I don't know about you, but I'm not used to laughing out loud alone in front of the TV. Honestly, I was startled.

The best new sitcom to come along in years. [2 Nov 2003, p.C4]

The season's best new comedy - we're talking laugh-out-loud funny. [2 Nov 2003, p.F-14]

For all its willful outrageousness, Arrested Development is sort of gripping -- a continuing story that one actually wants to see continue, which is more than can be said of most of the new dramas the season produced. [31 Oct 2003, p.E1]

As you might expect from an experimental show that is doing its best to misbehave, there are times when Arrested goes too far. I could live without George Michael's crush on his first cousin, a story given more prominence in a future episode when it really needs less. But for now, I'd say stick with the Bluths, even when their behavior is more alarming than arresting. At least they're not dull. And this season, that's a development worth encouraging.

With its depiction of a warped, absurd family, Arrested Development is worth watching for fans of out-there comedy. [2 Nov 2003, p.TV-5]

A marvelous cast, including Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Jessica Walter and Alia Shawkat. Offbeat situations and innovative direction. Your humble critic, however, finds one problem: It's not very funny. [2 Nov 2003, p.H01]

This season of this amazing show is so FANTASTIC! So original, creative, and FUNNY! Every line of dialog said in this show comes back at you, and it is brilliant! Arrested Development is a perfect show, and is my favorite EVER!

This is the "Jason Bateman Complains about his worthless family" show. The whole concept of the show is Micheal being disappointed over and over again by everyone, including himself at times. That, and the jokes are only mildly funny and the narration is just plain annoying. I wanted to like this show, but I am having trouble getting into it.

It took a while for the show to get going for me, but once I got to know the characters better I got more invested in it. I started caring about the plot lines more and I started to get some real laughs. It's just a shame that over half of the season was gone before it started to get enjoyable. For a while I was largely bored by the show, which shocked me given it's fantastic cast. Still I did eventually start to get some enjoyment out of it and am looking forward to watching the next season. So as it stands my opinion of the first season isn't exactly great, but I am excited for the next season(s). I give it a 6.5/10=Okay.

I cant believe there is people who are actually liking this piece of sh**t. First of all, none of the characters never get anywhere through all the seasons. I mean, they tell you literally in every episode that this family is in a serious economical crisis and they need to get out of there or face poverty and financial disaster. Michael, the only competent son tries to fix that, but in every episode you have the feeling that thanks to that guy the plot takes one step forward (at least in the first seasons before netflix bought it), but thanks to the rest of the family (who are complete imbeciles, every single one of them) takes 8 steps back. So It doesnt really matters what happens in the middle, you all should know this: They always end up in square 1. Could be interesting if these setbacks could be due to tragedies or unfortunate events, but the truth is they cant progress due to their deep colective stupidity (thats why its called Arrested Development, I know). If only the characters exist in real life like they were presented in the show, all of them will be strong candidates to appear in the Darwin awards because probably all of them would die killing themselves involuntarily (I leave you the link here to see what Im talking about: ****/darwin/). Its just that, at the end nothing happens. They made like 20 episodes or so for every season, but nothing changes and this is why its so painful to watch this morons screwing it up over and over again without getting anywhere.

This is the shotgun approach to humor, putting out the maximum gags-per-minute. The problem is, none of the gags are funny. THE OFFICE was ridiculous and absurd but it was still quality satire because it's about what really does go on inside a typical office. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT has the ridiculous and the absurd without anything grounding it in reality... which reduces it to humorless stupidity. If you're a fan of stupidity for the sake of stupidity, this show is for you. Otherwise, don't waste your time.