"Everyone froze. Michael feared he'd been caught in a lie about his family. His family feared they'd been caught by a woman they'd clubbed, drugged, and left on a bench. It was awkward." - Ron Howard as the Narrator
Arrested Development: Season Three DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Critics and TV pundits like to talk about how the sitcom is dead. I guess they haven't seen My Name is Earl and The Office, two funny shows that might even help to bring NBC's Thursday night schedule back to "Must See TV" status. One of TV's funniest, most creative shows, Arrested Development, is dead, though. Emmy wins, rave reviews, and tons of positive press couldn't save this offbeat gem. Don't worry, though. With the release of Arrested Development: Season Three, fans of so-dumb-it's-smart comedy can now own the entire series on DVD.
The Bluths are a family of California eccentrics who have amassed a fortune in frozen bananas and real estate development. As season three begins, family patriarch George Sr. (The Larry Sanders Show's Jeffrey Tambor), who was thrown in prison for using the businesses' funds as his own personal bank till and now stands accused of colluding with Saddam Hussein to develop land in Iraq, is on the lam. It seems that the police have mistakenly imprisoned his twin brother, Oscar (also played by Tambor). When this little mistake is finally corrected, George Sr. is given the ultimate punishment - he is placed under house arrest and forced to life with his pickled wife, Lucille (Jessica Walter). Eldest son George "Gob" Bluth Jr. (Will Arnett) uses his magic (and his beloved Segway) to avoid his newly discovered son, Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade). College educated Michael (Little House on the Prairie's Jason Bateman) decides to pay more attention to his son, George-Michael (Michael Cera), but somehow misses the fact that George-Michael has fallen in love with his cousin. Michael's twin sister Lindsay (Ally McBeal's Portia de Rossi) decides to divorce Tobias Fünke (David Cross), her possibly gay husband. Again. Their teenage daughter Maeby (Alia Shawkat) finds success as a movie studio exec. The Bluths' mentally challenged youngest son Buster (Tony Hale) learns to cope with just one hand. The other one was bitten off by a bowtie-wearing crazed seal in season two, leaving Buster with a fear of seals, the ocean, boats, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
As usual, the series is filled with humor so stupid that it crosses over into sophistication. When George Sr. is about to go to trial, he insists on hiring Andy Griffith as a courtroom consultant. It seems that the former Matlock will sit in the audience reading the paper for a mere $10,000. Add-ons are also available. For just a bit more money, Griffith will sit at the defense table, pretend to whisper into George Sr.'s ear, and even wear Matlock's trademark white suit. Michael nixes the idea but comes to regret it when the prosecutor hires L.A. Law's Harry Hamlin to sit at the prosecution's table. The family decides to participate in a new cable series that presents mock trials. The series is called Judge Reinhold and is hosted by - you guessed it - actor Judge Reinhold. In seasons one and two, Michael drove around in the "stair car," a truck that once served as the gangway for the long-gone company jet. This season they add a "cabin car" - a flatbed truck that now holds half of the Bluths' summer cabin. The family celebrates when the cable financial show Mad Money upgrades their company's rating from "Triple Sell" to "Don't Buy." Then there's Larry the Surrogate (Super Dave's Bob Einstein), a camera-wearing moron who fills in for George Sr. at family functions that take place outside of the house.
The season's one misstep is an extended guest appearance by Charlize Theron as Rita, a beautiful but somewhat dim woman Michael meets in the Wee Britain section of Orange County. Wee Britain is sort of like a British variation on China Town, filled with pubs, expatriates, flying Mary Poppins dolls, and an American theme restaurant (Fat Ammy's, which features baskets of donuts on every table). Rita could be a spy. After all, George Sr. insists that he was set up by Brits in the Iraqi deal. The ultimate payoff for her character is quite funny (and not quite politically correct), but it seems to take an awfully long time to get there.
Only thirteen episodes were produced in the final season. Unlike many failing series, the writers of Arrested Development saw the writing on the wall and embraced the show's impending end. "S.O.B.s" parodies the sitcom's dire predicament by comparing it to the Bluths' legal woes. The series ends on a high note with "Development Arrested," a neat mirror image of the pilot episode, bringing the family full circle.
Other guests in the second season include Henry Winkler (Happy Days), Ed Begley Jr. (St. Elsewhere), Andy Richter, Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Judy Greer (Love Monkey), Dave Thomas (SCTV), Scott Baio (Happy Days), Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle), James Lipton (Inside the Actors Studio), Richard Belzer (Law and Order: SVU), Andy Dick (NewsRadio), Ben Stiller (The Ben Stiller Show), John Larroquette (Night Court), Zach Braff (Scrubs), Bud Cort, American Idol oddity William Hung, Justine Bateman (Family Ties), and Gary Cole (American Gothic).
Be sure to watch the "Next time." bits at the end of each episode. They have nothing whatsoever to do with the episode that follows. Instead, they feature funny gags that continue that episode's storylines.
The thirteen episodes that make up season three are divided onto two discs. The discs are housed in a standard-sized keepcase with an interior swinging arm to hold the second disc. An insert included inside the DVD case includes brief synopses of the series' episodes along with original airdates and writing/directing credits. The keepcase slides into a cardboard sleeve. While the packaging is completely different from seasons one and two, the design scheme is in keeping with the previous two seasons.
As usual, the DVD menus are stylishly effective. Clips from the series play in windows on the main menu. From this menu, viewers can choose to play all episodes, access the extras and languages menus, or access the episode selection menu. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
