I am unclear as to why this clever, funny comedy only ran two seasons on HBO. It was certainly highly touted in its day.

Produced by Ron Howard, "Arrested Development" is about a dysfunctional family, the Bluths. The patriarch (Jeffrey Tambor) has been imprisoned for illegal real estate practices. At one point, he is entertaining offers from rival prison gangs, trying to decide which one to join. He leaves on the outside the only normal child, Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) to cooperate with authorities and help the rest of the family.

The family includes Michael's alcoholic mother (Jessica Walter), his shallow twin Lindsay (Portia del Rossi), his shy brother Buster (Tony Hale), and his magician brother Job (Will Arnett), who tries for publicity by telling the warden of the prison his father is in that he can escape. He does - by going to the hospital when someone stabs him. Except for his mother and Buster, they all live together in a model home, along with Michael's young son George Michael, Lindsay's daughter Maeby, and Lindsay's husband, the psychiatrist turned actor Tobias. No one has ever worked, and all that's basically left of the family fortune is the Bluth Banana Stand and a mobile stairway vehicle, the last vestige of the corporate jet.

Some of this show is absolutely hilarious, including Liza Minnelli chasing Buster, who flirted with her when he wasn't wearing his glasses, the arson of the banana stand, and Michael driving the mobile stairway around.

It's possible that "Arrested Development" was a little ahead of its time. Though I don't find some of today's off-beat comedies very funny, this very funny one would have fit right in, and with the Bernie Madoff situation, timely as well.

Very enjoyable, with excellent writing and acting.