Watching the Entire Season of Arrested Development in Two Days

Despite what creator Mitch Hurwitz suggested when the entire new season of Arrested Development appeared on Netflix all at once last Sunday, Matt and I decided to just watch the entire thing in two days. I was happy with our decision, it was pretty great. It was rainy, there was beer, there was pizza, there was a giant bowl of popcorn, there were cookies, there were elastic waistbands all around.  It was at times a little tiring and my brain felt like it was going to explode. The season is set up so that the same story is told from all the characters’ perspectives, which meant that ten or so episodes deep you started to forget if something happening onscreen was something you already knew from previous episodes and had forgotten or something you were going to find out in later episodes.  But in general, I’m glad we defied Mitch Hurwitz because that’s how we have learned to digest good television: by the box set or clicking through lists on Netflix. I like watching an entire season of something all at once: like reading a book cover to cover in one sitting. Netflix and box sets have made watching television such a different experience from the way it used to be. Waiting eagerly for an episode week to week is good, too. It gives you something to look forward to after school or work, it builds suspense, but I prefer the all at once method. I don’t regret spending entire days in the world of blue meth dealing, or vampire slaying, Texas high school football, or, let’s be honest, creekside teenage melodrama. I want to spend an entire weekend thinking about if it’s really possible to dissolve an entire body in a bathtub full of acid. I want to contemplate for a few days if I could pull off Buffy’s floral dress and combat boot combo. I like watching as Matt slowly morphs into Larry David mode after a few hours of Curb Your Enthusiasm, monologuing when someone parks incorrectly and insisting I use a coaster, challenging my respect for wood. It satisfies the same need for complete immersion into a different world that I crave from books.  I’ve never been a chapter a night reader, either.

I’ve always heard people describe why they love characters and plot lines on weekly TV shows as “because we invite them into our home once a week,” but with the option to now watch television episodes as many at a time that we want, the relationship has become even more intimate than a friend or neighbor who drops by every once and awhile for a quick story and a cup of coffee. Now my relationship with television shows is like that good friend from summer camp who you only get to see for a few weeks a year, but in those weeks you do everything together, you stay up all night telling each other every single thing about yourselves. Different people may be partial to each relationship, but for me it’s the camp friend, which is a metaphor but also probably why I always really loved summer camp.

That is to say that I really loved the way Arrested Development came out and wouldn’t be opposed to more TV shows doing this in the future. As long as we don’t run out of popcorn and nobody makes me wear real pants.