ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - Season Three [2005]

"You know, 

your average American male is in a perpetual state of adolescence, 

you know, arrested development."

After two years of struggling in the ratings, the critically acclaimed but sadly neglected Mitch Hurwitz sitcom Arrested Development was ready to close shop at the FOX network.  Normally the network would cancel a show with such low ratings after 10 episodes or so but they saw the brilliance and passion put into the series and allowed to tread water for a total of three years, so for once, we can't really blame the network for letting it go underwater.  

The third season continues it's attack of rapid fire jokes, blink and you'll miss them punchlines and twisted characters galore.  With knowledge of being cancelled the writers were able to sneak in as many in-jokes and nods to the loyal fans as they possibly could without ever worrying about having to attract new viewers.  However it didn't stop them from sarcastically pleading the viewer, even though they knew it well past too late, to "tell your friends about this show".  Graced with some wonderful guest stars (including Charlize Theron in probably the funniest thing I think I've seen her ever do) the regular cast are firing on all cylinders which would eventually allow them all to move onto bigger more successful projects but never quite as good as this series.  This season contains perhaps one of the funniest scenes I have ever seen on television, causing me to hyper-ventilate, that has to do with a mole and a jet pack.  One cast member I should mention is Micheal Cera who is constantly criticized for playing the same awkward kid role over and over but this is the first time he does it and where it works best as he's put into these awful situations.  

I can go on and on about how fantastic and witty this show was but it's best you just go out and check it out for yourself from the very beginning.  

13 episodes. 22 minutes each.

Buyer's Guide:
Available in DVD box sets and on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.

 4 Wee Britains out of 5

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - Season Two [2004]

"It's called taking advantage.

It's what gets you ahead in life."

After the perfect execution of the debut season of the criminally underwatched sitcom Arrested Development, Mitch Hurwitz & co. had a lot to live up to.  Four episodes shorter than the previous season, the laughs are as strong as ever and the serialized storyline is even more confusing if you miss an episode or two. 

This time around, George Bluth Sr. is a wanted fugitive, secretly hiding in the Bluth family attic, known only to Michael who has every right to just turn him in but won't for various complicated reasons.  Several other plotlines are introduced into the mix that spiderweb into a manic mess of chaos that always seems to meet up at the end of the season.  The plotting of the season might not be as tightly wound as the first year but some of the jokes are the funniest things I've ever seen.  It rewards viewers with multiple viewings, as I'm still catching things I've never noticed before, including many in-jokes that are a direct "fuck you" to the way the Fox network was treating the program.  The plots seem to have a more outlandish style than before, by including a flesh-eating seal, a "wolf" on the loose in L.A. and even David Cross in a surreal version of Mrs. Doubtfire.  

It also continues it's trend of wonderfully funny guest stars to support the strong ensemble cast, including Henry Winkler (who actually jumps over a shark in one ep), Liza Minelli, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Martin Short, Carl Weathers, J.K. Simmons and even The Blue Man Group.

With every critic and their dog calling the show brilliant, funny, clever and "the best sitcom of the 2000's", it's hard to come up with anything that hasn't been said before but the fact is they're all correct and I'll gladly beat the dead horse and agree with everything that's been said before.  The series is not for everybody but I shouldn't have to tell you that anymore.  As Maeby Fünke says in an episode, shortly after Fox tried pair the show with Family Guy, only to have it fail even more, " Why are we even going after this idiot demographic?"

18 episodes. 22 minutes each.

Buyer's Guide:
Available in DVD box sets and on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.

4 Lucille and the Loose Seals out of 5

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - Season One [2003]

"Now the story of a wealthy family who lost everything

and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together."

With the help of Ron Howard as both executive producer and narrator, Mitch Hurwitz, co-creator of The Ellen Show, was able to turn Arrested Development into one of the most consistently funny and refreshingly well written sitcoms to grace American television sets.  It centers around widowed father Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) as he struggles to hold his abysmally dysfunctional socialite family and their once wealthy business together, after their father and CEO George Bluth (Jeffrey Tambor) is sent to prison.  

Shot like a hand-held documentary series, with frequent flashbacks and archival photographs, the series keeps a frantic, yet pleasing pace, while depending on the wonderfully assembled ensemble cast to glue it all together.  It's rare that such a large cast works so well together but this group hasn't a weak link in the bunch.  Every single interaction and combination of characters makes for hilarious and interesting moments while constantly driving the plot forward.  Like Seinfeld, each episode begins with multiple unrelated plots that all seem to cleverly meet up in the end, usually resulting in complete disaster.  

Unlike most sitcoms, Arrested Development is told in a serialized episodic format, so it's best you watch it from the first episode, which seemed to frustrate several viewers who wanted their shows to be forgotten minutes after it was over.  AD never panders to those unable to think outside the idiot box and instead asks for your close attention and memory to understand several of it's "blink and you'll miss them" jokes.  As a fancy way to wrap things up in a short epilogue format, it tags on a "false" preview of the next episode, which did nothing but infuriate dullards who just didn't seem to understand what it really was and needed their humor spoon fed to them.  

Normally it takes a half a season or full year for a series to find it's groove but Arrested Development knew exactly what it was doing from the first episode and makes it all the more stronger in the long run.  Sadly, the series struggled to find a proper audience and became that "I heard it's good but never seen it" series, which is quite frankly infuriating when Chuck Lorre sitcoms are shat out like hotcakes for years on end.  

22 episodes.  22 minutes each.

Buyer's Guide:

Available in DVD box sets and on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.

5 Families With Low Self Esteem out of 5