Arrested Development (2003-2005)

Here's a piece of comedic genius to keep you entertained for a little while. Arrested Development is a remarkable show about young business man Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) who is forced (by his own will) to take charge of his father's company and his insane family after his father George Bluth (Jeffrey Tambor) is sent to prison. In order to preserve his family and the company, Michael makes some serious sacrifices, including moving into a non-functioning model home where he houses his sister, her husband, their daughter, his own son George Michael Bluth Jr. (Michael Cera), and at times his bothers Gob (pronounced Jobe)(Will Arnett) and Buster (Tony Hale).

The show mostly focuses on Michael trying to control his family and keep their company running smoothly while his father is in prison. His family makes it very difficult. Buster is attached to their somewhat unloving mother and lives with her most of the show. Gob is a magician who just can't seem to put a solid act together. Lindsay, their sister, his an activist who tries to avoid the grunt work of being active in the community. Tobias, her husband, is a failed therapist who can't quite get a grip of what's acceptable in society. Their daughter may be the only semi-normal character in the entire series, but she is a bit of a troublemaker. Together they become an unorganized nightmare of a family, but they do stick together through thick and thin.

The show highlights some of the most foolish behavior you can imagine. It's hilarious, witty, cooky, and down right funny. The performers push themselves 110% of the time to make the characters they play seem believable and real. They will leave you asking yourself, "can they really be that stupid?" Each episode builds off of the previous one, bringing back running jokes in the serious, and making almost a continuous stream of evens with many subplots strung about between. This unfortunately makes the show a little hard to follow if you miss it from the beginning (which I always assumed was one of the reasons it didn't last very long). Thankfully, you can stream it from beginning to end on Netflix right now.

After rereading this over and over, I can't find a better way of reviewing what's going on in the show. Not because it's complicated, just because just change so suddenly. Their are a lot of characters (at least 11-12 main characters), but each is so different and well written, you will have no trouble following their antics. All I can really say is that this is a must see show. I know a large amount of people missed out on it when it originally aired, and some people had a hard time catching on by the second season. However, I've yet to find a person who went back and watched it from the beginning who didn't simply love this show.

The show is rated TV-PG and contains sexual content, adult situations and language, and some violence.

And now I leave you with the best trailer I could find for it. Enjoy the show!

Remember, there's always money in the banana stand.