While there was no Report yesterday, I'm going to try something out to make up for that fact. In the spirit of Netflix releasing all 15 new episodes of Arrested Development at once on the 26th, I'm distributing all of the Final Countdown reports at the same time (or within a few minutes of each other... I'm not a machine). Will you read them all at once or spread them out throughout the remaining days? Or perhaps you will ignore them all! Let the great experiment begin!
Not so much in the spirit of Arrested, though, I'm going to follow-up on what was promised "On the next Morning Report" by actually including the promised deeper analysis in this issue, something Mitch Hurwitz and the gang rarely did. As any fan of the show can tell you, many of the jokes in Arrested are incredibly complex and referential, which is a major part of what makes repeat viewing so rewarding. There is always something new to find.
First, there are the jokes that recur throughout the series. The staircar and the Cornballer; Annyong, Steve Holt!, and Ann Veal (her?); Les Cousins Dangereux and Pop-Pop in the attic... The list goes on and on and stretches across the show's 53 episodes, making for some great re-viewing. For instance, try to pick-up on how early hooks and missing hands start showing up! Or have someone else do the work for you, like NPR has done here in an incredible guide to all of the show's recurring jokes. While some are scattered throughout, others last only for a story arc (e.g., For British Eyes Only). Most interesting of all, though, are the ones that appear as nearly straight lines across the entire series, specifically the staircar and Tobias being gay. DC resident Adam Cole put the piece together for NPR and described his process and inspiration in an interview with Poynter. He claims not to be a "superfan," but the infographic begs to differ.
Not included in Cole's graphic, though, are the subtle non-repeated jokes, most of which are nods to the world outside of the show. Splitsider has captured not only 53 of these subtle jokes (that they claim you "Probably Missed," but I bet a lot of you have caught a lot of them -- you're smart people), but also 53 MORE of them! I'm a huge fan of the stills they've captured of the articles, websites, and letters, which I've always been too lazy to pause and read myself. And the "Make-up artist for freckles" credit has always been one of my favorites, as well as Tobias posing to match the photo of George-Michael.
There are tons of others that I love that didn't make the cut in those 106... Apparently the folks at Splitsider are not also Happy Days fans... But we'll get to that later.
On the Next Morning Report: Frightened Inmate #2 gets some company as other supporting characters take the lead.
"Annyong." - Annyong, Arrested Development
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