Oh, she thinks I'm too critical. That's another fault of hers.
Blerrrrrrg between traveling and the monster cold I seem to have come down with and the neverending saga of the bag United has lost (more on that later, probably), I have missed/moved a couple of these. My apologies to those whose prompts I moved -- I definitely want to get to them, and will as soon as I can!
Trying to get back on schedule, today's prompt was from
cruisedirector: the women of Arrested Development!
This may just stray into my love of that show in general, and/or the women of Archer, since that show has made a delightful game out of trying to get as many Arrested Development actors to guest as possible, besides having two main female characters voiced by AD alumnae (Jessica Walter -- Lucille -- as Mallory Archer, Judy Greer -- Kitty -- as Cheryl Tunt).
One of the things AD does so wonderfully is packing every single minute of the show with dozens of jokes. After heaven knows how many viewings at this point, I can still watch and be surprised by something I hadn't noticed the first five thousand times I watched an episode. And they're completely equal-opportunity in this: just about every character, male or female, is a pretty awful person, but in his or her own rich, densely-packed way. They're over-the-top, but without ever quite straying into cartoonish territory.
I think what I like best about the women of this show is that they are, of course, all pretty terrible people, but in their own special way. They're all varying levels of conniving, shallow, incompetent, and self-absorbed, but in different combinations and at different times. And the acting is absolutely brilliant -- I think that's probably what stops it from going too far over the top, that the cast always manage to rein themselves in just far enough.
Also, I love that Ann a) is Katara and b) outsmarts everybody in the new season. That's the other thing -- for all that they're all terrible, everyone gets their moments of triumph. It may say some pretty grim things about the rest of TV that the best thing you, as a feminist, can hope for is that all the men are at least as terrible as the women and everyone gets their victories and their comeuppances in about equal proportions, I feel. But yeah, from the perspective of equal treatment, this show is pretty great!
I'm also really grateful that most of the embarrassment-squick humor doesn't center on the female characters, and in fact is mostly just centered on Tobias, since that seems to be David Cross's specialty.
When introducing a friend to it a few years ago, I was trying to explain the characters to her, and mentioned Portia deRossi. She interrupted, saying "Oh, let me guess, she's the cold, hypercompetent one who outsmarts them all?"
"No," I said, gleefully, "just the opposite, and it is amazing."
IDK, I am failing to word something terrible at the moment, so here is one of my absolute favorite jokes on the show, ever, after GOB buys a yacht called The Seaward.
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS PERFECT. Even when they take a second to let the joke land, it still took me several viewings to catch it, and my sister didn't until later, when we were talking about some of our favorite moments and I mentioned this one.
Also, there's a jacket that Lindsay is wearing in the pilot and I totally need it.
That's the one.
Finally, a very happy birthday to
cruisedirector! She was one of the first, possibly the first, people from Online I ever met in person and oh my stars that was more than ten years ago now, ahhhhhh what is happening. She is also one of the few people who's been with me that long, and let's be real pretty much everyone who puts up with me for ten-plus years deserves some kind of a medal. ♥ You are wonderful, darling.
Request a topic here!
Originally posted at Dreamwidth.
comments; reply there with your DW username or OpenID.
Trying to get back on schedule, today's prompt was from
cruisedirector: the women of Arrested Development!
This may just stray into my love of that show in general, and/or the women of Archer, since that show has made a delightful game out of trying to get as many Arrested Development actors to guest as possible, besides having two main female characters voiced by AD alumnae (Jessica Walter -- Lucille -- as Mallory Archer, Judy Greer -- Kitty -- as Cheryl Tunt).
One of the things AD does so wonderfully is packing every single minute of the show with dozens of jokes. After heaven knows how many viewings at this point, I can still watch and be surprised by something I hadn't noticed the first five thousand times I watched an episode. And they're completely equal-opportunity in this: just about every character, male or female, is a pretty awful person, but in his or her own rich, densely-packed way. They're over-the-top, but without ever quite straying into cartoonish territory.
I think what I like best about the women of this show is that they are, of course, all pretty terrible people, but in their own special way. They're all varying levels of conniving, shallow, incompetent, and self-absorbed, but in different combinations and at different times. And the acting is absolutely brilliant -- I think that's probably what stops it from going too far over the top, that the cast always manage to rein themselves in just far enough.
Also, I love that Ann a) is Katara and b) outsmarts everybody in the new season. That's the other thing -- for all that they're all terrible, everyone gets their moments of triumph. It may say some pretty grim things about the rest of TV that the best thing you, as a feminist, can hope for is that all the men are at least as terrible as the women and everyone gets their victories and their comeuppances in about equal proportions, I feel. But yeah, from the perspective of equal treatment, this show is pretty great!
I'm also really grateful that most of the embarrassment-squick humor doesn't center on the female characters, and in fact is mostly just centered on Tobias, since that seems to be David Cross's specialty.
When introducing a friend to it a few years ago, I was trying to explain the characters to her, and mentioned Portia deRossi. She interrupted, saying "Oh, let me guess, she's the cold, hypercompetent one who outsmarts them all?"
"No," I said, gleefully, "just the opposite, and it is amazing."
IDK, I am failing to word something terrible at the moment, so here is one of my absolute favorite jokes on the show, ever, after GOB buys a yacht called The Seaward.
Click to viewEVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS PERFECT. Even when they take a second to let the joke land, it still took me several viewings to catch it, and my sister didn't until later, when we were talking about some of our favorite moments and I mentioned this one.
Also, there's a jacket that Lindsay is wearing in the pilot and I totally need it.
That's the one.
Finally, a very happy birthday to
cruisedirector! She was one of the first, possibly the first, people from Online I ever met in person and oh my stars that was more than ten years ago now, ahhhhhh what is happening. She is also one of the few people who's been with me that long, and let's be real pretty much everyone who puts up with me for ten-plus years deserves some kind of a medal. ♥ You are wonderful, darling.
Request a topic here!
Originally posted at Dreamwidth.
comments; reply there with your DW username or OpenID.