What's happening?
How are you?
I completely credit my better half for introducing me to Arrested Development, which still stands tall among the best created fiction in visual mediums of the last 20 years. An astoundingly funny and audaciously intelligent show that gave the viewers far more credit than we deserved. Everyone complains about its demise, yet no one is thankful that we got 3 (THREE!) seasons of the Bluth family. I still love it, and like anyone who has seen it and really connected with it, Arrested Development becomes part of your lexicon - no exaggeration, if my better half is around when the word 'Catalina' is uttered, we both a smile. But there's an unspoken integral element that gets little credit for the quirky nature of the show - the superb score and incidental music that gave life and set the mood for the absurd, bleeding edge series.
See, the thing is...I first saw the first season in almost a vacuum. It was just after New Years and I was in AZ with the better half. Her parents had flown back early and we were left to our own devices. On a supply run to Target she saw the first season (which was freshly out at this point, in 2005) and immediately picked it up, saying her housemates were swearing up and down that it was the funniest thing on TV. We went back home to nurse our hangovers and take a nap, putting in the DVDs almost out of curiosity. I was completely caught off guard, both by the quality and intelligence. Honestly, I hardly even saw it as a comedy. If you watch the first disc with little context of the broader series, it comes off as sweet and goofy more than biting and absurd. There was a particular moment, though, that really sold me on the beauty of the show and the music.
In the fourth episode, Key Decisions, Michael slowly wakes up to the fact that he loves his brother's girlfriend Marta. The development of the plot is wonderful and more poignant than it ought to be, but very sweet, regardless. The real tipping point for me (and apparently quite a few other viewers) is the musical cue by Gabriel Mann, his painfully brief song 'You Here With Me', a lovely little pop song that has all the major beats of a massively popular song in just under two minutes. It's a moving, genuine piece of music that was created for the show that people, for whatever reason, connected with. Watch the scene here (because Hulu is FREE AND AWESOME), and listen to the song here. It was, to be honest, a bit of a Holy Grail for me - tracking down the soundtrack to the show was really just an excuse to listen to 'You Here With Me' over and over again (and create some killer ring-tones from the ukulele motifs).
I adore this song. 'You Here With Me' is a short, brightly shining bit of pop-masterpiece that shows just how deeply the quality and love ran on this show. Gabriel Mann is a very talented musician with a new, rising band called The Rescues. Give 'em a look, see what you like. I'm glad I found this bit.
How are you?
I completely credit my better half for introducing me to Arrested Development, which still stands tall among the best created fiction in visual mediums of the last 20 years. An astoundingly funny and audaciously intelligent show that gave the viewers far more credit than we deserved. Everyone complains about its demise, yet no one is thankful that we got 3 (THREE!) seasons of the Bluth family. I still love it, and like anyone who has seen it and really connected with it, Arrested Development becomes part of your lexicon - no exaggeration, if my better half is around when the word 'Catalina' is uttered, we both a smile. But there's an unspoken integral element that gets little credit for the quirky nature of the show - the superb score and incidental music that gave life and set the mood for the absurd, bleeding edge series.
