Arrested Development: Seasons 1-3

FOX just loves to cancel outstanding series. They singlehandedly dismantled what I think are the two best shows to have aired in this decade: Firefly and Arrested Development. When I saw the deal for the complete AD DVD set at such a bargain price I pounced... no way could I let this deal pass without adding one of the greatest TV shows of all time to my DVD collection.Arrested Development was a brilliant new approach to the sitcom. Like some have mentioned, the fact that it was a running story could throw you off if you were jumping in in the middle of a season, or missed an episode. But the humor was exquisitely funny and cutting-edge... they managed to really walk the finest of lines without crossing over into territory that would have pushed them into a late-night slot or relegated them to a cable-network-only show. In some respects, it would have been interesting to see how the show would have played out on a premium network where they could really push the limits of good taste, but in a way the show was just that much funnier for the fact that the writers managed to go right up to the edge of what was allowable and just hold it there. Perhaps if they had that little bit more freedom that a cable network like F/X or Showtime would have allowed them, it just wouldn't have been as funny.The show touches on so many fascinating but sensitive subjects over the course of the three seasons, with many interleaving arcs. Running through the whole thing is the clever scheming of the imprisoned Bluth patriarch (played by Jeffery Tambor), and how his family manages to unwittingly sabotage his every move. David Cross is brilliant in a disturbingly funny way (who could forget his audition for a part as an understudy for the Blue Man Group?), and Jason Bateman is charming as the overburdened prodigal son trying to return home to put things right while trying to maintain a sane relationship with his own teenaged son despite the familial chaos going on around them. Each of the actors in this series is so well-cast, even right down to the small recurring roles like Henry Winkler as the Bluths' bumbling lawyer.This was one of the funniest, smartest comedies to air in a long time, and unfortunately it fell into the hands of FOX, who appear to not know what to do with a good thing when they find one, so they proceeded to demolish it and finally succeeded at destroying it by the third season. Sometimes TV networks have to realize that ratings don't reflect the true value of a show like this... While Arrested Development didn't have Seinfeld-like numbers, I think this show will have legs in reruns and DVD sales, and FOX will be sorry that they canned this show after only three seasons.

Arrested development is the complete package. This is one of the funniest shows to ever grace the small screen. The writers are at the top of their class. The cast members were all a perfect complement for each other. Many of the actors have grown to become big names (or possibly bigger names) after arrested development and for good reason. Cast members include Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Portia de Rossi, David Cross, Will Arnett, Jeffery Tambor, Jessica Walter, Tony Hale, and many more on a regular or reoccurring basis.The show was narrated by none other than Ron Howard. Unlike most modern comedies, where a laugh track informs the viewer when something funny was happening, Howard's narration provided the ideal punctuation for their specific brand of humor. Howard's narration would come in at the perfect moment stating the obvious, arguing with or otherwise refuting dialog, reminding the viewer of something that had happened previously, or foreshadowing the future. The very frank and honest tone of Howard's voice only added to the humorous effect of the narrator's wisdom.Arrested development is best appreciated as a whole. If you only caught occasional episodes, you probably would have missed out on most of the key jokes. Jokes and memes were often revisited repeatedly over the course of the show. Others were constructed slowly over the course of multiple episodes or even entire seasons. Sometimes it felt like the writers would bide their time, waiting for the perfect moment to reveal the one punch line that a number of other jokes were building towards ("Has anyone in this family ever seen a real chicken?").The odd way that jokes are constructed and reused (often in passing) leads to a show that does not suffer from repeated viewings. Every time you watch an episode from arrested development you are going to catch jokes or references that you might have missed in previous viewings.Not everyone is going to like arrested development, although the ratings show that most people do. For lesser writers and actors, the topics that they frequently turned into jokes would come across as mildly offensive under the best circumstances (and in the worst it could easily be crude and obnoxious). Fortunately, even the worst jokes make during the show were laugh out loud funny. The writers for arrested development never pulled their punches, and never found a topic that was too taboo to approach. Reoccurring jokes include racism, sexism, incest, homosexuality, cross dressing, mental retardation, open marriages, politics, treason, religion, mental illness, and just about anything else that you could conceive.Arrested development is a true gem, and many of the show's fans were excited to hear that the show would be revisited for a fourth season that culminated in an arrested development movie.

何となくおもしろそうだったので購入したアメリカのコメディ。はじめの１０話ほどを見終わって、久しぶりに肌に合った番組だと実感している。ありえないほどの変わり者の集まりのなか、一人まともなマイケル・・・・ここが話を面白くし、長続きさせるコツ。（でも第三シーズンで終了し、その６年後の２０１３年まで新作は作られなかったけど）そう、まともなマイケルがいるから変人だけが出てくるどこかのドラマとは違い、リアリティーが出るのだ。って、リアリティーなんてロッシの美しさだけだけど。例えば娘の誕生日会をしたのはいいけれど、双子の息子のことを忘れた、っていう話を聞いて「いけてる！」と思う人はぜひ購入を。はい、自分はそういうダメな人間なのだ。そんなわけでバカバカしいコメディー好きにはこたえられないＤＶＤ。ちなみにロッシの美しさを再認識するとともに、生まれて初めて、レズビアンになりたいと思った。

Prompt shipping. This was a gift for a family member. They have voiced no complaints.This is NOT a box set but 3 separate DVDs. I was assuming it was the box set. Oddly, when received, all 3 cases were rattling when moved as if the discs were broken. They were all off their mounts but no damage fortunately.