Arrested Development is unlike anything else I've ever seen on TV. Its endless in-jokes, ridiculous story lines, and bizarre satire of the wealthy morph into a smorgasbord of riches for TV nerds. With shows with such complexity, the pilot is a beast: how do you set so many moving parts up while maintaining interest? Arrested Development's answer is to be really damn funny.
The pilot of AD is nowhere near one of its strongest episodes. It's merely funny instead of uproarious. The plots aren't as absurd, and the characters are a bit too broad in order for subtle jokes to work. That's not to say that it's not enjoyable. The dialogue is clever, the editing is sharp and timed to maximize the value of every joke, and the unique musical cues are always opportune (the one when George Michael finds out he'll be rooming with Maeby is particularly apt).
The episode accomplishes what it needs to: it introduces the lunacy that is the Bluth family. The obvious protagonist is Michael, the beleaguered son. It's clear why he wants to leave: his family is self-obsessed and crazy. Jason Bateman exudes quiet frustration. He's the straight man to the craziness around him. The pilot doesn't really head-dive into how completely insane the Bluths are, but their misguided antics get laughs, especially Buster's various forays into academia. I particularly enjoyed Tobias auditioning for a musical immediately after listing his medical credentials. The characterization is split fairly equally between the rest of the Bluths, and it works well. Arrested Development is a complicated show, and it's at its best and funniest when as many Bluths as possible are involved.
This episode feels like the pilot of AD's dramatic counterpart as the greatest show of all time: The Wire. It's a very good episode of television, but it's only a shadow of what's to come. The tracks are laid for inside jokes and ludicrous plotting. It's a necessary evil, but the pilot has enough humor and exposition to trick (err... illusion?) people into watching more.
Final Grade: B+
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