By Maya-Catherine Popa, 20, reporting from NYC, on must-see (vampire-free!) TV
Tired of romances between the undead? Bored of America's Next Top blonde, sandwich, or kite flyer? Then maybe it's time to watch a TV show that's funny—actually funny, not "Isn't it funny how that model suspended in the air is crying upside down?"
Arrested Development tells the story of a dysfunctional family, the Bluths, led by a dodgy dad who loses all of their money in a financial scandal (one that will be all too familiar in this post-Madoff era). The father is wholly guilty as charged, and son Michael, the family's one conscientious member, is forced to manage his inept siblings and manipulative mother, while trying to raise a diligent son of his own. Of course, this proves to be the challenge one would expect from a group of people who are deeply perplexed by the idea of work and find it difficult to adjust to not charging everything from $18,000 magic tricks to large donations for their own invented, ludicrous charities to the company card.
But unlike watching an MTV reality sitcom on the lives of adolescent millionaires, Arrested Development features a script that is brilliant, and, best of all, grammatically correct. The show's comedic timing is perfect, and you may actually walk away a smarter, sassier individual.
So why was Arrested Development kicked off the air after three seasons? Maybe it just couldn't keep up with the times. The Bluths were, after all, human—painfully, hilariously human. A dysfunctional vampire or zombie family was the sure way to go.
*The three seasons of Arrested Development are available for download on iTunes.