The genius of ‘Arrested Development’—R.I.P.

I don’t watch much TV, but I do watch a lot of TV on DVD. I periodically pull the first season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” or “South Park” or “Seinfeld” off the shelf and work through the whole series in lieu of watching primetime, and then move on to the next. Yesterday for the second time I finished “Arrested Development,” easily the best new sitcom in a decade and tragic victim of its own brilliance. What made the show so hilarious were the running, inside and occasionally hidden jokes.

Example: In the final episode, George Michael Bluth (Michael Cera) is trying to get back with his frumpy, pious old girlfriend Ann—“Her?”—and he stops by her uncle’s house. With Ron Howard’s narration, we learn that Uncle Paul believes we only have three weeks left on Earth and “that fossils were just something the Jews buried in 1924.”

When the word “Jew” is mentioned, the viewer very briefly sees Ann’s uncle stick both index fingers above his ears.

I couldn’t find that clip online, but, for fans, the above appreciation is good for quite a few laughs. Man, I am really hoping for that rumored movie.