Arrested Development And Netflix Could Revolutionize TV
NEWSER) – Netflix’s new season of Arrested Development, which will hit in May, could be a massive breakthrough for the service—and not (just) because we’re all eager to see the Bluths again. At the Television Critics Association press tour, creator Mitch Hurwitz revealed that this batch of episodes, each focusing on a different character, could be watched in any order, with events becoming clearer as viewers watched more episodes. That’s a bombshell, writes Alyssa Rosenberg at Think Progress, because until now, TV has fundamentally been a linear medium. Netflix is uniquely suited to change that, because it releases episodes all at once, and doesn’t need to hang on to viewers week-to-week for advertising purposes. Episodes will also vary in length a little, something Netflix could be much more daring with (imagine a 37-minute episode followed by a 2-hour one) than even HBO. “Up until these announcements, it’s really seemed like Netflix was simply chasing broadcast television,” Rosenberg writes. Now, she’s wondering how some episodic books—World War Z for example—might look as Netflix series, “a thought that has literally never occurred to me about any material before.”
Obviously the notion of week-to-week television is probably never going away. But its interesting to see someone try to scrap that and reinvent the way we watch TV. Imagine a TV show where episode order didn’t matter? Thats wild. I don’t think I even understand how it would work really. Its like a modern television version of Choose Your Own Adventure. Basically having episodes varying in length and order and availability is the complete opposite of broadcast TV. Just some real backwards type of shit that the world has never even thought of.
Literally one of my favorite things to do now is park myself on the couch for a Saturday and bang out a season of a new TV show I haven’t started yet. If Netflix and TV shows start catering to that, I’ll be in fucking heaven.


a lot of comedy shows are like that now. that’s nothing new
^ what a dick
I watched the entire Trailer Park Boys sitcom because of Saturday afternoons and netflix. It was great
Corey, Trevor 2 smokes lets go
I’ve tried to get into Arrested Development a few times but eh doesn’t make my dick hard
@georgia, are you seriously calling me a dick for stating a fact? i’d love to see your reaction to all the commenters who are constantly telling neil to kill himself or being racist to the only black guy on BSS. my comment was like the most mild criticism ever seen on this site so get over it
Your gratuitous lack of physical activity is nothing short of astonishing
Curb Your Entusiasm has been doing this for years…?
seinfeld is the most successful show ever and it is not in any order
almost any sitcom isn’t in order and episodes aren’t canon. maybe the dumbest revolution ive ever heard of
“Imagine a TV show where episode order didn’t matter? Thats wild.”
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Wild? Your life must suck balls.
you must not watch Curb Your Enthusiasm. Each season tells a story (The Producers, the Restaurant opening, The Seinfeld Reunion, The donor).
@ i hate shane battier, not really, each season has an arc (aside from the first season). For instance the Producers season, the season they start a restaurant. The season Richard Lewis needs a new kidney. A lot of the jokes rely on stuff that has happened in prior episodes. You can watch and still enjoy, but to get the full effect you need to go episode by episode, in my opinion. side note georgiaoqueef is a huge cunt, probably hangs out with Billy Mitchell
You mean like the Simpsons? Pretty sure Bart has been 10 years old for about 23 years now.
Watching Arrested Development is akin to watching Girls.
@thewetbandits why dont you take a minute and wash the sand out of your vagina
Yea I guess I didn’t think about the Seinfelds of the world because I had Arrested Development in my mind. Arrested has so many inside jokes and storylines linking to previous episodes I can’t imagine how they’d do it. Like if you just started watching when Buster had one arm you wouldn’t know what the fuck was going on
Buster has two arms. He has one hand, IDIOT.