Arrested Development: Season 2 (2004)

Oh God, SO FUNNY! Oh Buster, what a nice hand you had!

Genre: Comedy Series

Starring: Jason Bateman (Starsky & Hutch; "The Hogan Family"), Portia de Rossi (Stigmata; "Ally McBeal")

Created By: Mitchell Hurwitz

Overview: "And now the story of a family who lost everything, and the son who tried to keep them all together...". In Season 2, Dad's escaped jail, the company's still sinking, and the family is still crazy dysfunctional.

Acting: I don't know who casted and directed this, but no one can act this well without perfect guidance. It's like the directors and the actors did a Vulcan Mind Meld™, nodded to each other and went to work. Every single character is terrific. I'm torn between Gob and Buster being my favorite!
Rating: 10

Cinematography: The cinematography is typical television so sadly it's commonplace, but the premise of having the house they live in as a model home (full of weak housing gags), and little touches like that really make watching worth watching, especially all those magic tricks.
Rating: 8

Script: "If you say no to him, you'll just be driving him right to her."
"Dad, can you drive me to Anne's house?"

The writing is an act of brilliance. Not only do they make the wittiest comedy that always relates itself back to something said earlier, but there's social commentary and Pop Culture slights strewn throughout. After a while you'll just sit there astounded, choosing to sit there, mouth agape, rather than laugh uproariously.
Rating: 10

Plot: Each episode I think, "How is the company doing, will they make headway there?" Often they don't even touch on that. Of course, if they resolve that where else can they go? I guess they have to stick to the premise. The stories focus on the lives and interactions of a family without the old head of the household, constantly fighting for approval from one another, like a funny, equally quirky The Royal Tenenbaums. And wouldn't you know it, Ben Stiller's in both.
Rating: 8

Mood: Henry Winkler (The Fonz from "Happy Days") who plays their lawyer, jumps a shark. Literally. Little things like this make you realize that this is genius. They make fun of family, high society, magic, the Blue Man Group, law, Christians, film producers and television, and most of all of themselves. This is so wacky that for days you'll be chuckling to yourself, at how out there the situations become. But you know, it's never too far. I don't know how they do it, but they do it.
Rating: 10

No, really! Anyone could mistake The Blue Man Group™ with a support group for sad dudes!

Overall Rating: 92% (Somebody Stop Me!)

Aftertaste: Fox seems to make the best shows. No really, hear me out! They just cancel them as soon as they get good, see! They should let some other station pick up shows that they throw out because they're idiots. Either way I heard that Season 3 was going to be the last one, and who knows, maybe that'll change. Really you should check it out. It's that good.