Take me to another place, Take me to another land...

Only just recently, I stumbled upon a treasure mixed in among piles of unoriginal, uninspired and just plain stupid television programming. On Sunday nights on the FOX network, immediately following The Simpsons (a program that has somehow managed to take a spectacular nosedive from the pinnacle of hilarity into awe-inspiring inanity), there exists a sitcom, nay, a work of art, entitled Arrested Development. Now you may have already heard of this show as it did win the Emmy for best comedy last year, but if not then I suggest you start watching immediately.

I am not sure what it is exactly that I love so much about this show. It may be the smart writing, rife with irony-rich dialogue and clever sarcasm. It may be the unusually large but extremely talented cast. Or maybe it is the theme of Familial Dysfunction, something that everyone can understand in one way or another.

What is even more confusing is why the FOX network has decided that 8:30 on a Sunday night is the optimal slot for what has to be their best showing in years. It was probably decided by the same mastermind behind the Family Guy shuffle that ultimately led to the premature cancellation of that cultural phenomenon. I think I heard that FG had close to five different timeslots in its short two-and-a-half season run. A bloody shame.

So head out to your local Blockbuster and rent the entire first season of AD on DVD. Or if piracy is more your thing, check out Suprnova.org. You can easily burn through 6 episodes commercial free in the same time it would take you to watch one of those boring "classic" films. But this is in color.