1. It is a sitcom.
2. I am not reviewing it season by season.
3. It isn't British.
It occurred to me that the only TV shows I have done reviews for are British shows. So I thought it would be a nice change to review a good old American sitcom.
The story revolves around Michael Bluth, his family and the Bluth Company. After his father gets arrested, Michael has to save the family business. But the rest of his family makes his life a living nightmare.
My friend Zach recommended this show to me and I am so glad that he did. This is the most original and funniest sitcom I have watched since The Office! The writing is hilarious, but the characters are really what make this show so great.
The main character is Michael Bluth and he's a really nice guy who tries to hold his own when dealing with his dysfunctional family.
His oldest brother is Gob Bluth and he's a magician. He acts like he's top banana when he's actually the biggest goober you've ever met. And his name is spelled Gob but it's pronounced like Job. So that's weird.
Michael's twin sister Lindsey is a complete airhead. She throws all of these parties for charity when she really doesn't care about the charity. She only cares about herself, how she looks and money. She's completely spoiled, self-centered and that's why she's so hilarious.
The youngest brother Buster completely different from his three siblings. He's the epitome of a mommas boy. His mother babied him his entire life and he never grew up and left her motherly grasp. He's perhaps one of the smartest of his siblings, but that side of him isn't seen very often because his mother won't let him leave her.
Lindsey's husband Tobias is the perhaps the funniest character I've ever seen in a sitcom. His character is hilarious because when you look at him and Lindsey, you wouldn't even guess that they are married because Lindsey is a hot blonde and Tobias looks like someone who would work in a comic book shop. Tobias is both an annalist and a therapist and when you put those two together you get the worlds first.... never mind. But he tries to become an actor which is hysterical to watch because he can't act at all. There is also a running joke that just about everything he says has an inappropriate double meaning and he is the only one who doesn't understand the other way his words could be perceived. It's the funniest innuendo I've ever heard.
Michael's son is named George Michael and Lindsey's daughter is named Maeby and the two of them are a part of a hilarious subplot about how George Michael is in love with Maeby even though she is his cousin. Watching George Michael trying to hide his feelings for her is incredibly awkward and funny.
Michael's mother Lucille is an incredibly irresponsible parent. And when she is actually acting like how a parent should, she comes off as completely overbearing and almost psychotic. And her husband is no better! He wasn't always there for his kids and he went to prison for stealing from the company and for doing business with Sadam Hussein himself!
One unique thing about Arrested Development is that throughout the shows three season run, there are dozens of recurring inside jokes peppered throughout each episode. Which both benefits the show but can also be a drawback. The jokes are hysterical, there's no doubt about that, but you will only be able to fully appreciate their cleverness if you have watched the show from the very beginning. This isn't a sitcom like The Office where you can just turn on any random episode without having watched every episode prior to it. You actually need the backstory to the jokes. Only then will they be even more funny.
Just by describing the characters is enough of a reason to watch this show. Seriously. Just watch it if you haven't already. If you have watched it, watch it again because it's still funny.
Final Report: Quirky humor, memorable characters, fabulous writing and countless running inside jokes make Arrested Development a sitcom that is like no other.
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