Why Did You Kill Arrested Development? 1x01 - "Pilot" - You Can't Handle the Bluth!

Arrested Development was a show that thrived on the importance of family. Despite the broad self-interested yet lovable cartoonish characters, it's clear that these people would do anything for each other while engaging in jokes about greedy corporations, actors & magicians, and whacky socialite hijinx. Hell, incest between two cousins is one of the sources of comedy and you can't get any more familial than that. And like any family, it's impossible to choose a favorite member of the Bluth clan.

But we all know the story: the show was killed in it's prime.

Despite aggressive fan campaigns, timely DVD releases, and winning an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series after it's freshman year, it was canceled after three increasingly-shorter seasons and fifty-three episodes.

Can we blame the FOX network? Sure, the show could've benefited from a few more billboards, TV spots and a post-Superbowl airing. To their credit, it was premiered after The Simpsons in it's first season. We also have to remember that 2003 was a time before DVR was a household name and little-to-no legal online viewing capabilities existed (unlike now, where most networks post episodes the next morning on Hulu). This was a show that practically begged for multiple viewings to absorb every joke in both the fore and background.

So let's take a look at the pilot.

The plot is surprisingly simple compared to future episodes: It's George Sr.'s retirement party, we meet all the members of the Bluth family, he passes over Michael, promotes his wife, and gets arrested. Instead of moving to Arizona, Michael decides that instead of just saying that family is important to his son, he needs to act as an example and stick around during his family's time of need.

It's a quick half-hour, mainly due to the cinema verite style that employs hand-held cameras and cut-aways to flashbacks, stock footage, and newspaper clippings. The faux-documentary style is a useful narrative device for half-hour comedies, if it's done well, mainly due to the way it handles exposition.

In The Office, Parks and Recreation and Modern Family, they take it a step backward with frequent talking-head interviews with our characters, who expose their inner thoughts before and after moments we're currently seeing. And it's what sets Arrested Development apart from those shows; there's too much energy and too much going on to stop and have Michael explain his feelings during the retirement party. A mark of a good show is one that trusts it's audience to pay attention. And the Bluths don't do interviews.