TV Review: Netflix's 'Arrested Development'

Netflix released the much-hyped fourth season of cult comedy Arrested Development - all 15 episodes of it - on Sunday, May 26. Many critics, against the advice of creator Mitch Hurwitz, binge-watched the entire season. The following are reviews from those critics, compiled by B&C.

“[T]here was something forcing me to watch 15 episodes of Arrested Development Season 4 in only 15 hours…That was a lot of Arrested Development in a very short period of time and the result was both exhilarating and a wee bit disappointing.”

–Daniel Fienberg, HitFix

“Having watched all 15 episodes of the new season of Arrested Development, this is the first thing you should know: Watch all 15 — in a marathon (or two, if needed). And you’ll probably want to watch them again after that. Not only is there a real brilliance to how the episodes are constructed, but after a slow-ish start…the comedic payout begins to multiply with each succeeding episode.”

–Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter

“A few days before Arrested Development’s fourth season premiered on Netflix, the showrunner said that fans shouldn’t binge-watch all 15 episodes in one go. Since I’m such a rebel (and one with zero patience), I did so anyways… I wanted to love Season 4 as much as I loved the first three, but I’d be lying to myself (and to you) if I ignored its weaknesses.”

– Sadie Gennis, TV Guide

“I have, to be clear, watched it all — and not with grim determination, but rather great, increasing satisfaction. In a sense, it is not merely a continuation of the show, but a celebration of it, from the way it quotes earlier seasons, down to repeating whole lines of dialogue, to the many please-may-we-come-to-the-party cameo appearances that at times threaten to turn the show into It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”

–Robert Lloyd, The Los Angeles Times

“Ultimately, this Arrested revival plays a bit like a reunion special, where the individual cast members come out and take their curtain calls. After the warmth of seeing them reunited (or semi-reunited, given how rarely more than one or two are featured in a scene together), there’s a sort of awkwardness to it, as if nobody really has much to say.”

–Brian Lowry, Variety