With the premiere of Arrested Development season 4 less than two days away, the time remaining until the internet is chocked full of spoilers is rushing away. The news we have today isn’t so much spoilers, as it is answers to questions about changes to the show now that it’s outside the constraints of a typical television sitcom. However, if you want to go into season 4 totally fresh, don’t read on, as the rest of this article does contain a bit of information about what we’ll see. Though if that’s the case, why’d you click on this article in the first place?
Creator Mitch Hurwitz is indeed planning on taking full advantage of his Netflix freedom, as he confirmed a few changes to the format of the show today. The biggest change, and the one the most people were wondering about, is some of the episodes will run longer than the traditional 22 minutes that sitcoms are usually forced to squeeze into. Hurwitz was struggling to get a few of the episodes under a half hour when Netflix informed him they don’t care about episode length. While not all the episodes will run long, the one focused on Lucille is confirmed to run 35 minutes.
Hurwitz also stated that all the swearing would continue to be bleeped. I like that decision, as the bleeping and the filtering of the show by the narrator is a major part of the its charm. Hurwitz also promised some nudity from one of the main characters. He didn’t say which, but my money is on the never-nude Tobias.
Finally, Hurwitz reiterated that the episodes should be watched in order, but he said that he recommends taking breaks instead of knocking out all 15 episodes in one binge session (sorry Mitch, but I don’t think that’ll be possible for most of us).
What do you think of longer Arrested Development episodes and nudity on the show? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.