Customer Reviews
Brilliant, endearing and very funny indeed! - By: Myshkin, 17 Feb 2010 
This a sweet series with an excellent cast of characters, wonderful comedy performances & an excellent script. It grows on you more & more as the characters become increasingly endearing & get with the, often silly, humour. Quite simply it is extremely funny & highly underrated.
I hear this was cancelled to make more room in the TV schedule for the hack that is Seth Mcfarlane to make more Family Guy clones- an absolute disgrace, unbelievable that a show of this quality should be cancelled. Especiallly for tripe like the Cleveland Show which has absolutely nothing about it. Buy the series & you'll agree, this should still be going!
Now, that's a Sitcom. - By: Mario Andrei Pantoja Maguiña, 31 Oct 2009 the cool thing about AD is that If you pay attention, the show gets even better. The Writing, the acting, the music... everything is perfect. This show was cancelled for being too smart... that's the best award you can receive... I feel bad for the cast & crew of course... but that means that they where doing the right thing, the non-comercial thing. No Laugh track, no easy jokes. pure genius.
Jason Bateman is awesome, but the interactions with the rest of the cast is what makes this series a Masterpiece. I wish more people new about this show here in Europe.
Two Words: Inside Jokes. You have to pay attention because there are jokes inside jokes inside jokes.
Arrested Development is the real American equivalent of The Office. Not because they are similar (maybe the documentary style camera work) but because they define this decade! this is how alll sitcoms should be!
There are good extras, no great, but the audio commentary alone is priceless.
I'm reallly looking forward to seeing the AD Movie. In the Meantime let's enjoy three wonderful seasons of pure magic. not a trick, a trick is what a whore does for money... as GOB (WIll Arnett) said in episode one of the series.
This is a MUST HAVE PERIOD
As good now as it was when it first came out - By: Mr. C. J. Cook, 07 Oct 2009 Ok, I admit, Its taken me this long to buy the DVD's, the impending AD movie (2010), made me finallly buy them & I'm reallly glad I did, I've been glued to the TV ever since.
First things first, this show isnt for everyone, the jokes arent pitched up by one character so that the others can knock them out of the park with a hilarious (if somewhat obvious) punchline or a Chandler-esque one-liner which is endemic of many sitcoms. The humour can be quite subtle in places, in other places just plain off the walll but if you manage to get in tune with this show then every episode will have you crying with laughter.
The humour comes thick & fast with lots of cut aways & scene switching & sometimes you'll find yourself having to rewind what you missed because you were laughing too hard.
The story line & characters sometimes can occasionallly come accross as far fetched, but then no more far fetched than a lot of shows on TV, the difference being that AD highlights the dysfunction of the characters & has based the plot around it, rather than having dysfunctional characters in normal situations.
In short, if you like fast paced, quirky humour that has an edge, then you will love this. If you prefer your shows to be a bit more obvious with plenty of canned laughter telling you when you are supposed to laugh, then this probably isnt your bag.
Excellent - By: Nibz, 21 Sep 2009 Caught this late on BBC2 a few years ago & was hooked immediately Ok some people with no sense of humour have dismissed it but its a cracking DVD...God knows why they cancelled the series in the US & kept that god awful Heroes on...madness!!
My laughter was certainly not arrested! ( nor my development) - By: Mr. Edward Parton, 13 Jul 2009 I first came across Arrested Development on BBC2 in 2006. I only recently watched the show properly & i am now chiding myself for not purchasing the dvd's much earlier. The reason for this is that i believe that this is one of the most clever,original & funniest programmes i have & will ever see. Sadly, this programme seemed to be too clever for the directors of 20th Century Fox who stopped the show at the end of season 3. All the actors play their roles with such enthusiasm & passion that it is obvious they believed in,cared for & loved the show. If one is looking for comedy on a plate then this is not the show to watch. However, if one wishes to be educated, entertained,relaxed,taken on a life journey whilst concurrently watch something that reflects everyday people's problems,struggles,emotions & pain then this is the show for them. The whole concept of the story is so simple but utterly compulsively interesting. As a non-american,this show restored my faith in the usa & it's people,way of life & ethos as none of these characters are bad or evil but caught up in everything that America stands for & does. I see a caring,thoughtful & leaderhip style of people that i actuallly believe can teach the rest of the world something. Each character says the words that one would expect each type of personality to actuallly say. For example,the teenagers do say very naive things but do care about God,family & the environment. However, as soon as they sense a relationship or kudos coming their way, alll morals are put to one side! I think the success of this show does stem from the fact that the producers,writers are genuinely good americans who are trying to communicate what good,decent Americans think,do & say. To that end they have clearly picked actors who have the same values,morals & beliefs.A very good indicator of the success & empathy that the show creats is the number of different well known actors who appear on the show in cameo roles. These are actors who i believe have sometimes appeared in poor work before, but act to their highest standards when appearing on the show.
I believe that the decision to stop production of this show was an absolute catastrophic mistake. The show enjoys a cult following. What i translate that to mean is that their is a vast number of people who actuallly want real life,good,wholesome,entertainment.Indeed one that they can follow parts of in their lives to improve their thinking & actions.
I wholeheartedly recommend "Arrested Development" to alll people who share that goal in life.
One final thought. Type in the name of the show on "Youtube" & look at the various videos. Two that drew my attention were the American newspresenter that on screen begs 20TH Century Fox to make a feature film of the show. Thankfully, Fox have agreed to this, probably out of a sense of penance for their dreadful mistake in stopping the show. The second video that drew my attention was David Cross,who plays Tobias Funke,showing his anger & upset at the decision to stop production of the programme.
I wish alll purchasers of the dvd's of this show as much pleasure,happiness & education that i have & continue to gain.
