Stars: Jason Bateman, Portia De Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat

Summary: Michael Bluth, a widower with a thirteen year old son, is forced to keep his family together after his father is arrested for shifty accounting practices, plunging the family into financial collapse. Features the complete episodes from the first series of the U.S. comedy.

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.

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Arrested Developmentis 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 Developmenttakes 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

Aspect Ratio:	1.78 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Introduction By Ron Howard, Commentary On Selected Episodes, Deleted And Extended Scenes, Featurette Breaking Ground Behind The Scenes Of Arrested Development, Original Song Segments, Featurette The Museum Of Television And Radio Q And A With Creator Mitchell
Subtitles:	Swedish
Release Date:	March 21, 2005
Runtime:	529 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	28583 D V D
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Series, Wide, Screen, Three, Tv, Development, Arrested, Discs, Rescheduled
Genre:	Comedy