With a family as eccentric as the (Royal) Tenenbaums,
FOX’s new sitcom “Arrested Development” is a
surprising success for primetime television. The story follows the
Bluths, a wealthy Southern California family in a downward spiral
of entrepreneurial failure.

As the owners of Bluth Development Co., George Bluth Sr.
(Jeffrey Tambor, “The Larry Sanders Show”) has been
arrested for fraudulent acts by the Securities and Exchange
Commission and his family could care less, except for dedicated son
Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman, “The Hogan Family”). And
though Michael Bluth was invited to work for a top competing firm
in Arizona, he and his son George Michael (Michael Cera, “I
Was a Sixth Grade Alien”) remained in Orange County to help
repair familial relations while rebuilding the family model home
business.

“Arrested Development” plays with superficiality and
uses it as a guide to the Bluth family dynamics. During their
turbulent times, the Bluths live in a new “model home”
and “suffer” the consequences of unemployment together.
George Bluth Sr.’s daughter Lindsay Bluth Funke (Portia de
Rossi, “Ally McBeal”) is married to Tobias Funke (David
Cross, “Mr. Show”), a former doctor turned wannabe
actor. And though Tobias is already a has-been before reaching any
sort of success, he takes his new career very seriously.

The show relies upon the idiosyncrasies of the Bluth family that
are emphasized through side plots. Michael’s son George
Michael is an adolescent tempted and scared by his raging hormones.
Not afraid to take risks, “Arrested Development” pushes
the envelope through George Michael’s sexual attraction to
his new roommate and recently reunited cousin, Maebe Funke.

George Bluth Sr., the eccentric patriarch of the family,
actually enjoys the rigors of jail time and swears that there is
money in the “profitable” family owned Banana Stand. He
may either truly be crazy or have a speck of truth behind his
anecdotes.

“Arrested Development” leaves the audience with a
twisted sense of family values with humor along the way. The
audience will be left laughing from the absurdity realness of the
mock documentary style or from the sheer shock value of character
deficiencies.

Rating: 4 stars