Development Arrested

So this last week I finished the Arrested Development TV series. It originally aired on Fox, I don't think I caught a single episode while it was actually on--man they needed marketing bad. Below is my review for Netflix (of which I think I've written about two total):

If you consistently find that comedies you love get cancelled then this show is for you. Critical acclaim, amazing acting and some of the best writing that I've ever seen on network television. The biggest vote of confidence I can pass on is this: One of my friends refuses to watch the third season because she doesn't want to admit the show is done. Some recommendations: Watch these in sequence--you can't miss out on anything as the show will draw on material from several episodes back. Also, don't skip the "next time on Arrested development" shots--these are not actually reproduced in the next episode and they're just dang funny (like everything else).

Note the show is available for "free" through MSN although it comes with commercials and an annoying habit of drop-frames, IMO it's worth the hit to your rental queue to watch this off the DVDs. I've never owned a TV series on DVD but I just might consider getting this one. One more warning, the show is more than a little racy in parts. No nudity, but lots of sexual humor.

I simply can't believe this show is over. Well, maybe I can a little. The show goes to great pains to poke fun at existing television (for example the lead character Michael Bluth had a visibly adverse reaction to people calling Orange County the "OC" and would immediately say "don't call it that"), but the trick is you have to have heard of the OC to know they were making fun of it--I barely made the connection. So you pretty much have to be familiar with shows that suck in order to appreciate a show that makes fun of them--no wonder only the critics loved it. It's a release for years of pent-up frustration. Oh well, I still think it has legs for the rest of us.