Just finished. Thin on plot because the budget/schedule allowed them only so many setups, so the story has to turn in on itself a little more than would be organic for a normal AD season.

They're generally funny, and some of the stuff is really good. The little details are just what they should be (including things like the theme music being different in every episode). I'm glad they brought back bit players like Jay Johnston whenever possible.

I also thought the amounts of various callbacks were just right. For example, the thing that was harped on most in the regular series ("always leave a note") only appears on George Michael's dorm room door.

Episode quality is on a bell curve; the first ones are expository, so you're not seeing the gags yet, the middle ones are great, and then the last few start coasting and reusing too much stuff. There's not a lot of heart in it, which is a big problem with not having everyone available for plotting purposes. I didn't like the ending; the note is too schmucky for Michael, as opposed to his normal note of "means well but is digging his own hole."

There are also some things that never get fully tied, particularly the ostrich stuff. I was relieved that the explanation finally arrived for why the Cuatro backlashers are clearly Asian.

5/27/2013 5:28:35 PM

there were a lot of birds in general--the Thanksgiving miracle, the vulture, umm..

5/27/2013 8:23:51 PM

Quote :

"and the ending sucked: I guess they're just hoping they get to do more episodes"

Pretty sure they're (re)setting-up a movie like they did at the end of season 3.

5/27/2013 9:02:42 PM

or a potential season 5

5/28/2013 6:57:23 AM

was the budget really limited though? Netflix reportedly spent $100 million on House of Cards, and they won a bidding war for AD. I have a feeling they had a lot of money to work with.

5/28/2013 10:44:57 AM

5/28/2013 10:56:56 AM

Poor Buster...only one starring episode and didn't appear much in the first few episodes.

I wonder if they'll come out with a chronological version later now that they have all the footage they would need to do that?

5/28/2013 2:32:00 PM

hello darkness my old friend...

5/28/2013 2:50:26 PM

I'm done with the first 9 or 10. I like it a lot, definitely gets better as it goes on. I understand why they had to do it with episodes focused on one character, but the non-chronological episodes kind of take away from everything.

5/28/2013 5:18:29 PM

the Sound of Silence gag was tremendous. really dark and hilarious at the same!! time.

5/28/2013 5:19:59 PM

I really like the running gags like hello darkness my old friend and others.

Tobias isnt getting on my nerves nearly as much this seasons and Gob has me cracking up finally.

I do with they would show more Buster scenes he is my favorite.

Its like they throw a lot at you at first and then you finally settle in and it all comes together pretty well.

I think im on 12 now

SAME

5/28/2013 6:23:18 PM

There's a girl I started seeing recently and we've shared a few "same" moments, so when we were watching that part with GOB and Tony we were cracking up.

5/28/2013 6:37:39 PM

I've only got a few episodes left, really enjoying it.

5/28/2013 7:31:27 PM

same

5/28/2013 8:08:01 PM

I'm still trying to finish up season 3 on netflix but I just wanted to post that I lolled very hard at the episode where Tobias's hair plugs caught on fire by the pool and the episode ends with him shouting "Why am I not going underwater? DEAR GOD why am I not going underwater?"

5/29/2013 11:17:25 AM

first 2 episodes have sucked...glad to hear they should start to get better

5/29/2013 1:24:45 PM

Where was Annyong?

5/29/2013 1:24:50 PM

he couldn't pay his bill at the club

5/29/2013 1:25:24 PM

Quote :

"first 2 episodes have sucked...glad to hear they should start to get better"

5/29/2013 1:25:59 PM

Was the fakeblock arc a jab at how similar Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg are (social network vs anti-social network)?

Also, there were tons of references to other TV shows and personalities. I especially loved the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme playing in a scene with Jeff Garlin and the Workaholics cameo, but there were so many more.

5/29/2013 3:30:06 PM

I was disappointed that Tobias was lamenting the quality of Dancing with the Stars instead of Skating with Celebrities.

5/29/2013 8:14:15 PM

Just finished it, really liked it....would recommend.

5/29/2013 9:35:22 PM

just made it up to the Tobias episode (#5)... I'm about 15 minutes in and freaking dying.

holy shit, this is is awesome.

[Edited on May 29, 2013 at 10:14 PM. Reason : .]

5/29/2013 10:14:01 PM

no one has said it but Anne looks exactly the same.

and does anyone else see the watermarks when they show flashback scenes?

5/29/2013 10:56:19 PM

May have some minor spoilers, but explains Show Stealer Pro.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/26/show-stealer-pro-trial-version-os-x-keygen-haxxxxx/

5/29/2013 11:00:20 PM

http://www.showstealerprofessional.com/

5/29/2013 11:11:29 PM

Just watched the episode with Anne and she had not aged.

Also I assume the water marks are a joke.

5/29/2013 11:32:30 PM

5/29/2013 11:48:12 PM

Through episode 6. First 2-3 were a struggle at times but I've been loving the last few. I kind of expected that with the way it is edited this time around - it has even more of a "building" humor than before. The thing with AD is, I will probably enjoy my 2nd viewing of the first 2-3 more than the first once I go back and watch them when I've seen the whole season.

[Edited on May 30, 2013 at 11:56 AM. Reason : ]

5/30/2013 11:44:47 AM

Just finished the 15 episodes. It got funnier as the episodes went on and all the jokes began to tie together. The non-linear time frame of the season really screwed me up. I'm already planning on rewatching this 3-4 times through.

Also, for those questioning a 5th season or possible movie. The creators have said from the start of this they were planning on doing a movie, but opted for a 4th season like this to "catch up" on the characters, otherewise they'd have a movie that just dropped in on the family 7 years after the last episode of season 3.

The movie will be the end, no season 5. May be too soon to say this. That was the rumor when the season was announced 2 years ago.

[Edited on May 30, 2013 at 9:10 PM. Reason : ]

5/30/2013 9:08:04 PM

I definitely feel that being unable to film with all the actors available hurt the show. Even so, there were some great moments and lots of callbacks throughout the whole thing. Makes me want to watch the whole series again so I can catch all the stuff I missed.

I hope the movie/season 5 happens soon.

5/30/2013 10:42:22 PM

I didn't know the guy that played J. Walter Weatherman died in 2007

I was hoping for an appearance

5/30/2013 11:02:43 PM

^^^Jason Bateman was on Kimmel (i think) the other night...he said they wanted to do a movie, and that this season was basically "part 1" of a 3-part story that the movie would've been, and that every time they pitched the movie, they thought it was too long, so now I guess it would be 2/3 the length of the original pitch, since as I said, the newest season was basically the first third of the movie's story

[Edited on May 30, 2013 at 11:03 PM. Reason : ^^^]

5/30/2013 11:03:31 PM

That's what I understood when the 4th season was announced originally. They wanted to do a movie, but because of the back-story they would need to cover for the missing 7 years, it would be too long or too disjointed. Therefore they contracted with Netflix to do a 15 episode season where each character got his own episode, the story would catch up, and they could develop a current back-story to do the movie.

My guess to the end of this whole thing will be Michael and Maeby beginning work on the first episode of season 1.

5/30/2013 11:47:19 PM

Quote :

"My guess to the end of this whole thing will be Michael and Maeby beginning work on the first episode of season 1"

*timandericexplosion.gif*

5/30/2013 11:51:51 PM

can't stop singing "getaway getaway"

5/31/2013 12:54:04 AM

Quote :

"I didn't know the guy that played J. Walter Weatherman died in 2007"

aw, i wondered why he never showed up.

5/31/2013 8:18:34 AM

Quote :

"I didn't know the guy that played J. Walter Weatherman died in 2007"

and that's why you don't leave the door open when the AC is on.

5/31/2013 8:35:03 AM

Enjoying this and def missing a whole bunch of jokes along the way.

I got to say this looks amazing on my plasma TV. I've always been a huge fan of the whatever compression Netflix uses (or lack thereof). I wonder if they used cameras that would benefit the format Netflix uses.

6/2/2013 1:13:13 PM

I thought the show stealer gag was pretty obvious...what was there not to get about it?

6/2/2013 8:54:29 PM

Considering the show wasn't done until a few days before the release, some people were worried that it was a simple production oversight. It takes a few episodes to see that it's a motif, and a few episodes is an eternity in Twitter time.

6/2/2013 9:49:09 PM

I thought it was hilarious the first time and then gradually got over it.

Then when it said "You have one viewing left!" I liked it again.

6/3/2013 5:53:05 PM

Finally watched it all. It didn't quite meet my high expectations, but it definitely had some funny moments. The buster episode was by far my favorite, but there were some duds as well. The single character episodes were probably at fault for some of the disappointment.

6/4/2013 5:33:37 PM

Just got done with the Lindsay episode. I've never really liked her character and thought that was the worst one so far.

6/4/2013 6:17:46 PM

The buster episode was by FAR the best.

6/5/2013 12:38:43 PM

Just finished. It continually got better and I am looking forward to re-watching it all again. Definitely satisfied. It took a little while to get used to the new feel but the more you watch it and the more you think about it, it all makes sense and they did a good job of advancing the characters and the story to "today"

6/5/2013 2:57:53 PM

just finished the gob episode...still not that impressed

there have been a couple of funny moments, but there have been just as many wtfthisisntfunny moments, as well

6/5/2013 3:16:15 PM

chuckled at "im here!...im queer!...and now im over here!"

6/5/2013 11:43:05 PM

Did they ever explain who sabotaged GOB's trick illusion? I remember Tony Wonder suggesting it was an assistant but I don't think they ever came clear.

Also, wtf happened to Steve Holt? Did the actor really age that poorly or was that a makeup job?

6/6/2013 5:19:51 AM

I don't know if it was makeup or amazing prescience in casting or dumb luck that he turned out that way, but considering Steve Holt the character was supposed to be a guy that peaked in high school, it worked out brilliantly for this season for him to look so shitty.

6/6/2013 8:38:30 AM