Arrested Development (Seasons 1 - 3)

Starring: Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walters, RonHoward

Creator: Mitchell Hurwitz

Genre: Sitcom

Rating: B-

Arrested Development is supposed to be one of the best TV shows of, at minimum, the twenty-first century, receiving both critical claim and several awards during its short time on air, which was brought to a close when it was cancelled by Fox – so called untimely by the hoard of people who allegedly watched it, despite the lack of a reflection of such in the ratings.  I’m just going to stick this out there: when Fox gives a show multiple seasons, doesn’t screw around with its timeslot, and airs episodes pretty much in order, then cancels it due to poor ratings it isn’t exactly unjustified – especially if said cancellation comes with warning and the show is able to wrap up many of its storylines.  While I’ve enjoyed my fair share of cancelled shows, both Fox and otherwise, and lamented a few of them, I rarely hold it against the network.  The treatment of Firefly was a travesty, the treatment of Arrested Development not so much.

The show follows the excessively wealthy Bluth family; patriarch George Bluth, Sr. (Tambor), his wife Lucille (Walter), eldest son George “Gob” Oscar Bluth II (Arnett), protagonist Michael (Bateman), his son George Michael (Cera), Michael’s twin sister Lindsey Fünke (de Rossi), her husband Tobias (Cross), their daughter Mae “Maeby” (Shawkat), and the youngest Bluth son Byron “Buster” (Hale). At the start of the series George Sr. is arrested for defrauding investors and grossly spending the company’s money on personal expenses, which serve to pay for the family’s lavish lifestyle. Following a series of blunders, Michael is named President of the Bluth company and tasked with the job of saving both the company and the family; in doing so he asks his sister and her family to move into the Bluth model home with him and his son. Hilarity ensues over the course of three seasons as there are multiple escape attempts, ridiculous legal proceedings, numerous attempts to bring the family back together, save the company, and even to screw each other over. The entire show is presented in a documentary style format, as is narrated by series executive producer Ron Howard.

There are elements about this show that I really enjoyed.  I didn't really like Michael himself, but I did like Lindsey, George Bluth, Sr, and Lucille.  Their exploits were the most entertaining for me, especially as George Bluth, Sr began his run from the law.  The other characters for me were just a bit too over the top - while Michael's inability to really deal with his family got annoying, really fast, as did his rather overbearing relationship with his own son.  There were, however, a few running jokes of the series that I enjoyed - Gob's chicken dance in itself was rather lame, but I did enjoy the scene where all the Bluths were each doing their own chicken dance to mock Michael.  The many, many questions of Tobias' sexuality were great, especially once it became clear that they'd decided that Tobias really was gay.  A lot of this show was really over the top though, and really lame.  Some of the plots just seemed to go on for too long, especially the constant incest plot.  By the end of it I felt like I had watched something that while I had enjoyed, I also felt had ended well and didn't need to continue.  Not the greatest show, nor even one of the best of the decade, but others clearly disagree with me.