"Arrested Development": Family Doesn't Grow on Trees

Families on television are often portrayed in a stereotypical way: mom, dad and kids display for the world their many issues ranging from trouble with in-laws to first dates or sibling rivalry. Even the most crazy and vulgar of these "nuclear" families, such as "The Simpsons" or "Roseanne"'s family, gather around the table to eat dinner with each other at night. However, FOX's Arrested Development, now off the air but available on DVD, portrays a quite different type of family, complete with wacky living conditions, personalities and ways of treating one another.

When one thinks of "family" in the broad sense of the term, he or she does not jump to assuming that it means 'a group of people relying on each other for money and nothing else'. It is rare when dealing with television sitcoms to find a family so materialistic; the family on "That 70s Show" is focused upon what trouble the children are getting into and the "Everybody Loves Raymond" crew is constantly worried about what mistakes they are making next in the eyes of Raymond's parents - troubles that many middle-class American families can relate to. However, on "Arrested Development", the Bluth family would barely even recognize those types of issues. The underlying theme of intense financial dependence among the family which serves as the foundation of the plot, combined with sarcasm-laden, but side-splitting jokes, sharp dialogue, and bizarre occurrences is what makes "Arrested Development" one of the most comical and satirical shows on television.

Straight from the Pilot episode, the viewer witnesses a whole new breed in the Bluths. Michael (Jason Bateman) is seemingly the only normal one in the family and is happily awaiting taking over his father's business (George Bluth, played by Jeffrey Tambor). During George's retirement party, Michael is taken aback when the business is rewarded to his mother (Jessica Walter), instead; of course we see that George has done a "good deed" by not tying Michael into the situation when he is then arrested for fraud.