Arrested Development: Complete Season 1 (3 Discs)

I can't even start with how amazing this show is, it's the most watchable and rewarding comedy I think I've ever seen. It's as good as if not better than Frasier but it's a very different kind of sitcom.

It begins with Michael Bluth (the AWESOME and perfectly cast Jason Bateman) and his large wealthy Californian family having their assets seized and their property company put on the ropes after their father ('The Larry Sanders Show's' Jeffrey Tambor) is arrested and jailed for 'some light treason'. The first season follows the family - as if a camera crew were recording them, with narration from Ron Howard - as they are forced to become a family again and save the company.

The cast works so well together - Jessica Walter is comedy gold as Lucille the Matriarch, Portia De Rossi as Micheal's sister, Lindsay, David Cross as her confused former Doctor husband, Tobias, the equally awesome Micheal Cera (Juno) as Micheal's son George Micheal, and Alia Shawkatt as Lindsay and… more »

I can't even start with how amazing this show is, it's the most watchable and rewarding comedy I think I've ever seen. It's as good as if not better than Frasier but it's a very different kind of sitcom.

It begins with Michael Bluth (the AWESOME and perfectly cast Jason Bateman) and his large wealthy Californian family having their assets seized and their property company put on the ropes after their father ('The Larry Sanders Show's' Jeffrey Tambor) is arrested and jailed for 'some light treason'. The first season follows the family - as if a camera crew were recording them, with narration from Ron Howard - as they are forced to become a family again and save the company.

The cast works so well together - Jessica Walter is comedy gold as Lucille the Matriarch, Portia De Rossi as Micheal's sister, Lindsay, David Cross as her confused former Doctor husband, Tobias, the equally awesome Micheal Cera (Juno) as Micheal's son George Micheal, and Alia Shawkatt as Lindsay and Tobias' daughter Maebe (on whom George Micheal has a conflicting crush), and finally Gob, the last Bluth sibling, a failed magician, played expertly by Will Arnett.

But every episode is SO layered with gags you can literally watch this a dozen times and still see new jokes - both verbal and visual - going off everywhere. It's so densely packed it's as rewarding to me to watch now, after many, many viewings, as it was the first time.

With a guest roster including Liza Minelli, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Henry Winkler (priceless as the slaezy family attorney), and many other comedy stars this is comedy genius that you rarely see.

Please, please, just buy this first series, and you'll have the rest in no time!!!

Arrested Development is something of a seriously rare quality. All of the series regulars are so in tune with their characters, and each other that it seems they were born into their parts;

Michael Cera's George-Michael fumbles nervously around for an excuse to justify his crush on his cousin Maeby (played by the pretty damn awesome Alia Shawkat), while David Cross and Portia de Rossi's portrayal of husband and wife Tobias and Lindsey is the perfect spin on a modern relationship-of-convenience (especially considering how inconvenient it all is).

Cross, and Cera especially, give two of the consistently finest performances in American comedy since Roseanne.

Jason Bateman and Will Arnett bounce off each other in their scenes to a obscenely fun degree, but nothing in comparison to Jessica Walter as sociopathic head case Lucille and Tony Hale as youngest (and cripplingly awkward) son Buster.

You don't even realise some of the stories are going on; they're so… more »

Arrested Development is something of a seriously rare quality. All of the series regulars are so in tune with their characters, and each other that it seems they were born into their parts;

Michael Cera's George-Michael fumbles nervously around for an excuse to justify his crush on his cousin Maeby (played by the pretty damn awesome Alia Shawkat), while David Cross and Portia de Rossi's portrayal of husband and wife Tobias and Lindsey is the perfect spin on a modern relationship-of-convenience (especially considering how inconvenient it all is).

Cross, and Cera especially, give two of the consistently finest performances in American comedy since Roseanne.

Jason Bateman and Will Arnett bounce off each other in their scenes to a obscenely fun degree, but nothing in comparison to Jessica Walter as sociopathic head case Lucille and Tony Hale as youngest (and cripplingly awkward) son Buster.

You don't even realise some of the stories are going on; they're so brilliantly disguised and intermingled within each scene that by the time an episode has finished you've watched a hell of a lot more than you realise.

This is because the script isn't plot heavy - it's character and dialogue heavy instead (given that these two traits are by far the show's strongest) without bogging its audience down in complications.

As well as this, the guest stars in this series are amazing. Especially Liza Minnelli.

This really is great television. If you want something you can keep track on, all the have to do is pay attention to the (excellent) narration by Ron Howard, and if you just want something to chuckle over one-liners to, you'll be hard-pressed to find a show with better dialogue than this.

Arrested development is just a fantastic series that is a must have on dvd. In case your not aware of this modern classic here's a very quick history. Fox buys the show it gets great reviews from tv critics and fans begin to spread wildly, then no one watched any of the series because fox couldn't make up their minds when to schedule it and when they do make a "brilliant" suggestion. Then fox pulls the plug when the ratings go down hill "because all the fans end up watching american idol or something more important and didn't even know that fox where showing it" fans cry till they get the dvds and start watching them again from episode one. So the fat cats didn't like it and chose to axe it in the middle of making season 3 and it's a great shame because this series is just fantastic it's very well made directed written and acted by all the cast and crew and has set a great example of how to make a brilliant comedy. You should buy this dvd right now! So you can enjoy it in all it's… more »

Arrested development is just a fantastic series that is a must have on dvd. In case your not aware of this modern classic here's a very quick history. Fox buys the show it gets great reviews from tv critics and fans begin to spread wildly, then no one watched any of the series because fox couldn't make up their minds when to schedule it and when they do make a "brilliant" suggestion. Then fox pulls the plug when the ratings go down hill "because all the fans end up watching american idol or something more important and didn't even know that fox where showing it" fans cry till they get the dvds and start watching them again from episode one. So the fat cats didn't like it and chose to axe it in the middle of making season 3 and it's a great shame because this series is just fantastic it's very well made directed written and acted by all the cast and crew and has set a great example of how to make a brilliant comedy. You should buy this dvd right now! So you can enjoy it in all it's glory and with the rumours of a movie version being made you should jump on the bandwagon while you can. Buy it now buy it now!