Thursday, March 20, 2008

from "Justice is Blind"

I've been watching the first season of Arrested Development for the past few days on hulu.com. Don't you just love that scene where Michael and George Michael (his son) are both hiding out behind the Ten Commandments in front of the courthouse? As the statue of the Ten Commandments is hoisted above their heads by the crane that is towing it away and they discuss their separate dilemmas ("It's so hard to know what to do"), Michael says:

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a set of rules, you know? Something handed down from on high that would tell us what to do?

5 comments:

wes said...

I love that show. We own the DVD's of all the seasons if you ever want to borrow them.

Have you seen the Bringing Up Buster episode yet? The two bleeps scenes made me laugh until I cried.

Tina said...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that show!!!!!!

kf.ruhamah said...

Why do you love the show? I'm always interested in the specifics, although I often find it hard to explain myself.

wes said...

-Clever jokes that often take a moment to get

-no laugh tracks

-character-based humor supplemented with physical and visual humor ("Return to whence you came...").

-Self-referential humor poking fun at their own show, typically via the narrator.

-Great comedic timing from some of the actors. "We'll nobody's going to top that."

-The writers often set bits up several episodes in advance. The very last episode feels like they were setting it up from the start.

-Because the most important thing really is breakfast.

kf.ruhamah said...

That's great, Wes. Thanks.

I love self-referential humor. I saw a movie the other night that Daniel had recommended, *Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.* I made the right decision watching it on my own, because Michael would have hated it. It was very much that way.

The funniest moments from the film to my mind (not self-referential) were in the preview:

Gay Perry: If you looked in the dictionary next to the word idiot, do you know what you would find?

Harry: A picture of me?

Gay Perry: No, the definition of the word idiot, which you are.

and, after Harry shoots the guy they've been interrogating (thanks, imdb)

Perry: What did you just do?

Harry: I just put in one bullet, didn't I?

Perry: You put a live round in that gun?

Harry: Well yeah, there was like an 8% chance.

Perry: Eight? Who taught you math!