by Bender  Jan 31, 2005

Arrested Development, airing Sunday nights at 8:30PM EST on Fox and produced by Michael Hurwitz and Ron Howard, is the best show on network television. It’s surprising, in fact, that a show of such high quality (and at times racy dialogue) airs on advertising-funded television at all, particularly at a time when TV and radio networks are skittish about producing content which could catch the eyes and ears of an
increasingly Draconian FCC.

Arrested Development is narrated by Howard and follows the life of the Bluth Family, and the family-owned company they run (and run into the ground). George Bluth, Sr (Jeffrey Tambor), the head of the company, is sent to prison for cooking the books, and much of the show’s story centers around his son Michael’s (Jason Bateman) attempts to rein in the family. Michael is the least incompetent of the bunch -that’s not saying much - and he’s constantly frustrated by the actions of the rest of the family.

Filmed almost like a reality show, Arrested Development brings the funny so well because it doesn’t insult the intelligence of its audience. There’s certainly no shortage of zany, over-the-top humor on the show (Gob Bluth getting picked up and later dropped by a crane while wearing a banana suit certainly qualifies), but there’s also an important element of subtlety. When Tobias tries out for the Blue Man Group and spends much of one episode covered in poorly applied blue makeup, we see spots of blue paint on the walls in future episodes. I don’t mean to suggest that this is a particularly brilliant plot device, but touches like these really help bring the stories and the characters to life.

Like Seinfeld, to which Arrested Development owes no small debt of gratitude, these characters are not likeable in the least, yet we find ourselves liking them anyway. The actors’ sense of comic timing is impeccable, and the blessed lack of a laugh track once again raises the question of why any show uses a laugh track when it clearly tells the audience WE DON’T THINK YOU’RE SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEN TO
LAUGH.

Despite winning awards and in general garnering a truckload of acclaim, Arrested Development got poor ratings in its first season. Now in its second season, I’m not sure how it’s faring. So please watch it so I can continue to.