The one hundred twenty-third TV show: #650 Arrested Development

Back when this list was made, the first three seasons were the only ones that existed. The fourth season is a mess that came together okay at the end of the season, but needs a rewatch to make sense, while the fifth had a weak start, but was fine at the end - with some cast issues that meant it didn't work. I'm writing this after we finished that season, but it feels off to a point that it doesn't count.

Arrested Development thrives on long-running setups and jokes, both benefiting from repeating and building on them, but also gaining from things set up episodes earlier that pays off half a season later. Ron Howard's narration adds to it, contradicting what people say and explaining further, often to the point of additional jokes (sometimes quite meta jokes as the narration is wrong too). The "next week in Arrested Development" segments add to that - showing things that don't happen in the next episode, but are canonical to the point where you need to have seen them to understand the later episodes.

It requires you to keep track of a lot more than most sitcoms, which probably explains why it was never as much of a success, but it works in this era of binge watching when watching multiple episodes at the time makes sense and going back and forth is possible. Aside from the clever scripts and smart editing, the acting helps a great deal. Jessica Walters slowly changes Lucille Bluth as she knows more about the sinister dealings, Tony Hale makes a comedic character more poignant and Alia Shawkat as Maebe Funke is criminally underused early on - something resolved in the later seasons. It didn't get a chance to resolve itself until much later, but it's a great set of seasons that stand out as an amazing TV show even now.