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Like any good show, when you watch them again, you pick up on things.

Like at the end of the Gilligan episode. Michael is speaking with GOB and telling GOB that he's better than their Dad. GOB reflects, and says to Michael that he's the Best Man after all. GOB then calls him "my Hermano..."

Totally missed this. For those who don't realize this, three or four episodes before this, controversy struck because GOB's girlfriend, Marta, who Michael secretly loved, turns out she loved Michael and she is speaking Spanish on the phone to her mother and says she "loves Hermano." So now GOB and Michael are searching for a Spanish speaking guy named "Hermano."

That was such a subtle but priceless line.

Two episodes left. WATCH THIS SHOW, DAMNIT.....

All great, great scenes....now, anytime I have a letter come across or I have to call someone named "Michael," I find myself lowering my voice to imitate GOB.

My only criticism about last week's episode is that it made Michael out to be a slight idiot, and that goes against the grain of the show. He's the smart one in business but not in real life, so don't mess with that concept. I hope it was only a one-episode deviation.

Oh, and for lines, how about in the coming attractions after the Gillian episode, when Ron Howard says "And Gilligan fulfills his destiny" and suddenly Gilligan is floating on a raft with a white cap and red long sleeved shirt, and after the babe comes over, the camera pans back to an island shot reminisicent of the closing shot on Gilligan's Island. Priceless.

Is America that idiotic that they don't appreciate this? Yeah, it's up against the Soprano's and they're fighting for the same intelligent viewer, but, come on....there must be more than 15,000,000 viewers in America, no? Oh, wait....Yes, Dear does well in the ratings...Friends continues to show well even though it hasn't been good in many years.....OK, I retract that statement.... :lbf :lbf :lbf

From today's Detroit Free Press...

www.freep.com/entertainme...040423.htm

Fox comedy is headed for parole -- too bad

April 23, 2004

BY MIKE DUFFY
FREE PRESS TV CRITIC

A cruel fate may soon await "Arrested Development."

Nothing funny about that. Fox's deliciously twisted and original family farce -- starring Jason Bateman as the lone sane member of the intensely eccentric Bluth clan of Southern California -- is by far the best new comedy on network television.

Well, you know what happens to the rare sitcom of genuine quality that actually finds its way onto a network schedule in the 21st Century. Rave reviews, lousy ratings.

And "Arrested Development" -- despite consistently sharp writing, a clever absurdist wit and the loopily sublime performances of a terrific ensemble of players -- has been absolutely starved for viewers all season.

It's a dirty rotten shame.

And now this dizzily inventive cult favorite -- which has been drawing an anemic weekly audience of 6.2 million viewers -- is just one short, depressing step away from cancellation as it uncorks its first season finale at 9:30 Sunday on Fox. That's where we'll find ex-secretary Kitty (Judy Geer) threatening to expose more Bluth business crimes and cockeyed patriarch George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) fleeing toward Mexico.

Yeah, I know, Fox is getting really, really good at this sort of aggravating madness.

It's the lone major network that still takes creative chances with innovative series. And then -- aaaaargh!? -- it pulls the plug on these shows faster than you can say "Wonderfalls," "Keen Eddie," "Firefly," "The Tick," "Undeclared" or "Pasadena."

You want to cheer Fox for rolling the dice on such unconventional entertainment.

But you also want to scream in frustration at the rapid cancellations. Because such refreshingly different shows as "Wonderfalls" or "Keen Eddie" can't possibly survive without nurturing and an extra measure of network patience.

And the sublimely bonkers "Arrested Development" abundantly deserves some of that nurturing and patience now.

Heck, memorable classics like "All in the Family," "Cheers" and "Seinfeld" all started out very, very slowly in the ratings. But on most networks in 2004, they would have been gone after one season. Sheesh.

OK, I've had my chance to rant. I'll shut up now.

Watch "Arrested Development." It's smart, it's funny, you'll laugh.