Filed under: TV reviews | Tags: Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Michael Cera, Mitchell Hurwitz, Modern Family, Portia de Rossi, Ron Howard, satire, Tony Hale, Will Arnett
The upcoming Netflix series Ozark is on the horizon. I’m excited for it ‘cause Jason Bateman executive produced it, and is directing and starring in the series. An extra boon is that the talented and wry Laura Linney will co-star. I always liked Bateman, but he won my admiration through the TV series Arrested Development, so I thought to revisit this work of genius as we wait for Ozark to be released (2017).
Arrested Development is based on the radically dysfunctional family Bluth (fictional of course). It’s more subversive than Modern Family (btw, I like Modern Family very much). Each season of this brilliant sit-com was always in danger of cancellation despite numerous awards, including several Emmy’s. But this didn’t stop creator Mitchell Hurwitz and the rest of the team (inclusive of Ron Howard, who is its narrator) from defying the usual crowd-pleasing antics of the genre. It made them more satirical and absurd as though they had nothing to lose. The show flouts political correctness as it takes clever and humorous swipes at everything in contemporary society: the comfort of family; the general incompetence of businessmen, inclusive of the television and movie industries (the narrator critiques the art of narration during an episode); war, via “mama’s boy” Buster Bluth’s progression in the US army; and the flawed things we all do to get through our day. One of my favorite episodes includes the montaged intervention for alcoholic mother Lucille Bluth, which turns into “one of the Bluth family’s better parties.” There are running gags about self-absorption, repressed sexually, physical shame, fecklessness, and naiveté. At the center of it all is Michael Bluth, played by Jason Bateman, whose dry, self-effacing wit and deadpan comic delivery, are ideally displayed here.
Watching Arrested Development is time well spent as we wait for Jason Bateman’s new series Ozark, which also promises to be based in the darkness of modern reality.
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Victoria Jelinek 