It's a mystery to me that AD has got a high "9 something" here in IMDb. I have tried my hardest to get into this show, since so many says that it's the best thing that has happened to sitcoms since Seinfeld. Well, to me it wan't funny at all! I did let it grow on me and gave the first four episodes a try and if I didn't get it by then, I would just ditch it.

The result of that four episode stint trial: The only time I laughed for the first four episodes, was at the end of the episode "Top Banana". I won't spoil the joke to the poor sods that wanna watch this, since I think it was the only funny thing for all the four episodes. I smiled sometimes, but there was no twists and situations that made me crawl to the floor laughing out loud...

I tried to see the humor in it, but just can't. That is a sign of its own, you shouldn't have to try to laugh, it should just come naturally. I loved it to be in the same ballpark as the British version of the office or Seinfeld when it came to unique humor, but it just wasn't. Maybe it's a cultural thing, me being a Swede and more or less grown up to British humor, but It also has got a cult following in my country.

I get the feeling that for many it's a sport to be in the "in-crowd" that "gets" the quirky jokes. Like it's about an comedy IQ-test or something. The "smart" intellectual (but very forced) kind of humor that I dislike from the bottom of my heart! Well, as some reviewer said earlier: it got canceled because it didn't get the audience numbers, despite heavy promoting from fox. If it was as good as Seinfeld as some says, it would have been prolonged, but it got the deserved cancellation. It got a second chance with Netflix in around 2013, but this time around people saw it for what it was (finally).

A sign of a really good sitcom in my mind is one that is intelligently written, but still appeals to the greater mass. Seinfeld, Frasier, Fawlty Towers(Uk), Black Adder(UK) and the office(The original UK version from 2002 with Ricky Gervais) comes to mind. Not something that tries sooooooo hard to be cool and with a very narrow fan base that are looking everywhere for some hidden humor in places where it doesn't exist! I think that great comedy should work instantly (at the same time it can be very smart where you can rewatch it to find new funny details that just adds to the comedy). Like with "Fawlty Towers" which is in a league of its own!

It feels like it was very inspired by the UK office version (Which came way before it) in many ways. It has the hand-held cameras. Trying to force the "is it a documentary or is it real?" feeling when you accidentally watch it for the first time on TV(more relevant before streaming really took off). The odd quirky characters are in there. But compared to the (UK original)office, they aren't as funny or interesting to me. I just can't relate to the persons in AD, to me it feels like they are just way out there for its own sake. To me it's way funnier when "kind of normal" people in mostly boring settings act in ways that are way out there. It's more of a contrast if it is done in the right way.

The narrative (The voice commenting and summing things up a la desperate housewives) really spoils it for me too! Yes it's a comedy "mocumentary", but it is done with too much of an ironic tone in the voice-over. It works better at the start of a movie based on a novel, or like in "House of Cards" where it really is needed(and done in a serious way). Not as the half baked ironic "wink wink" to the audience as in Arrested D. Its almost like "canned laughter" for the mind. If it was funny enough on it's own strength it wouldn't need that kind of "dirty tricks".

Maybe it's cultural, I just can't relate to it. I do get it that for some people this really works. Maybe the Club of "in-people" that I'm a proud non-member of!