Arrested Development--one of the greatest comedies in the history of television--went out in a blaze of glory. The truncated final season packed more biting humor per minute than ever before. In only 13 episodes, dozens of intertwining storylines spun in all directions: In addition to the overarching story about the fractious infighting of the Bluth family and the family's housing development company being investigated for treason in Iraq (a plot arc that comes to a dazzlingly surreal conclusion), the put-upon "good son" Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman, Teen Wolf Too) pursues romance with a lovely British woman (Charlize Theron, Monster) who turns out to be woefully inappropriate; swaggering magician Gob (Will Arnett, Monster-In-Law) flees from his newly-discovered teenage son while still pandering for the affection of his self-absorbed father (Jeffrey Tambor, The Larry Sanders Show); flighty Lindsay (Portia de Rossi, Ally McBeal) and her sexually blurry husband Tobias (David Cross, Mr. Show) both get the hots for the family's new lawyer, Bob Loblaw (Scott Baio, Charles in Charge); and much, much more.

It's difficult to describe what makes Arrested Development so brilliant. The ensemble is uniformly superb (Jessica Walter, as the family's boozing, scheming matriarch, is particularly devastating this season) and the surprising guest stars (including Andy Richter, James Lipton, Justine Bateman, and many others) are perfectly cast; the characters' abominable behavior defies conventional television notions of "likability", yet they only grow more endearing the more you watch; the humour embraces wild slapstick and sharp satire, often within a single scene; and the nimble documentary style allows for sly glancing references to jokes and scenes from long-past episodes, rewarding devoted fans. But the key is that, no matter how screwball Arrested Development becomes, the show offers a rich, textured, and wonderfully coherent world in which these characters feel genuine, a world completely unlike the flat, plastic simulacrum offered by the average sitcom. Arrested Development was true to itself to the end. Its followers will cherish it forever. --Bret Fetzer

It has to be said that of the 3 series of Arrested Development this is probably the most erratic in terms of storyline, however if you've read some of the other reviews you'll realise that towards the end of this series both cast and crew knew that this treasure of a show was coming to an abrupt, untimely end. This of course meant that loose ends that had been waiting to be tied up since the beginning, plus much newer story arcs needed to be resolved much quicker than the writers originally planned.

Despite all these circumstances the quality of this series certainly doesn't pale compared to the 2 preceding series. In fact you find the writers using this rather dire situation positively and using it as a basis for much of the jokes. The episode S.O.B.'s being the best example of this: the "subtle" hints of the other networks possibly picking them up, satirising other shows ploys to boost ratings (character deaths, live episodes and celebrity cameos) and quite simply having the narrator Ron Howard begging for more viewers; "Please tell your friends about this show"

Obviously none of us wanted it to end but eventually it did with only 13 episodes being produced in the final series, it is true testament to the cast, writers and crew that they never failed to live up to the high standards they set themselves in the first two series. Obviously to enjoy this series watching the 1st two is absolutely necessary.

Here's to hoping this proposed big screen adaptation actually get's made.

I have recently purchased all three seasons of Arrested Development on dvd and to my mind this has to be without question one of best and slickest tv comedies of all time.Great writing and great performances by all concerned.Highly recommended.I can only agree with the very commendable reviews of the previous contributors.In fact I never wanted it to end.How this fantastic piece of television came to be cancelled by so called TV moguls must remain one of the greatest mystery's and biggest blunders of all time.If there is any justice in this world.............bring it back !

This show is brilliant. All three seasons are as good as each other, with every episode nearing perfection every time. There is no way that this show could possibly be improved upon. I really don't think it's possible to praise this show high enough. It deserved more than it got in terms of ratings/awards. It may not have been watched by that many people, but ask any one of those who did and they'll all say the same thing - it's a classic.

What can I say? This is one of the best TV series of all time!! There are so much to it that you can watch it for many many times and still find something new to laugh about. My only critism of season 3 is that they seem to end it so quickly at the end so everything seems to be a bit rushed. But all in all, fantastically 5 star!!!

A great show and a great shame it was cancelled! Funny on a number of levels, well acted, intelligent well thought out gags. Bring back arrested development!