex, and modern themes of power and politics. And lots of incest.)

- Louie (Modern day Woody Allen basically. Funny but introspective. I love this show to death, and one episodein particular had a massive impact on me emotionally… I am a dork.)

Some Random Great Shows That Are Not Necessarily Essential

- Justified (This show is so good that even when it is slow it is still better than 90% of what’s on tv. But I don’t want to say essential because it’s still on and they could mess it up. I doubt they will at this point though.)

- Terriers (Little known, it only ran a season, but holy shit was it great. Think a modern noir films about two shaggy private eyes working for scraps in southern California. Most fun you’ll have all year. Please watch this show, it deserves to be known!)

- Veronica Mars (Film noir that takes place in high school. Witty and dark, it is a compelling private eye shows. BUT WATCH TERRIERS FIRST.)

- Firefly (I’ll just use what Joss Whedon said. “It’s about nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things.”)

- Comedy Bang Bang (You can knock this show out in a day. Parody of late night talk shows, really absurd humor. May not be up your alley, but I love it.)

- Cheers (Not as crazy or manic as current sitcoms and more character based, but great stuff in here if you can get into it.)

Great But Flawed Shows Worth Watching

- Buffy/Angel (Great, great character work. Amazing dialogue. And some wickedly inventive plotting. That said, when it's bad, it's really bad. Which is unfortunately something that happens more often then I'd like to admit. Especially in the beginning, Buffy's rough to get through. I would just skip season one entirely, but many would disagree. Ultimately, it's your call. I haven't seen Angel, but understand that it is of equal merit.)

- Lost (People either love or hate this show. Watch it to enjoy the stellar character work, but do not expect a perfect resolution to all your questions.)

- Friday Night Lights (Another series I have not actually seen but I understand is very good, the only reason I put it on flawed is that a certain subplot in season 2 is still, to this day, routinely mocked by the TV watching populace at large.)

- West Wing (Great in the early seasons, but the seasons not penned by Aaron Sorkin are apparently lacking.)

- Scrubs

- Boardwalk Empire

- Homeland

- Malcolm in the Middle

- 24

What I look for in TV shows

I'm very specific with what shows I give my time to since recently I don't seem to have lot of it. Unfortunately I just finished the episodes of Doctor Who on Netflix and am in this television limbo where I don't have a show anymore. Of course the obvious question now is What should I watch next? I could just passively follow Netflix's intense suggestions and advertisement and watch Orange is the New Black but I don't think Netflix entirely understands my taste. That made me start thinking, what do I look for in TV shows? The past shows I intensely followed were Scrubs, 30 Rock, It's South Park, How I Met Your Mother, Doctor Who, and Arrested Development. The first thing I noticed is that I love shows that can make me laugh. So obviously it'll have to be some kind of sitcom or comedy. All of these shows had very strong characters that I easily Sympathized for. JD from scrubs, The Doctor from Doctor Who, and Ted from How I Met Your Mother are all strong, quirky, but powerful characters. They all have such a passion for people whether they're looking for a wife in Ted's case or they're saving the universe in the Doctor's case. All of these characters demonstrate a passion for people and that's what I think I love so much. It reminds of how we talked about creating a backbone for a character that influences every decision they make. For Ted he's always looking for a wife. For JD it's trying to help the patient. For the Doctor it's protecting all forms of life. That aspect of deeper meaning in shows is what I really love.

The next quality I think the writing. All of the shows I've listed here are so beautifully written. In Arrested Development almost every line is joke that also pushes the story line forward. In Doctor Who there are so many different story arch's beautifully intwined in each other that I can't even comprehend how they do it. For 30 Rock the characters are all so exaggerated but the situations and dialogue they're given makes it all seem like a normal thing.  Southpark still blows me away because they make it all seem so stupid and crude but are still able to make informative statements on current events. That's something I really respect because I have no idea how they do it.

The third quality I think I look for is a show that makes statements about current issues. I feel like it's hard to get a lot of people to informatively look into a current issue and have a stance on it but I think TV can help show people an exaggerated version of both sides. 30 Rock very obviously did it especially during the 2012 election. As I stated about South Park earlier, it does a really nice job on that but it also makes both sides look equally ridiculous so no one group of people feel put off by it. Doctor Who has been involving many characters who represent their stance on same sex marriages. It shows to me that they are paying attention and are really trying to make a difference with their medium.

Going from here and with suggestions from friends I think I will be starting Parks And Recreation this weekend. All I've been hearing about it from friends is how great all the characters are and how good it is.

Recurring Developments

The other day I stumbled across a website called "Recurring Developments". This website, amazingly enough, maps out the entire thread of inside jokes within the popular TV show Arrested Development. This map shows the inside joke, which episode those jokes happen, as well as the description of the jokes, and fun facts of the episode.

For those of you who haven't seen the show, Arrested Development has a whole slew of inside jokes that the characters mention during not only the show, but during the whole series. This is one of my favorite parts of this show because it ties the whole show together. It makes even the most mundane of moments in the show funny because the character pulls out a joke that is just as funny the 10th time you hear it.

The website is so fascinating to me because it shows the level of thought that this show puts into each and every episode. The attention to detail is just inspiring. Each joke is woven into episodes and the process of doing so seems so effortless. All of the jokes work in each episode and they never seem out of place. My personal favorites are the jokes about Ann and the jokes about Tobias being a never nude.

I also found the mapping of the inside jokes to be quite impressive as well. There was a lot of detail in that mapping and you could tell that the people who made it knew their Arrested Development. I love that this show fosters so much interactivity of the viewers. Many viewers don't just watch the show. They go to websites like this to look more into the show and they become participants in the show by blogging or sharing their ideas. This show definitely promotes a cross-platform interactivity because viewers just can't get enough of it!

Filming Style of Arrested Development

Like many people I am a huge fan of the TV show Arrested Development and when Season 4 came out, I decided to re-watch the first three seasons and noticed something interesting. There is a very distinct camera style that is used during the show. Almost the whole show is shot handheld by someone who is a little too shaky. Here is a clip to show you what I mean.

The dialogue scenes seem to be entirely shot by cameras on shoulder mounts using fast paced zooms and pans. Normally people discourage this kind of filming because it feels somehow sloppy but for me, it somehow works for the show. Here is my theory on why. For those of you who haven't seen the show first off... watch it... secondly it is about a man named Michael Bluth who is forced to take over his family affairs after his father is put in prison. However the rest of his dysfunctional family make his job unbearable. This is why I think the show is shot so frantically, it is supposed to represent how frantic each episode is. Every episode Michael needs to overcome some obstacle being put up by someone in his family. Since Michael is the protagonist I think that maybe the camera represents how frantic and unorganized his job is.

 

Well anyway that is my theory on the interesting camera style for Arrested Development please comment if you have any questions.

This summer I was fortunate enough to have some free time so I decided to fill that free time by watching some TV shows I've been interested in watching for a while. It's an official list of TV shows that I am slowly making my way through. The first show I watched was Arrested Development. My original interest was sparked by Netflix producing a fourth season for the show. Being a Television-Radio major I felt this was a step in a new direction for TV that I should make sure I'm aware of. I started the show and finished the first three seasons within two weeks. The more I watched the more I was hooked. At first I was a bit hesitant thinking that this show would be too incredibly frustrating to watch as Jason Bateman's character, Michael Bluth, struggled to accomplish even the most minor victories. But by the second season, I couldn't get enough of it. Mitchell Hurwitz and the other writers did an amazing job. I felt like almost every line was a punch line but yet made sense in the story of the episode. Even the foreshadowing for Tony Hale's character, Buster Bluth, loosing his hand to a "loose seal," hilariously similar sounding to Jessica Walter's character's name, Lucille Bluth, was genius. This was the first show in a while that I could be watching alone and laugh out loud to myself. And even talking about it to the other people made it that more hilarious. The amount of great quotes from that show is ridiculous. One of my quotes is from Gob, Will Arnett's chatacter, "I know what an erection feels like Michael. No, it's the opposite. It's... it's like my heart is getting hard."

Now after getting through those three beautiful seasons was fantastic but the closer the fourth season dawned on me, the more worried I got.  How could they recreate something this good? The characters will be too old. How are they going to pull this off? These questions constantly circled through my head as I wrapped up the third season. It became a large topic of discussion with my friends who were also Arrested Development fans. So bravely and unsure of what would happen. Me and my brother let Netflix roll us over into the next season. If Netflix didn't have that feature where it just starts the next episode in 15 seconds then we probably would've put it off. The first episode of season 4 was alright. I wasn't blown away but I knew what they we're doing was tough so I hung in there. I kept saying maybe the next ones will be like the old ones. But it wasn't. In reality I shouldn't of expected it too. For what it was overall, I was impressed and it was still a good show. But the first 3 seasons we're a great show, and I missed that. I've been hearing talks of possibly a movie which I will definitely see and  I'm still glad Netflix created a fourth season. I look forward to whatever comes next. 

Can Arrested Development Hook Us Again?

Arrested Development originally aired on Fox to regrettably low ratings, but for those who did watch it, it was like getting struck my lightning. One of the most beloved of cult-hit TV shows, Arrested Development was revived recently by Netflix, bringing fifteen brand new episodes with the Bluth family to the small screen yet again. But after all these years, can creator Mitch Hurwitz capture our imaginations again?

The original conception of Arrested Development occurred at a time of corporate scandal, most notably: the Enron. The inciting action of the entire series is based off of this topicality, with the father of the Bluth family being arrested because of his illegal decisions as the head of his company. This sends the entire family spiraling out of control, and then COMEDY! Also entering the mix is the invasion of Iraq, the ties the U.S. government had with Saddam Hussein, and the fallout therein. This provided another large plotline and hilarious climax in the series.

Bringing this series to life again almost a decade later leaves creator and writer Mitch Hurwitz with the problem of making the show current, topical and relevant again. Considering we are now in a recession (of some sort), the job market is much lower, and we are now almost in a conflict with North Korea, one can think of many angles through which Hurwitz can still provide a social satire.

Another present change is the actual means of consumption as well as the story structure. Providing content through Netflix, one can sit down and watch the entire season in one (sleep-deprived) day. The story structure is also reimagined, with each episode following a different member of the Bluth family, ultimately leading up to an Arrested Development feature film. Will these separate stories culminate in at least a few traditional episodes? Is showing the family apart the best decision, considering the show is built on the total disfunction of the family when they are together?

Mitch Hurwitz capture lightning once, and I for one will be watching on May 26 to see if he can do it again.

Arrested Development Comeback!

This past week the first clip of the highly anticipated forth season of Arrested Development. The show went off the air in 2005 after poor ratings despite receiving high critical acclaim. The show follows around the Bluth family, a wealthy group of people who often engage in selfish behavior in order to fulfill their instant gratification. All the members of the original cast are returning which is an amazing thing when you consider how large it really is. Ron Howard is coming back as the show's narrator and it is being released exclusively on Netflix. I can't wait!

Arrested Development

Another season of Arrested Development?! I knew there was a movie in the works, but the shows creator Mitch Hurwitz just announced plans to release a fourth season: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irNKx40fJa__Xg3Ns5lRQe4nXa1Q?docId=5e86a359373744d6a547625d2e88b14c

With this new season they're hoping to hype people up for the movie. While this is exciting news, but I'm not really sure how it's going to work with most of the stars all involved in various other projects. From what I've read, they are featuring one character per episode to catch the audience up with what the Bluth family has been doing for the past 5 years. Either way, I'm looking forward to it!