Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1786 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-21
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Swedish
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 529 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Arrested Development is the kind of sitcom that gives you hope for television. A mockumentary-style exploration of the beleaguered Bluth family, it's one of those idiosyncratic shows that doesn't rely on a laugh track or a studio audience; it's shot more like a TV drama, albeit with an omniscient narrator (executive producer Ron Howard) overseeing the proceedings. Barely holding the Bluths together is son Michael (Jason Bateman), the only normal guy in a family that's chock full of nuts. Hardworking and sensible, Michael's certain he's going to be given control of his family's Enron-style corporation upon the retirement of his father (Jeffrey Tambor). The fact that he's passed over instead for his mother (Jessica Walter) is only a blip when compared to his father's immediate arrest for dubious accounting practices, and the resulting freeze on the family's previously limitless wealth. Bereft of money, and even less family love, the Bluths have to band together in their moment of need--not easy when everyone's looking out for number 1. In addition to his scabrous parents, Michael has to contend with his lothario older brother (Will Arnett), his basically useless younger brother (Tony Hale), his greedy twin sister (Portia DeRossi), and her sexually ambiguous husband (David Cross). Michael's only comrade in sanity is his son George Michael (Michael Cera), but then again, the teenage boy harbours a secret crush on his cousin (Alia Shawkat). A peerless ensemble led by the brilliant Bateman (who knew he could be this good?), all the actors are pitch-perfect in their roles, delivering the dryly funny, sometimes absurdist dialogue with the speed and flair of classic farce. The unusual tone of Arrested Development takes a bit of getting used to--it's far different from anything you'll see on TV--but once you buy in to the Bluths' innumerable dysfunctions, you'll be laughing your head off for hours. --Mark Englehart

Synopsis
The Bluth clan lives a life of excess, funded by the family credit card and paid for by the fortune patriarch George Bluth (Jeffrey Tambor) made in the tract home development business. Oldest son George Oscar Bluth II, nicknamed Gob, is an 'illusionist' of minor importance who has anger management issues, while the youngest son Buster whiles away his days taking obscure graduate school courses. Daughter Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) is a vain socialite who throws parties with her sexually ambiguous husband (David Cross, MR. SHOW). The only sane member of the family is Linsay's twin brother Michael (Jason Bateman), a widower who stands to inherit the reins to the family corporation when his father retires. However, at the retirement party some unexpected obstacles are thrown into the mix: Michael, having informed the family that his first task as head of the company will be to confiscate everyone's credit cards, is passed over in favour of his snobby alcoholic mother, Lucille (Jessica Walter). Just when Michael decides to wash his hands of the family and move to Arizona with his 13-year-old son George Michael, George is arrested on fraud charges and the family's assets are frozen. Michael is forced to step up and aid his family in adjusting to their new lives. Shot with a shaky camera and a documentary air that creates a feeling of intimacy with the characters, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT is reminiscent of Wes Anderson's THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS and Christopher Guest's mockumentaries. Truly unique in the realm of TV sitcoms, it employs a cinematic humour that often exhibits a dark side. While targeting the filthy rich and the squeaky clean families of prime time, it also displays a certain tragedy in the characters' eccentricities and helplessness. During its two seasons on Fox Network it garnered massive critical acclaim, and was nominated for 7 Emmys, a Golden Globe, and won the TV Land 'Future Classic' award.

Customer Reviews

What rubbish!
My boyfriend had raved about this programme for many months - I seemed to have been completely oblivious to this show when it was on tv first time round - and so it was with great anticipation and excitement that I sat down with his boxset to watch Season 1, Episode 1. OH MY GOSH - what a disappointment.

I honestly could only sit through about forty five mins of this garbage before wanting to poke my eye balls out with a pen. The acting was atrocious, the characters were phoney and the plot, well the plot seems to be non-existent. I believe it calls itself a comedy - there was absolutely nothing funny about this show.

I would wholeheartedly recommend you not to waste your time!

Intelligent Perfection
We like to think that the Americans can only do sappy, cliched situation comedy and for the most part we're right! However, when they get it right they show us a thing or two and this maybe the best example of how they can do it right.

Having suffered from a lack of support from Fox and poor scheduling from the BBC over here it remains an undiscovered gem for many. The joke quota is so high that if one joke doesn't tickle you there will be another along almost immediately. DVD is the best medium to watch as repeat viewings are a necessity since set ups to jokes are being made up-to three episodes before the punch-line and after watching the whole three series five times myself I am still amazed to find new jokes tucked away.

Quite simply a great characters portraited by a superb cast, bolstered by great cameos and even better writing make this the best and certainly most underrated comedy in years.

Unique, Intelligent, and Irreverent -- no wonder it didn't last..
Arrested Development was one of those rare television shows that truly broke the mold, and in doing so, created a genre unto itself. Similar to 'The Office', the cinematography led you to believe you were watching hidden cameras showing you people behaving as they normally do -- quite different from the staged look and laugh tracks that usually accompany sitcoms. The dialogue, while sometimes a bit contrived, rewards the intelligent viewer who is paying close attention (similar to 'Scrubs' in this regard). Furthermore, unlike the other programs that were accompanying this show on Fox's Sunday night lineup (Family Guy, Simpsons, etc.), you could not attain the full enjoyment from this show by just sitting down and catching any half-hour episode. I started watching toward the end of the first season, and since going back and catching up, it's amazing how much more of the dialogue takes on new (and hilarious) meaning..

While it's a shame this show didn't survive any longer, I highly recommend grabbing the DVD set, starting from the first episode, and enjoying this great show. Review by Robert H. Goretsky of Hoboken, NJ