John Beard was the news anchor at Fox's Los Angeles station, KTTV, in 2003 when Arrested Development producers tried to recruit him to appear on the sitcom. At first Beard passed, but then, he says, "They explained they wanted me to play myself and that the writers appreciated my sense of humor. I thought it was...
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Two weeks after he locked the final cut of Netflix's Arrested Development revival, show creator Mitch Hurwitz is catching up on TV, traveling to New York and checking social media to gauge the reaction to the fruits of two years of labor. "Right now my hope is that the people who are interested in the Bluth family give the show a try," he says of the new episodes, which each focus on a different character yet are intertwined.
The 15 Arrested episodes were released simultaneously on May 26. Fan reaction has been decent, but critics were mixed, with some of those negative reviews reportedly hurting Netflix's stock price (although anticipation for the show previously helped boost the streaming service's stock).
Hurwitz tweeted on May 28 that critics were "resisting change." But in a lengthy chat last week with TV Guide Magazine, he clarified what he meant, and also discussed his future plans for the show. Hurwitz even addressed Internet chatter about star Portia de Rossi's appearance. An edited transcript follows.
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Ever since Season 4 of Arrested Development premiered on Netflix last week, many viewers have been scratching their heads — and not just about the new recurring ostrich motif.
Portia de Rossi, who reprised her role as "activist" Lindsay Bluth-Funke, looks vastly different on screen than she does in more recent interviews and photos. The noticeable change in her appearance has led many viewers to wonder whether de Rossi had had plastic surgery.
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Our top moments of the week:
12. Weirdest Finish: Smash ends its two-season run with former rivals Karen and Ivy dueting on — appropriately -- "Big Finish." The musical endnote is a predictable one, but Ivy's unplanned pregnancy is definitely not. Ivy decides to keep her baby and raise it with her cranky sometime-boyfriend Derek. Is it too late for NBC to order a...
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This week, in conjunction with the Netflix premiere of Arrested Development's fourth season, the folks over at Slacktory created a mashup highlighting similarities between the comedy series and The Godfather, while the ladies behind the web series "Cinema & Spice" made frozen banana bites. A Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunion happened on The Graham Norton Show, and Andy Cohen quizzed Melissa Joan Hart and Khloe Kardashian about '90s TV theme songs on Watch What Happens: Live. And Jimmy Fallon parodied Game of Thrones with a digital short called Game of Desks. Check out those clips and more in our weekly roundup of the best online videos:
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