MovieChat Forums > Roman's Empire Discussion > Cheap imitation of Arrested Development

Cheap imitation of Arrested Development

posted 17 years ago by Marrissey
24 replies | jump to latest

So many things in this show remind me of Arrested Development - the weird waste of space family, the normal and slightly square focus character who is forced to remain with said family and hold it together, slightly crazed head of family who lead is trying to get in the good books of, one of the guys has clearly been told to act like Gob. A million other things.

It's really rather cringeworthy to see just how much us Brits can screw up a good premise - it's like we're paying the Yanks back for the American 'Office'.

[–] epiclylaterd 17 years ago

My thoughts exactly.

[–] eoin_curran_ec 17 years ago

i came here to say exactly this.

arrested development is awesome, this is not

[–] wj-n3 17 years ago

Has its moments. And the US Office kicks ass.

[–] decorativeedison 17 years ago

Also exactly what I was thinking after being exposed to this awful crap for the past 30 seconds. The guy who used to be Nathan Barley is an abysmal amalgam of GOB and Tobias and the acting is even worse than the script.

The fact that the BBC burried Arrested Development in latenight slots that were moved every week and had zero by way of advertising (I missed the first three episodes of the third season because of this) makes this even more sickening. The mock-Mark Mothersbaugh soundtrack also makes me want to vomit.

Add this to My Family, Two Pints of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, The Catherine Tate Show and Rush Hour as a list of reasons to present to court in your TV License evasion case and I think we'll be £130 a year better off.

[–] cocainekongpow 17 years ago

I caught Romans Empire last night for the first time and I completley agree with you. Although I still laughed my arse off watching it so it pains me to say that it is a rip off of Arrested Development.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] donmcdanger 17 years ago

I dont think its necessarily a bad thing though. Its not like an exact remake of AD, more like an homage or a tribute too.
Bare in mind a) that the success of AD and name recognition in the UK is limited b) imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and c) it could lead to more people researching and discovering the delight of AD.

Its not like people would look into a show they disliked and then deliberately avoid any show its compared to, unless they were largely fools. You might however get fans of Romans Empire seeing the comparison to AD and deciding to check it out.

I do agree that I dont think its as funny as AD but I certainly dont find it unfunny. There are some good running jokes (the Romania one gets me each time) and Seb as a character makes me laugh.

[–] stu_157 17 years ago

it could lead to more people researching and discovering the delight of AD.

How?

It's not like they thank the program in the end credits.

Sayonara, not to be confused with cyanide, which is, of course, goodbye in any language.

[–] vasstarr 17 years ago

its not arrested development, but i still find it entertaining. I seen all of AD and to be honest i didnt think that when watching Roman's Empire. And to be honest i enjoy it, so even if it was a complete copy. IF its good .. and entertains me, i am watching it!

[–] donmcdanger 17 years ago

I meant with a quick look at places online (here and tv.com for example) where poeple are commenting on the similarity of the two shows.

[–] kristoph_jakovski 17 years ago

i wouldnt say its a cheap imitation, it does have similar themeas folk have said, but just enjoy it.theres hardly anythign original these days. if you look at the leo charcter, he's more like sweetchuck off police academy than michael bluth.i also love the fact that the science teacher off grange hill and the mum out my parents are aliens are in this!there needs to be more kids tv actors in adult programmes!
i dont know what that says about my taste in entertainment, but i like romans empire.the characters do have pasing resemblances to AD characters, but i love that show too.and cos there is no more ad, then i see no problem with a homage to it.

i've made a huge mistake....

[–] decorativeedison 17 years ago

Trouble is, there's "paying homage" to and then there's wholesale theft of ideas, jokes, style and situations. If Mitch Hurwitz was credited and recieved royalties from the show, I wouldn't mind it's existence. What I don't like is that the writers of this show are "homaging" their way through every minute of it and taking all the (dubious) credit for it.

[–] SpadeWarrior 17 years ago

This show is terrible. The writing is a pale shadow of that on AD and the acting is terrible. It's embarassing to watch. It's also strange how the characters are less likeable in this than AD, when on paper it's the other way around.

Sigh.

[–] tone_e2000 17 years ago

I don't really understand how this show can be a rip-off of Arrested Development (which is one of my favourite sitcoms ever). Firstly, Michael Bluth is a likeable, reliable character, who hold everyone together. The main character in Roman's Empire is exactly the opposite of this. He's as dysfunctional as everyone else. His aims are also totally different. He's not interested in the family. He just wants his ex-girlfriend back.

As for the character(s) that's supposedly like Gob - well, it's a pretty common trick in sitcoms to have a 'wacky' character.

So what if it's about a dysfunctional family. So is The Simpsons. I personally liked Roman's Empire, but saw very little similarity between this and Arrested Development.

[–] mynameismir 17 years ago

I have to agree with you as well. While it is a sitcom about a wacked out family, like AD, this is hardly a new idea. So long as I am cracking up at the jokes and looking forward to the next installment then I know I am digging it.

As for the US Office that someone metioned earlier. I have always been staunchly against US remakes of Britcoms and for ages refused to watch the US version - always saying the UK one was so good why did they have to go and mess with it. But after watching the US one I have to confess that I like it more than the UK version.

[–] thecrazymongoose 13 years ago

I know it's an ancient thread - only just got round to watching the show. The way it thieves is less from the setup (AD wasnt the first to tackle the dysfunctional family) but more from the style of the show. Just from the first episode we have the film gag, and in the way it is delivered (with explanatory narration and "wink wink" directorial aside.)

From a directorial point of view, much of it seems robbed from the catalog of Wes Anderson. Parallel camera lines, studied composition, mid closeups - its like watching the Royal Tenembaums all over again. (also see manservant resemblance here as well)

Its also annoying to hear the Penguin Cafe Orchestra ripped off so blatently in the theme tune as well. (its clearly a "just changed enough to avoid paying" version of Music for a Found Harmonium - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJg1NNyke2E which im sure they heard through Napoleon Dynamite.) The whole series seems designed to be an amalgam of all the quirky films and series of the past 10 years shoved together. Like other people, I found some small bits quite funny (namely Romania) but almost every line and frame hit back at me like deja-vu. So while I certainly prefer it over much of BBC 3's output, its just sad to see something like this put out. Did the BBC fully see the depths of homages within?

The US office is, I will agree with you, hilarious.

[–] wj-n3 16 years ago

Right now the main difference seems to be that AD got a second series.

Come on BBC...

[–] Wood-20 17 years ago

Stop trying to pay back the yanks for anything, and just enjoy that Roman's Empire is hilarious. It's more reminiscent of "Royal Tenenbaums" than "Arrested Development". Seriously, almost all comedy is a rip-off. What makes you so special?

[–] brock_rockwell 16 years ago

um...the writers of this show openly admit that it's pretty heavily based on AD. So... yeah... good point u make...

In any case, I think the show is pretty funny, and while there are definitely similarities, it's not like they're ripping off story lines. Besides, they don't make AD anymore, and this is a decent alternative. Pity they made so few eps, but at least it didn't die a slow death like AD

[–] arwenhyde 16 years ago

it's way better than AD

[–] fmilia2millions 16 years ago

Roman's Empire wasn't that bad... Yes, the style is directly taken from Arrested Development and the characters are pretty much counterparts to the ones in Arrested Development and so what if the set-up is blatantly copied from Arrested development... where was I going with this?

[–] liz-322 16 years ago

Yep, it's a ripoff. The father, the mother... the vapid daughter... the 'not gay' gay character... the incestuous undertones... sorry. As an AD fan I was actually thinking I would enjoy this show ("hey, it's kind of like a sequel...!") but it just didn't contain a tenth of the quick humor of AD. Except the Romania bit.

[–] cherzo 15 years ago

this is 100000000000000 times better than AD :)