Returning to the prime-time schedule according to the weird phases of the Fox moon is the unwatched but Emmy-winning Arrested Development—the best new sitcom last fall, although few except the critics noticed. Arrested Development looks even better this fall, against an even more contemptible lineup of reality dreck. Jason Bateman tries to save the family business by getting rid of all the family deadbeats on its payroll; his father, Jeffrey Tambor, cools off in the slammer between deals with Saddam Hussein; and the series relies on a prodigal dump of fascinating grotesques—on publicists and strippers, magicians and drug lords, juxtaposition and ambush, gag reflex and the sucker punch, shameless greed and Portia de Rossi. Hogarth meets the Mahabharata.

Sundays, starting November 7
8:30 To 9 P.M.; Fox.

Related:

• Archive: “Television”
• Articles by John Leonard
• Table of Contents: November 8, 2004 issue of New York | Subscribe!