[PIC] Arrested Development
Don’t forget: there’s always money in the banana stand.
The stereotypically rich and entirely dysfunctional Bluth family makes Arrested Development a must-watch this summer.
If you think your family has problems, you’ll feel way better about attending the summer’s annual family reunion after watching Arrested Development. An all-star cast, made up of Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, David Cross, Jessica Walter, and Jeffrey Tambor, brings the Bluth family to life.
George Bluth, played by Jeffrey Tambor, is the owner of the Bluth Company, which was once at the height of real estate in Orange County, California. After the company’s assets are frozen when George is charged with fraud, the family loses everything. George goes to jail and his family is forced to live in the model home from their latest housing tract.
If you like Modern Family because you enjoy close-knit families, you will definitely love Arrested Development. Much like Modern Family, Arrested Development only focuses on the relationships within the family, and not so much with outside relationships.
The show is centered around the different ways this family comes to depend on each other when they are all forced to live under the same roof for the first time since they were teenagers – only now with the spouses and children they’ve accumulated. Michael Bluth, played by Jason Bateman, finds this to be particularly hard task because he’d just made the decision to never speak to his family again – until they all moved in together.
Arrested Development has very dry humor, and some of the jokes are so quick that you don’t laugh at them until a few minutes later after you’ve registered them. This sharp, quick, and sarcastic humor is the kind that appeals to me. When I started the show, I watched three episodes in a row. I just had to know how Michael was going to go about fixing the company and how George Michael was going to handle his crush on his cousin.
Something really enjoyable about the show is how quirky and real all of the characters are. No matter how stereotypical each one is, there is something relatable in every character. You know how they say everyone has the weird uncle? Well George Michael has three weird uncles. Gob – played by Will Arnett – is pursuing his dream to be a magician. He also switches between living with his mother, in the model home with his family, with his on-again-off-again girlfriend, and on the family boat. Tobias – played by David Cross – decided to give up psychiatry to become an actor, two things that don’t go hand-in-hand.
George Bluth’s plot line is one of my favorites. When he goes from being one of the richest men in California to slumming it in jail, you’d think he’d have a lot of adjusting to do. But George loves jail. He makes friends with all of his fellow inmates and plays in the softball league. He even takes up Judaism and teaches a class to interested inmates. He also gets to eat a lot of ice cream sandwiches.
Overall, I give Arrested Development a 4/5. I really enjoy watching the family dynamics and how they’re all learning to trust and respect each other over time. Arrested Development originally aired three seasons on Fox from 2003 to 2006, but became a Netflix Original Series with a fourth season, which became available in May of 2013. All four seasons are available on Netflix. There is no word on a fifth season.
