‘Arrested Development’s Excellent Extended Pilot Should Be on Netflix

Pilots are always hard. You have to introduce a world’s worth of characters and a believable plot all while somehow staying entertaining. So when you see a good pilot, it sticks with you. For myself and many, many fans of the iconic comedy series it was the perfect first episode of Arrested Development that immediately hooked us. So on the 15th anniversary of this beloved series, it must be asked: why doesn’t Netflix have the equally great extended version of Arrested Development‘s pilot?

Even calling Arrested Development‘s pilot a masterpiece feels like an understatement. With those first four words — “This is Michael Bluth” — Mitchell Hurwitz introduced the world to a never-ending torment of dysfunction fueled by one of the worst family to grace TV. Told through Ron Howard’s iconic voiceover, the pilot naturally begins with Michael (Jason Bateman), a hard-working father ready to take his place at the head of his father’s business. From there the episode aptly backflips and cartwheels around, introducing his mother Lucille (Jessica Walters), his ridiculous brothers GOB (Will Arnett) and Buster (Tony Hale), his sister Lindsay (Portia di Rossi), his son George Michael (Michael Cera), and the rest of the Bluth family in a series of scenes perfectly calibrated to show off their individual hilarious quirks. Moments later when we learn that Michael is happy not because of the promotion but because he’s decided to leave these monsters, we get it. The Bluths truly are awful.

The original cut of the pilot is so sharp it’s tempting to think that if it went on a moment longer, it would lose its zip. As we now know far too well, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to runtimes of TV shows. Meandering 35-minute comedies and hourlong dramas have become so prevalent, there’s even a nickname for them — the Netflix bloat. But the extended version of Arrested Development never felt bloated. It was just as sharp as the first cut with a few extra jokes.

For example, there’s a flashback in the pilot that shows Lindsay talking about one of her many charities. This time it’s to raise money for a starving community. Ever the philanthropist, Lindsay turns down a plate of food, saying, “Oh, no. I’m completely stuffed. Um, I forget their name but I know they’re hungry.”

In the original version, that’s where the joke ends. But thanks to the extended version, we’re blessed with this line: “I think some of them are thirsty.”

Likewise, one of GOB’s most iconic moments gets a slight tweak. In the middle of their father’s retirement dinner, Michael gets into an argument with his ever ridiculous older brother about his “magic tricks.” Enraged, GOB screams, “Illusion, Michael! A trick is something a whore does for money.” Once he notices the group of children around him, he tentatively adds “…or candy” with a big shit-eating grin.

The extended version sees that line changed to “…or cocaine.” It’s such a small difference but it speaks to just how clueless and terrible GOB is. In both versions of the scene, he knows he’s said something children aren’t supposed to hear. But in the aired version he tries to clean it up with something he knows kids like. He has a tiny drop of awareness. In the extended version, he doubles down, either hoping that hard drugs are better to talk about then prostitutes or choosing to give a thorough explanation to these random children. Either way he’s completely oblivious.

Personally, I will always choose the original pilot over the extended one, but the longer cut has so many gems it’s more than worth watching and re-watching. And when it comes to iconic pieces of television and film, it’s fun to compare what is to what could have been. In college, my friends and I used to spend hours picking apart exactly what was different from the aired and extended version. Was it a futile exercise that wasted time we could have better spent studying? Absolutely. But Arrested Development is such a rich and fulfilling show, it warrants being obsessively picked apart for hours.

Arrested Development already has a special place in Netflix’s history. House of Cards may have been its first big-name original, but the fourth season of the cancelled Fox show is what transformed Netflix originals into must watch events and sparked the trend of streaming services continuing cancelled cult shows. Sure, this extended version a small detail in the history of television, but it’s a fun one that’s the perfect sort of fan service-focused nod for such a big anniversary.

We already have two versions of Season 4 in our collective Netflix library. Is it too much to ask for an extra long pilot?

Where to stream Arrested Development