https://unwinnable.com/2013/06/07/keeping-themselves-together/ Stories about Culture Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:40:25 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://unwinnable.com/2013/06/07/keeping-themselves-together/#comment-64583 Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:40:25 +0000 https://unwinnable.com/?p=44064#comment-64583 The question "why season 4?" is an important one for cult-classics that didn't have a long run, because I think it leads to them being perceived differently than other cult-classics. X-Files and Buffy are great, but one would be stretching to say they had the same charged intensity and sense of interweaved storylines as Arrested Development or, my favorite cancelled show, Freaks and Geeks.
I ultimately found the fourth season funny, but a little sobering. It's hard to imagine the world of AD functioning by itself, ie. it's almost like Toy Story, where you have to be watching it for things to actually be moving. In that regard, their (necessary) decision to jump the story forward, yet keep the core of every character the same (except, perhaps, in the final shot of the final episode) seems lacking, even if it is the point/title of the show.
Freaks and Geeks, by comparison, also knew it was being cancelled, but instead of AD, used that time to start moving each character into a new, unexpected direction. Lindsey shirked her academic responsibilities to follow the Grateful Dead, Bill was coming to terms with his mom's new relationship with his gym coach (as well as his movement through clique-lines), and Daniel, with not much of a future to look forward to, found some respite in A/V and D&D. F&G could have also come back, I felt (given that most everyone in it has had major success), but that would only serve to tie down the multitude of ideas fans have already generated for where the characters went, how they ended up, etc… AD, by moving forward, sort of stayed still.

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