The Best Show You'll Never Watch

Now that reality TV has begun to ebb, critics are wondering if American audiences have the strength of will to return to sitcoms. After years of formulaic writing and remastered laugh tracks, the reality boom of the past few years has given us sitcom characters made from everyday people and a few well-placed edits. Donald Trump has evicted Lou Grant.

But I think audiences are stronger than critics suspect. They'll return to sitcoms, even/especially the bad ones, despite worries to the contrary. And they'll do it because, when presented with genuinely good comedy, most viewers cock their head and stare at the screen in wonder, as a dog might if his owner began walking on his hands. Case in point: Arrested Development (Fox, Sundays, 8:30p/7:30c).

Arrested Development details the exploits of the wealthy, shallow, eccentric and largely clueless members of the Bluth family. When family head and company CEO George (Jeffrey Tambor) is jailed for cooking the books, son Michael (Jason Bateman) must step in and hold everything together. Michael has a twin sister married to a psychologist-turned-actor, a son in love with his own cousin, a domineering mother with a passion for booze, a brother with a struggling career as a magician, and another brother who suffers easily from panic attacks. Shot with handheld cameras and exuding an improv/documentary vibe, Arrested Development is one of the smartest new shows to come around in years.

And you'll never see it.

Despite poor ratings last year (its first season), the show garnered mountains of critical praise and even snagged a few Emmys for its work, including Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Comedy Series. But even the unexpected (though deserved) awards and the resulting media awareness couldn't get America to watch: Arrested Development still regularly finishes near the bottom of the Nielsens.

I'd implore you to watch, but the part of me that's been here before and will be again knows it's of no use to persuade people who don't want to be persuaded. For every show allowed to find an audience and live despite initially poor ratings, dozens more are quickly canceled. I'm glad at least that DVD technology lets us keep these shows around. So just go down to the store and buy Arrested Development. You might as well act as if it's already gone; the show's too good to survive much longer.