Your Definitive Guide To Guest Stars Of Arrested Development Season Four
We gave them scores and everything!
The fourth season of Arrested Development arrived just over a week ago on Netflix, and it’s a confounding and confusing beast. The 15 new episodes saw the return of a lot of familiar Bluth family faces (as well as some totally unrecognisable ones — did Portia De Rossi have some weird-ass plastic surgery, or was Lindsay meant to look all strange and puffy?). The new episodes are as dense as ever, with call-backs and references aplenty, and set-ups that take multiple episodes to pay off.
The unconventional structure of these episodes — with each one devoted to a single character — meant that Arrested Development’s famous ensemble cast rarely got to spend any time together. Instead, we got new characters, and lots of them; a whole galaxy of guest stars, ranging from very famous actors to ‘Hey, it’s that guy!’ bit players. Arrested Development super-fans Caitlin Welsh and Alasdair Duncan got together to talk about the best and the worst that these guest stars had to offer — and to decide, definitively, who won the season.
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KRISTEN WIIG & SETH ROGEN as Young Lucille and George
AD: These two were among the most hyped guest stars of the new season, but they really didn’t work for me. Given the large and loyal cult following that Arrested Development enjoys, it makes sense that big comedy stars would want to come along for the ride, but is that actually a good idea? Kristen Wiig and Seth Rogen pop up a few times throughout these episodes, but the tone feels really off. Seth Rogen just plays Seth Rogen in a hairpiece, and Kristen Wiig doesn’t really capture the demented joy of Lucille. Remember in the old days when they just put stupid outfits and wigs on Jessica Walter and Jeffrey Tambour to make them look younger? That worked better. [2/10]
CW: I agree completely. Wiig had a good go at it and got a few of the mannerisms down — she made me laugh a few times — but Rogen was so… Rogeny. It would have been easy, surely, to try a bit harder to get the timbre of George’s voice? That bellicose, baritone whine? It was an especially odd choice because they’ve done flashbacks before; if they never had, it’d be a different thing. Replacing the wigs and era-appropriate pants with popular actors who look nothing like Jessica Walter and Jeffrey Tambour was obviously supposed to be funny because of how thin the ILLUSION was. [2/10]
Final score: 2/10
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THE CAST OF WORKAHOLICS as Airport Check-In Staff
AD: These cameos didn’t really work for me either. Blake Anderson, Anders Holm and Adam DeVine probably had a blast when they filmed their bit, but their characters didn’t feel too well-integrated into the episode. Their scene felt like a call-back to earlier seasons of the show, when Michael would argue with one family member and then others would just start appearing from behind couches or on the floor to join in. Instead of that, they just sort of piled the Workaholics guys on one after the other. [3/10]
CW: I don’t watch Workaholics, but the rest of the internet seems obsessed, so I noticed enough for it to be distracting. I like Anders Holm on The Mindy Project and the little one was good in Pitch Perfect (and much less good in Community), but meh. [3/10]
Final score: 3/10
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MARY LYNN RAJSKUB as Heartfire
CW: I loved this. Mary Lynn Rajskub is a really underrated performer; I swear I would have understood every word just from her expressions. If anything, it’s a comment on how obtuse George Sr is that he can’t understand her meaning. Also, I loved the running joke of the subtitles that face wherever Heartfire was facing. I hope they use it again — but only very sparingly. [8/10]
AD: She’s probably my favourite of the bunch so far. She seems like the classic Arrested Development guest star in that she’s a versatile comedian, and her performance has a subtlety to it. With her intense stares and the odd, new age-y way she carries herself, Rajskub makes Heartfire feel like an authentically weird part of the show’s world. It seems like she’s been turning up in a lot of brief guest appearances lately in shows like Modern Family, New Girl and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I’d love to see her in a leading role at some point soon. [7/10]
Final score: 7.5/10
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JOHN SLATTERY as Dr Norman
AD: John Slattery is clearly having a lot of fun with this part. He’s always so well-groomed in Mad Men, but he gives off an air of mischief. He’s one of those actors where I just can’t help but laugh every time I see him, and I like that this character allows him to let it all hang out and indulge in some of his naughtier tendencies. [9/10]
CW: Yeah, there’s a sociopathic mischievousness about him that comes out in Roger Sterling too; the sense that he just wants to do whatever he wants and is that so much to ask? Arrested Development loves highly-qualified people who are massively, shockingly unethical, and this fit George’s business camp scam perfectly. Roger trippin’ balls is the funnest. [6/10]
Final Score: 7.5/10
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BUSY PHILIPPS AND NATASHA LEGGERO as news co-hosts Joan and Jackie
AD: They were barely onscreen – I completely missed them at first – but hey, they look like they were having a lot of fun. Busy Philipps was great in Dawson’s Creek and fucking rocks it on Cougar Town, so I’m in favour of any enterprise that leads to more work for her. [6/10]
Final Score: 6/10
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DAN HARMON as Yurt Clerk
CW: HEY GUYS DID YOU HEAR DAN HARMON’S COMING BACK TO COMMUNITY I’M PRETTY MUCH TOO EXCITED TO THINK ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE. [10000/10]
AD: Dan Harmon always looks glum and a little bit bloated – he’s basically the human equivalent of Season 4 of Community. [CW: Rimshot!] This season of Arrested Development feels like Community in some ways. You need to be really invested in the characters and world for any of it to make sense, and it’s expected that you’ll be willing and able to pick through layers of references and meta-gags. [-9995/10]
CW: It is also like S4 Community because it would have had to have been literally the best thing ever not to get picked apart and so never quite had a fighting chance due to the weight of expectation. Now, with Harmon confirmed to return for Season 5 of his own show, his cameo feels like a beacon, telling dissatisfied fans to hold out for the next instalment. #fourseasonsandmaybeamovie?
Final Score: 5/10
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CHRIS DIAMANTOPOULOS as Marky Bark
AD: Chris Diamantopoulos is an extremely handsome guy playing a scruffy down-and-out loser. In other words, he’s this season’s Tom Jane. I like what they’ve done with this character. He makes with the soulful, sexy eyes, so you don’t realise he’s actually kind of a lunatic until the layers start to peel away. Fun fact: He was the handsome camera guy who almost swept Pam off her feet in Season 9 of The Office. [6/10]
CW: It was definitely a less-funny retread of the Tom Jane bit, but the blank, earnest look when he was waiting for a face confirmation got me every time. I assume we’re going to get the payoff with all the ostriches in the movie. [4/10]
Final Score: 5/10
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MARIA BAMFORD as Debrie Bardeaux
AD: Maria Bamford is one of those love-her-or-hate-her type comedians. She has those wide eyes and twitchy mannerisms, and she reminds me a bit of that slow loris that had its tummy scratched on YouTube. She goes really, really broad and wacky with this part, but I like how she really commits to smearing butter all over her face, and how creepily dead-eyed she appears in the porn movie. [7/10]
CW: I can’t tolerate her stand-up, because she seems to deliver most of it in her highest and most nasal register. But she was excellent here in a sad, very blackly comic sort of way that seemed to belong to another show, and that I didn’t predict at all the first time we saw the scene at Swapigan’s (another slightly-late current affairs joke!). I was really rooting for her to get her shit together. [7/10]
Final Score: 7/10
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ED HELMS as James ‘I Don’t Sell’ Carr(s)
AD: It’s funny to see Ed Helms back as the real estate agent from season two. Back then he was the classic Arrested Development guest star we were talking about: just earnest and serious enough that he fit really well into the slightly warped world of the show. His return is a nice call-back to the early seasons, but he feels a bit flat this time around. He’s not called upon to do anything that funny other than react to Tobias’s ‘ANUSTART’ license place. He feels like a big-name guest star stopping by for a fun Arrested Development jaunt, instead of a necessary and vital part of the show. [4/10]
CW: Apparently Keri Russell was the voice of his wife. Fan theory: Jimmy Carr was a KGB sleeper agent!
AD: I have no memory of this so I’m just going to take your word for it. I’m still traumatised by that scene in that one Mission Impossible movie where Keri Russell dies. I’m glad she got to live in this.
Final Score: 4/10
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ISLA FISHER as Rebel Alley
AD: This is more like it. Rebel Alley feels like she belongs in the show. She’s a beautiful woman of mystery – Michael falls in love with her without catching her name, and, of course, a love triangle ensues. Isla Fisher is a sweetie, and she brings a certain wide-eyed and slightly demented innocence to the character – you can see why Michael would fall for her. Also, there’s a persistent rumour in Hollywood about Jessica Chastain being Ron Howard’s illegitimate daughter – I think this character, also Ron Howard’s illegitimate daughter (and the star of a Malick film!), is a riff on that. [8/10]
CW: I didn’t even know that was a thing! Just because she’s a redhead? That’s so racist. I wouldn’t mind seeing Isla Fisher play someone with a little gravitas some time, but for now her bubbly, coppery, shiny schtick is still lovely to watch. I really, really wish her name wasn’t Rebel Alley, though. I feel like there’s a joke in there I’m missing except there also isn’t. [6/10]
Final Score: 7/10
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JOHN KRASINSKI as Jerry Bruckheimer’s Assistant
CW: John Krasinski can char my tree anytime, and this was just short enough not to be distracting. [6/10]
AD: Hey, it’s John Krasinski from The Office! This is also a pretty tiny cameo, but he plays the role of Hollywood d-bag pretty well. Also, he’s very attractive so he gets a pass. [6/10]
Final Score: 6/10
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RON HOWARD as Himself / BRIAN GRAZER as Himself
AD: Ron Howard has been such an important part of the show since the beginning that it’s really odd to see him onscreen. I’m not sure if I’m imagining it, but I feel like whenever he’s part of a scene, his voice is louder than everyone else’s – presumably a riff on his role as the show’s narrator? Overall, his presence felt a bit redundant; his attempts to negotiate Michael’s movie rights are one of the more redundant subplots in a season stuffed with them. [5/10]
CW: Yeah – the old playing-an-asshole-version-of-yourself Hollywood cameo has been done to death. I feel like they were trying to play on Ron Howard’s affable reputation and the public’s image of him as Opie/Richie Cunningham, but it was just too obvious. Usually when AD brings in people playing themselves, they give the ficitonalised versions some genuinely eccentric traits – Tom Jane’s strict method, Carl Weathers’ cheapness, Andy Richter’s quintuplets. Ron Howard: Hollywood Asshole! just doesn’t feel at all fresh.
Sidebar: Imagine (heh) if Brian Grazer and Ron Howard had a baby, how weird-looking that baby would be. [2/10]
AD: The internet tells me it would look a bit like this sad, wrinkly thing:
Final Score: 3.5/10
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NELSON FRANKLIN as Hospital Intern
CW: He’ll always be Comeau to me, but like Mary Lynn Rajskub, I’m just happy to see him working. His face calms me.
AD: I had to Google Comeau to find out that’s a character in Scott Pilgrim. Yeesh, whatever happened to Michael Cera’s film career? That’s a whole other discussion. Nelson Franklin is a straight-up likeable guy. I loved his recent guest spot on New Girl, when he and Schmidt had their sad rivalry over Cece. This is a short but sweet cameo for him: he really only has one line – his ‘butterface’ joke – but fortunately, it’s a cracker. [7/10]
CW: That joke didn’t land at all for me, despite Franklin’s best effort. Yes, she has butter on her face. Yes, “butterface” is a name some people call some women. Bamford isn’t an unattractive woman. There are no other levels to it. It felt lazy and below the AD writers. [4/10]
Final Score: 5.5/10
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TERRY CREWS as Herbert Love
CW: Now we’re talking! All the mad, obtuse confidence of Herman Cain without the creepitude! I find Terry Crews strangely adorable, and this was fun — although the Cain reference felt a bit dated already, this was a fun return to the sly political humour that was such an underrated and essential part of Arrested Development : Original Flavour. [7/10]
AD: Given the broadness of some of the gags this season, I’m surprised they didn’t have Terry Crews riff on his Old Spice Guy persona in some way. It would be easy to take a sleazy politician character like Herbert Love and play it really broad and wacky; Crews did a good job of subtlety. [7/10]
Final Score: 7/10
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BEN SCHWARTZ as John Beard Jnr
AD: I groaned at the start of the Gob episode when I realised they were going for an Entourage parody, but it turned out to be the strongest one of the season. If you want a douchey gen-y dudebro with a lot of swag and highly questionable fashion sense, Ben Schwartz is your go-to guy. He played this part a lot like he plays Jean-Ralphio in Parks & Recreation. I have a soft spot for up-beat, idiotic characters. It’s a pity they couldn’t squeeze some Jenny Slate in. [7/10]
CW: I honestly don’t mind that they clearly went “Who does GOB need in his entourage?” “I know – Jean-Ralphio!” — because of course Jean-Ralphio exists in this universe. In fact, if at least one of Jean-Ralphio and Mona Lisa’s parents isn’t a local media personality with too much money, I’ll eat one of his many, many fedoras. [10/10 forever]
Final Score: 8.5/10
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MAX WINKLER as Young Barry Zuckerkorn
AD: Of all the younger versions of characters in the flashbacks, I thought that this young Barry Zuckerkorn was definitely the best and also the funniest. The fact that Henry Winkler is his dad helps with the resemblance, of course. [8/10]
CW: I couldn’t stop giggling – he nails the manic bluster of adult Barry so perfectly. [8/10]
Final Score: 8/10
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TOMMY TUNE as Argyle Austero
AD: I didn’t know who Tommy Tune was before this, and I’m honestly a little bit scared of him now. Argyle Austero is simultaneously fey and swishy and incredibly physically threatening – that’s a hard combo to pull off, but Tommy Tune manages it. [7/10]
Final Score: 7/10
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MARIA THAYER as Tracy Bluth
AD: When the flashback footage started, it took me a second to realise that Tracy was Michael’s dead wife – George Michael’s mother. Attractive redheads are a running theme this season. This was a pretty sweet and sentimental touch, and I find Maria Thayer pretty appealing, so I was happy to go along with this one. [7/10]
CW: I occasionally torture myself by imagining what it would have been like to have a wife dying of cancer, and the Bluths as your only other family… I’m not thrilled that they put a face to Tracy – for some reason it bothers me. It made the things Michael was saying about Rebel Alley reminding him of his wife go from sweet and wistful to kinda creepy, once the resemblance was hammered home. She was always this melancholy thought in the back of Michael’s and George Michael’s mind, sometimes a darkly funny punchline (Barry’s “I got you out of your marriage!” boast comes to mind). But Thayer is lovely and she made a pretty convincing case for the origin of some of George Michael’s nervous tics. [4/10]
Final Score: 5.5/10
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ZACH WOODS as Drone Pilot
AD: There were so many guest stars I completely missed him the first time around. Zach Woods’ signature character seems to be ‘tall, perpetually concerned guy’, as exemplified by Gabe on The Office. I honestly don’t know what kind of range he has outside of that, but I could watch him be jittery all day. He’s the fifth Office person I’ve spotted this season, but they still haven’t found room for a Creed Bratton cameo. [7/10]
Final Score: 7/10
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DIEDRICH BADER as Gunner
AD: The Buster episode was pretty dark and didn’t actually have a lot of laughs, so it was fun to play ‘hey, it’s that guy!’ when Diedrich Bader turned up. This season, it almost feels like they made a game out of taking recognisable actors and putting them in blink-and-you’ll-miss-it parts. [6/10]
CW: “Hey, it’s that guy!” is my favourite game, so I was having a pretty good time with all this. Bader is aging very well – that retro scientist vibe works for him. [6/10]
Final Score: 6/10
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CONAN O’BRIEN as Himself
CW: Conan’s notoriously game to turn up and make fun of the way he looks and talks and is and supposedly is — and he is a dear. (“Who is Conan O’Brien – and why is she so sad?”) And it was at least pretty organic, with the Andy Richter connection. But having someone so famous feels a bit wrong in this cameo: AD: OF was so great at picking guest stars who are a bit left-of-centre – Tom Jane, James Lipton – as a constant nod to the budget feel, as though they were saying ‘Well, we spent all our money on Liza and candy beans, so we could only get Carl Weathers!’. In fact, I think that was a problem with a lot of the guest stars — the big names were so jarring. But Coco’s done the rounds of so many shows and movies I feel like he barely counts any more. [meh/10]
AD: I do feel like shows are at their least creatively vital when they start bringing in celebrity pop-ins just because. Friends used to do this a lot – ‘Hey, look, it’s Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, here to spice up the cold open!’ It felt a bit gratuitous then, and it feels a bit gratuitous here. Friends could always rely on its excellent ensemble to generate laughs, and it used to be that Arrested Development could do that too, but I feel like all the random celebrity pop-ins this season are there to distract you from the fact that the cast is never in the same room together. [5/10]
CW: I’m torn between “you will get some pop-ins” and “do stay for the pop-ins” as my go-to joke right now.
Final Score: 5/10
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BEST GUEST STAR:
Ben Schwartz as John Beard Jnr
WORST GUEST STAR[S]:
Kristen Wiig & Seth Rogen as Young Lucille and George
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