The form came out of the function because it is for the audience that already knows the show, while hoping to get a new audience, too.
Mitchell HurwitzOne of the challenges of the show has always been trying to be surprising, and that was easy to do when nobody was watching it. Now that people have started watching it, they get ahead of us. We've all started really guarding the material, just to make it fun for the audience.
Mitchell HurwitzFirst of all, there is absolutely an order that we have put together to create the maximum number of surprises, but that's just part of our storytelling.
Mitchell HurwitzWe figured the interesting question for them is, "Where has the family been since 2006, since the last time we saw them?" So, part of the time, we had to spend answering that question. Then, inevitably, it goes up to a point of crisis, in everyone's show. There was just no getting around that it was about 2006-2012.
Mitchell Hurwitz