The Best Show You've Never Seen

Last night the G4 network, channel 354 on Directv, began airing reruns of Arrested Development, the short-lived, Emmy-winning comedy series that aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. The show follows the misadventures of Michael Bluth, played by Jason Bateman, and his dysfunctional family.

His family includes his incarcerated father George Sr., his manipulative, alcoholic mother Lucille, his magician brother GOB, his twin sister Lindsay, his aspiring actor brother-in-law Tobias Fünke, his niece Maeby, his helpless brother Buster, and his dependable son George Michael.

Normally I wouldn’t be happy about a sitcom airing on G4. I first discovered the channel about a year ago and quickly became hooked. At the time it was almost completely devoted to video games. I was in heaven.

Unfortunately, my newfound heaven slowly began to change as the network attempted to gain more mass appeal. I guess there weren’t enough gamers to support the station or those gamers preferred to play rather than watch television shows about the games they were playing. The network started airing repeats of Fastlane, The Man Show, and Star Trek. I refused to watch any of these shows as my own personal boycott. To be honest, boycotting Fastlane, an undercover cop drama starring Bill Bellamy, doesn’t take much of an effort. The show’s foulness does most of the work for you.

But when I found out that G4 had bought the cable rights to AD, I knew my boycott would come to an end. Arrested Development was the funniest show on TV for the last three years. The writing and cast were brilliant. The show was critically acclaimed and won the Emmy for best comedy series its first season.

But for some reason nobody wanted to watch it. Last week, Michael Sera, who played George Michael, and Alia Shawkat, who played Maeby, were interviewed on G4’s Attack of the Show and they offered one explanation why the show didn’t register with the general public. Shawkat explained that the series was like one big episode. “That’s why it’s hard if you just tune in to one episode. It’s not like a Will & Grace where you can just get giggles out of it.” It also didn’t help that the show wasn’t really promoted by Fox and its time slot was moved around.

In case you’re interested in watching and missed the pilot episode last night, here’s a quick synopsis so you won’t feel left out of the loop. The pilot episode begins with a retirement party on a yacht for George Sr., who is the head of the family company. After he names his wife as his successor, the Securities and Exchange Commission boards the yacht and George Sr. is placed under arrest.

Upon discovering that his mom would succeed his father as head of the company instead of him, Michael Bluth decides to sever all ties with his family. George Michael is saddened to learn of his father’s plans after seeing his cousin Maeby for the first time in a while and developing a crush on her. Before leaving town, Michael visits his father in prison where he explains that the reason he didn’t name Michael as his successor was so Michael wouldn’t be charged as an accomplice. He wasn’t worried about his wife being charged because he thought that a husband and wife couldn’t be charged for the same crime. Eventually Michael decides to stay and take care of his crazy family.

As ludicrous as that sounded, the actual show is even crazier and truly hilarious. So please, please tune in and watch, weeknights at 11:30 p.m. EST on G4. While the series may have been cancelled, there’s still hope that if enough people tune in, a movie based on the show will be made. And that would truly be a little piece of heaven.