As Kelly pointed out in this morning’s link round-up, the drumbeat for the new episodes of Arrested Development grows louder. Tumblr posters, etc! The 15 new episodes will be available all at once (classic Netflix) on May 26th. But here’s my question: are you for sure excited about them? I know you are excited. Everyone is “excited.” Are you sure, though? A few weeks ago, I was having a sandwich with a friend, because normal friendship is boring. Mix it up. Throw a sandwich in there. I do not remember how the new episodes of Arrested Development entered into the conversation, but my friend began to rant and complain about these new episodes and how bummed he was that they were being made and how unenthusiastic he was about the whole proposition. To clarify: MY FRIEND DID THIS. Please note that I recognize it seems like something I would do, but in this case I did not do it. And this is not one of those apocryphal stories where I project my own thoughts and feelings onto a straw-friend who I just invented for the purposes of deflecting a backlash. Maybe I would make up a friend in such a situation, BUT WOULD I ALSO MAKE UP A SANDWICH? Please show me a modicum of respect. Anyway, this was the first time I had heard anyone complain about new episodes of Arrested Development. Be casually disinterested because life is short and there are actually more exciting things in the world on which to expend one’s enthusiasms? Sure. But not despair and dread. Now, my friend is a Malcolm Gladwell Outlier (or is he a Malcolm Gladwell Tipping Point? I always get them so confused) but he did bring up some fairly reasonable criticisms, namely that the original show was so great that to retread old territory felt lazy and like a cash grab that could potentially tarnish the trapped-in-amber golden quality of the original series. What if the old magic is gone? 9 times out of 10, the old magic is gone, that’s the main thing about old magic. It definitely made me temper my interest in the new episodes of Arrested Development, although that may just as well have been the sandwich. Bread makes me sleepy! How about you guys, though? I know you are excited, but are you for sure excited? (We can also just talk about sandwiches if you want. There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to those.)