Arrested Development: Season Two

In and ideal world, there would be two types of people: those who worship Arrested Development and those who do not have eyes or ears (still, a lousy excuse). Arrested Development is without a doubt one of the freshest/greatest television shows of our generation, if not THE freshest/greatest show. With a simply outstanding ensemble cast (everyone is pure gold), an insanely dense narrative, and rapid fire comedy, it's no wonder that the show has gone on to win a ton of Emmys, as well as outstanding critical attention. The only problem is no one's watching.

The show barely got picked up for a second season. It was only due to multiple Emmy nominations (that later became wins), although Fox always prematurely cancels critically beloved shows (see: Undeclared, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Greg the Bunny, Firefly, etc). So the show finally gets picked up for another round and just barely survives its trimmed-to-18-episodes season. Now it's back and still struggling to survive, although the third time around is a tad underwhelming after the first two flawless seasons.

If there was ever a show worth purchasing on DVD, this has to be it. There are just too many jokes and subtleties that go unnoticed on first viewing. Arrested Development is the ideal candidate for a show worthy of repeat viewings.

Moving along to the DVD...while not as good as the first season set, there are still some worthy extras to be found here. We get three audio commentaries (one per disc) for "Good Grief," "Ready, Aim, Marry Me!," and the season finale, "The Righteous Brothers." There are a ton of participants, including show creator Mitchell Hurwitz and actors Will Arnett, Michael Cera, David Cross, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, and Jessica Walter.

These commentaries are less informative than downright funny and absurd. Rather than litter these tracks with facts and trivia, the commentators choose to just have fun with one another. The intimacy makes us feel as if we aren't even supposed to be listening, which is a good thing. As always, David Cross is the funniest and crudest.

Also available are deleted/extended scenes for nearly every episode of the season. Many of these sequences aren't that hilarious and/or narratively significant. Overall, the editors did a good job of trimming here and there. Sure, it would've been nice to see these clips incorporated for the DVD, but the fact of the matter is, scenes are normally omitted for a reason. The creators of the show definitely know what they're doing in terms of organizing each episode for the sake of pacing and comedy.

There are also nine minutes of bloopers and outtakes. See Jason Bateman flub his lines and begin to swear like a sailor in front of the camera, cast, and crew or see David Cross rant about the poor marketing of the show. These bloopers certainly have more to them than the norm: they're honest and funny.

Rounding out the DVD is a three minute promo clip/overview of season one. If you're new to the show, don't even bother with this. Go out and rent... no, buy, season one on DVD today. Lastly, we get three amusing campaign clips from "The Immaculate Election" episode. These clips can be located by pressing left on the menu when highlighting that particular episode.

The show is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. It looks fantastic, as it should, due to it being shot on HD video. Audio comes in two channel Dolby Digital and sounds just fine, dialogue is clear, as are all the many musical cues.

This is a terrific season of a terrific show. While a little more absurd than season one (in a good way), season two most certainly deserves a space on your shelf. My ONLY qualm about the show is the slightly incessant voice-over provided by producer Ron Howard (it kinda ruins the subtlety for us devoted viewers). Still, this device is likely used to attract novice viewers to the show's dynamic storyline and running gags. Perhaps if people started watching, we could do with a little less narration. Hey, that would make for a really interesting special feature on next season's set. Let's just hope that we make it that far. -- Neil Karassik