"Arrested Development"

We're living in an age where lazily-conceived and improperly executed television shows are the norm. Many shows start fantastically and then as the plot gets more and more complicated, the show ultimately goes downhill (see Lost.) It almost becomes a chore to have to keep up with these idiotic shows that have to bring on guest stars and focus on their musical selections to keep audiences watching.

I am confident that this will not be the case with Arrested Development.

Arrested Development is that rare television show that will get noticed by some but will most likely fly over most people's heads. The show is, in short, a "riches to rags" story of a severely dysfunctional family. It's too strange and random to be mainstream, but too hilarious to take cult status. Arrested Development doesn't have a laugh track like most sitcoms and it doesn't look like it involves any more than a few sets and a superb cast. The show, unlike other sitcoms these days, relies on the talent of the actors and their interactions with each other and the extremely well-written script. Most of all, Arrested Development is fun to watch. It's hilarious as it's a comment on American society today--we all want to have lots of money, we just don't want to work. The most noteworthy aspect of Arrested Development is that the audience is just as much looking forward to the next funny line as they are to the plot.

The first episode, "Pilot", begins at a boat party for the retirement of George Sr. Bluth, neatly played by Jeffrey Tambor. His son, Michael Bluth, played by Jason Bateman, has been anticipating taking over his father's company. To Michael's dismay, George Sr. announces that he is making his dramatic wife, Lucille, hilariously played by Jessica Walter, the new CEO. Much to everyone's surprise, the SEC soon takes control of the ship and arrest George Sr. for fraud, leaving the family in trouble as he is the one who brings in the money. The SEC announces that they are putting a halt on the company expense account, which frightens the family as they have been living off of George Sr. Michael decides to take a job in Arizona to separate himself from his lazy family, but they all end up begging for his help. Eventually, Michael decides to stick around and help everyone for his awkward son George Michael, played by Michael Cera, who wants to stay close to the family in California. Michael decides to try to save the endangered family business.

The following episode, "Top Banana", starts with the local news channel reporting that the Bluth Banana Stand has gone up in flames. The episode then takes us back a week earlier where George Sr. tries to make Michael feel better by explaining that there is "always money in the banana stand." George Michael asks for more hours at the banana stand and, in turn, Michael makes him "Mr. Manager", a running joke throughout the 22-minute long episode. Michael, fed up with his unemployed family, appoints his niece Maeby, played by Alia Shawkat, to work at the banana stand under George Michael. Maeby turns into a nuisance, taking money from the register and throwing out bananas, assuming that the inventory will match their profits, (but later learning that this is not exactly the case.) Michael's sister Lindsay, played by the beautiful Portia de Rossi, insists that she is supporting her husband Tobias, played by the obnoxious David Cross, even though he is unemployed. Tobias looks for work as an actor. Michael asks his mother Lucille for the company flight records, and she insists that they are in a storage unit. Alas, a storage unit goes up in flames, Michael's other brother G.O.B., played by the forgettable Will Arnett, fails at his simple job of delivering a letter and Michael, wanting to gain control of his life, encourages George Michael, who feels that he has royally screwed up the banana stand business by letting Maeby screw things up, to set the family banana stand on fire. Michael then visits his father in jail and proudly announces that he set the stand on fire--but this pride turns to disgust when George Sr. screams that there was $250,000 implanted in the walls of the banana stand, hence his signature line (receited three times in this episode) of "there's always money in the banana stand."

Never taking itself too seriously, Arrested Development contains a minute-long segment at the end of each episode with the highlights from the following week's episode, something that most television shows do these days. However, what we see in this segment is not what we will see the following week as the show had not been picked up at the time of production. It later became a staple of the show, used to resolve an episode's storylines.

Arrested Development is a bit confusing at first. Although there are many characters, I had trouble understanding what the relationships were. It's simple: this is an extended family going through crisis--or, this is Michael going through crisis with the other family members hoping Michael can get the business going again so they can be spoon-fed money without working.

The show is presented in documentary-like style, containing few cuts and appearing to be done in just a couple takes.

Arrested Development is good. Really good. Unfortunately, this probably means that the show will not last long as the general public goes for spoon-fed material. Nevertheless, in a society filled with stupid television shows, Arrested Development is gold.