Woo! The best comedy on TV is finally coming back. Can’t wait. Don’t forget to set your VCRs, or, for the less technologically challenged among us, your Tivos.
STEVE HOLT!
Or, for the even less technologically inclined, just watch the thing. 
I’m going to have to be a little late to tennis tomorrow night.
By the way, is this Monday thing permanent?
Yep. It’s the time slot the programming geniuses at Fox decided on. Emmy or not, the show has little hope of improved ratings going against CBS’s sitcom block.
I wouldn’t put it past Fox to bounce the show back to Sunday when they realize how god-awful The War at Home is.
If they get 15 million viewers tonight? Bikini-wearing Carmen Electra gets an Emmy.
C’mon, let’s make this happen.
Happy
And afterwards, be sure to stick around and watch Kitchen Confidential. The advance buzz has been very positive, and it looks like another great, dark, tightly-written sitcom in the Arrested Development/Scrubs/The Office style: single-camera, no laugh track, semi-dramatic, trying to get away with as much as possible.
I think I’ll start watching AD. This is the…what, third season? Am I going to miss much starting now? Since i watch Prison Break (it’s like 24 in that it makes you want to know what happens next…but it’s not like 24 in that it sucks…(ok, so I guess it’s like season 4.)) I can just turn on FOX an hour earlier.
They recap previous episodes nicely in each episode. So, you should be able to catch up quickly.
This thread title makes me nervous, as it now premieres tonight, not ‘tomorrow.’ So everyone reading this: ‘Arrested Development’ season premieres tonight, Monday, September 19, at 9/8c.
Actually, could a mod change the thread title to “Arrested Development premieres Monday, 9/19, 8 PM EST”?
WOOT! I can’t wait!
Bouv - it’s a little hard to jump in to, admittedly. But take the time, it’s worth it. 
Also, the season one DVD is available pretty cheap in stores (maybe 20 bucks), and season 2 is coming out next month.
Briefly - it’s the story of a family who own devlopment company simply called “The Bluth Company.” The patriarch of the family, George Sr., is corrupt in every way possible, and the series starts off with him being arrested by the SEC for defrauding the company’s investors. His son, Michael, takes over and is attempting to save the company, and at the same time keep his family somewhat together, if only for the sake of his son.
Get a hold of the DVDs and get caught up. But especially make sure you get season two. The first season was awesome, but I think the first few episodes of season two were some of the funniest television I’ve ever seen.
Can’t wait for tonight!
Nice that Arrested Development is getting a big push from the guys upstairs. I hope it works.
bouv, you might miss a couple of references to past episodes (they’re huge on continuity and in-jokes), but the new jokes will be well worth it. And the narrator usually sums up why people are doing what they are doing.
There may be a few references that will slip by. If you know fans of the Show they may start to laugh at very seemingly odd places. However if you stick with it you will enjoy it.
Rent/ borrow Season 1 if you can it is on DVD. As stated before major plot lines are explained and rehashed usually through the narration (Probably the best use of Narration in Television history).
Things to know:
Reoccurring things.
The Banana Stand: A family business for two generations. Was burned down in the first season and rebuilt exactly as before. There was money in the Banana stand… but the was burned up too.
The Magic Alliance: Formed by GOB (pronounced Jobe) as a professional magician group. He was thrown out by breaking the cardinal rule of never explaining a trick. He was able to get back in… and was removed again.
The Cornballer: A device sold on TV by George Senior banned in the US because of the fact it became dangerously hot. Still sold in Mexico where serious burns from it are common.
The Buluth home: Actually a model home designed for a housing project that has gone no where. Most of the house is just a facade and recently it was discovered that the drains were not hooked to pipes and have been just emptying into the sand floor basement. There is only one other like it. That other was a home for Sadam Hussein.
Light Treason: See above.
The Stair Car: Forced to sell most of its assets the Buluth family had to sell the private jet. No one wanted the stair car used to help passengers embark and disembark the plane. It is now the family car.
**
The BlueMan Group**: Yes them. Tobias had been trying to join them as an understudy. He had been using blue paint on his body and trying to do performances until he received a cease and desist order. Apparently there is a new member who happens to be a Buluth.
NeverNudes: Just as the name says it is an affliction where the person in question can never be nude. In this case it is Tobias who must wear cut-off shorts even when showering.
Anyone else wish to add to this list???
Nine? **NEIN! **
Maeby-Might be George Micheal’s cousin, who he is in love with. Maeby thinks she’s adopted, and hopefully so, because in the season 2’s finale, they kissed.
But the big questions is whether it is better than “How I Met Your Mother”, which has Alyson Hanigan and Neil Patrick Harris and also has great buzz. (I didn’t particularly care for the “Kitchen Confidential” pilot either.)
I don’t remember that Maeby thinks she’s adopted - George Michael does. He went to some trouble to prove as much at one point, but abandoned the effort when he realized that Maeby needed family for support (much like he does).
Maeby’s origin is still a mystery to the viewers. Her grandmother, Lucille, says she’s not real. She was made in a cup, like soup. What that means for her paternity is anyone’s guess. Heck, she could be French (I like the way they think).
Oh, and speaking of kissing cousins, Maeby’s long time crush, the aforementioned STEVE HOLT, may be her cousin as well, by her uncle GOB.
Other info:
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Twins run in the family. George Sr. has a shiftless twin brother named Oscar, who is madly in love with his wife Lucille, and had an affair with her last season.
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The youngest of Michael’s siblings, Buster, lost his hand in a freak accident last season. His mother (Lucille) never let him play in the ocean. To defy her, he did, and his hand was promptly bitten off by a rogue seal (which was actually a trained seal belonging to GOB’s short-term wife, which GOB accidentally released into the ocean). Who said this show was complicated?
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GOB is spelled in capital letters because it is an abbreviation for George Oscar Bluth.
I’ll think of more later.
bouv, it’s very easy to get into Arrested Development late. Most of the show’s fanatical audience haven’t been watching since the first episode. There are a lot of references and in-jokes, but as noted above, they’re often explained by the narrator, and they don’t lose the new viewer, they just add stuff for the regular viewer.
A quick rundown of the Bluth family and other cast:
George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) – the patriarch, as noted above, he built a construction empire through stock fraud and a little light treason. Currently a fugitive from justice.
Michael (Jason Bateman) – took over the company when his father was arrested. A widower, he seems to be the only normal one, but he actually revels in telling the family what to do.
Lucille (Jessica Walter) – the selfish and permanently sauced matriarch, she had recently been having an affair with George Sr.'s brother Oscar and is a constant thorn in Michael’s side.
GOB (short for George Oscar Bluth, played by Will Arnett) – eldest child, failed magician, failed stripper, failed ventriloquist, failed C.E.O. The juvenile delinquent of the family, who is now in his '40’s and shows no sign of growing up.
Lindsey (Portia di Rossi) – Michael’s twin sister. Vain, shallow, occasionally she supports Michael’s efforts to maintain stability in the family.
Buster (Tony Hale) – youngest child, introverted, naive, inapprpriately close relationship with his mother.
Tobias (David Cross) – Lindsey’s husband (they’re often estranged), would-be actor and member of the Blue Man Group. He is unaware that his dialogue is a constant stream of gay innuendo.
George Michael (Michael Cera) – Michael’s teenage son, he’s a wallflower and introvert. Strongly attracted to Maebe.
Maebe (Alia Shawkat) – Tobias and Lindey’s streetwise teen daughter, who last season conned her way into a development job at a movie studio. May not be George Michael’s biological cousin.
Oscar Bluth (Jeffrey Tambor) – George Sr.'s identical twin brother. Oscar is a pothead and aging hippie who is probably Buster’s real father and was recently living in sin with Lucille; at the end of S2 George Sr. tricked the cops into arresting Oscar in his place.
Lucille II (Liza Minelli) – Lucille’s best friend and greatest rival. Recently had a romantic relationship with Buster, then GOB.
Ann Veal (Mae Whitman) – George Michael’s deeply religious girlfriend. Michael thinks George Michael can do better.
–Cliffy
A few more come to mind…
Franklin: GOB’s Puppet alter ego. The puppet is supposed to be black… that is what a black is in GOB’s world. He relaeased a CD called Franklin comes alive. Recently due to a washing machine mishap Franklin is now white and speaks with a British accent.
Lucille 2: Lucille’s oldest “friend” and Neighbour (played to perfection by Liza Minelli) She was, due to complicated circumstances, once the love interest of Buster. She has since left him for Carl Weathers (who was Tobias’s acting coach) played as an all around cheapskate.
Buster’s Father May be George Senior, maybe Oscar.
**Juice ** The alcohol of Buster
Motherboy: Both a band and and annual conference for Mothers and the coddled smothered children. Lucille and Buster recently attended Motherboy XXX.
Annyong Korean for hello… also mistaken for the name of the Korean child Lucille adopted… Has been MIA since early 2nd season.
I think Anyong ended up at the Milford Academy (where they believe children should neither be seen, nor heard).
I think Anyong’s first episode (with Heather Graham) was my favorite from season one.
Barry Zuckerkorn - the Bluth family’s incompetent attorney, played by Henry Winkler. He is also a closeted pervert who always has some strange new disease symptoms.
Although since Henry Winkler is on some other sitcom this year, I suspect the Bluths will be getting a new attorney.