With a couple of clears of the throat, literal and metaphorical, the much anticipated fourth series of Arrested Development arrives at last on Netflix today, dumped in its entirety with the enthusiasm of one of the members of the Bluth family eagerly offloading its stock in the family business, risks be damned. 
 
 The literal clears of the throat come from the narrator, Ron Howard, whose gentle coughs make a promising opening for the first episode, winking, in that distinctively Arrested Development way, at the audience. The metaphorical ones come from the dizzying jumps in time that the viewer is expected to keep up with from the very start. In the first 10 minutes, there are more confusing leaps in time than Back to the Future 2 managed in the whole of its film, including a flashback to several decades past in which Seth Rogen plays George Senior and – much more successfully – Kristen Wiig is young Lucille. But as ace as Wiig is at capturing Lucille's casual racism ("It's all part of the Mexican war on May fifth!") and threatening eye movements, she's no Jessica Walter. From this very first scene, all of those devoted fans of the show whose loyalty helped to bring the show back might be feeling as nervous as Buster Bluth about all of this change. Um, what's happened to Arrested Development? 
 
 Well, what's happened is that, just as the show's creator rehauled the traditional sitcom in 2003-06 when the original three series aired, he's trying to do the same again seven years on. But change always takes some getting used to. 
 
 Each episode of the show focuses on one character ("It's Michael's Arrested Development," intones Howard in the opening credits of the show, helping the viewer along), catching viewers up on what's been happening in their lives for the past few years. Each of their storylines is utterly credible to the character (of course Lindsay would, inspired by Eat Pray Love, go to India "to let go of all possessions and to find something cute to keep her possessions in") and the show's style (of course George Sr would open up a sweat lodge on the Mexican border to con CEOs out of their money and to try to screw up Stan Sitwell's plans). All of the main characters and essential subsidiary ones are back, including Barry Zuckercorn, Bob Loblaw, Sitwell, Carl Weathers, Warden Gentles and, of course, Lucille Ostero, and there are, if anything, even more blink and you'll miss 'em background gags (later on, Lucille's prison numbers are 07734, or "hello" upside down, referring back to her adopted Korean son, Annyong, who she names the Korean word for "hello") and eye-popping weirdness (did you really just see Liza Minelli attacked by an ostrich? Yes, yes you did). There are also, as if paying the fans back for their long memories, little nods back at passing jokes from the first three series, such as Michael's youthful performance in "You're a crook, Captain Hook" and Lucille's cry, "Look what the homosexuals have done to me!" 
 
 But as a watching experience it is entirely unlike the past three much-cherished series, and unlike any other sitcom. Hurwitz has spoken often about his desire to make an Arrested Development movie and he has taken advantage of Netflix's plans to release the whole series at once to make a sitcom that has cinematic scope. It demands the same kind of patience from the viewer as a show like The Wire, but with more ostrich attacks. It's extraordinary how much Hurwitz packs into each 30 minute episode. Sometimes it feels breathtakingly brilliant and other times it just feels confusing. It takes some getting used to, but by the fifth episode, the patience begins to pay off. I didn't adore the show in the way I instantly adored the first three series, but I was admiring it, and even enjoying it in a new way. So far, I'm keeping the faith. 
 
 Episode one – Michael 
 
 With the kind of confidence that Hurwitz has always exuded with this show, he opens proceedings with the most complicated and probably least funny episode. After a certain amount of time-leaping (and a somewhat disconcerting cameo from Amanda de Cadenet as a newscaster, although at least she's better than Seth Rogen who is horrendously miscast as George Sr), we learn that Michael's attempts to go into the real estate business failed, partly because California's property market crashed, and partly because the only inhabitants he could lure to Sudden Valley were a vulture and a scrubby bit of tumbleweed. Broke, homeless and now in hock to Lucille Ostero, who he may or may not have slept with to get more money, he goes to live with George Michael in his college dorm, and becomes the nightmare parent he always threatened to be. He is stunned when George Michael suggests he'd like to change his name and suggests Boy George as an alternative. "I think I'll stick with George Michael – at least that was consensual," mumbles his son. He interrupts his son's attempts to invent Faceblock, "the antisocial network", and walks in on his son and Maeby's private moments. Finally George Michael's patience ends and he throws his dad out and Michael gets a flight to Phoenix purely to see an article an inflight magazine – "Altitude, the number two most read magazine in coach, three after the safety card." It is predictably unflattering. 
 
 A rather depressing kick off, and not really in a fun way. I can't imagine rewatching this episode 117 times the way I rewatch episodes from the first three series, but let's not panic yet, Freeman. Make like Oscar and stay zen. 
 
 Episode two – George Senior 
 
 George is running a sweat lodge to con CEOs out of their money. To explain how and why all this has happened, we go back in time to young George, Lucille and Barry Zuckercorn (played, of course, by Henry Winkler's son, Max) and we see not only where George and Lucille learned where husbands and wives can't be tried for the same crime, but why they were always so fond of boats. George thinks Stan Sitwell is building a fence across the Mexican border and he and Lucille, who is now in custody, decide to stick it him well. They tell people they are getting divorced so no one will think they're in cahoots. George bumps into Oscar and some of his hippy friends, including a disgraced anaesthesiologist played by John Slattery ("Of course the bigger crime would have been if the patient hadn't woken up to testify against me") and realises they live on the Mexican border. George decides to go there, buy the land, turn it into a money-making sweatlodge and screw Sitwell's plans. But at one point he and Oscar have a vision of an ostrich man while chewing on a plant and it appears that he and Oscar swap strength and sex drive. 
 
 Still not wholly loving the show, but it does include one of the best scenes ever made in Arrested in which Lucille smokes into Buster's mouth and he blows it out the window. Maybe I just need more Buster? And Gob. Definitely need more Gob. Actually, I need more of everybody. 
 
 Episode 3 – Lindsay 
 
 After the arrest on the boat at the end of season three, Lindsay decides at last to leave her husband and her family, spurred on by a conversation with her ever supportive mother: "You can't say one nice thing to your daughter, can you?" "Adopted daughter – and of course I can!" Inspired by Eat, Pray, Love, she goes to India to find herself ("And they have normal toilets there, right?"). While there, her shaman – who later appears to turn into an ostrich – tells her to return home to her love. She takes this as a sign that she should get back with Tobias and the two of them promptly buy a ridiculous house from the realtor, James "I don't sell" Carr(s), who Lindsay once tried and failed to have a fling with, and go to what Tobias thinks is a method acting clinic but is, inevitably, a methadone clinic (dismayingly, I saw that gag coming a mile away). There, they meet Marky Bark, the son of Johnny Bark who Lindsay once met in a tree, and DeBree, an addict played by the extraordinary Maria Bamford. They have a double date and Lindsay decides she's meant to be with Marky and runs away with him only to be woken up by an ostrich pecking her face. 
 
 OK, this one felt more Arrested, but I'm still not loving the format of focusing on one character at a time. Also, Portia de Rossi's face looks completely different from how it did seven years ago which is distracting. But I think things are picking up. I think. Please. 
 
 Episode 4 – Michael 
 
 The most jampacked and in-jokey episode yet. Michael is now working for the unnamed Google and is going around southern California in the Google car taking photos for Street View, meaning he is driving yet another absurdly tall car. He gets a call from Barry that Ron Howard wants to meet him at Imagine Entertainment ("Ron Howard wants to meet me? Did you get any other information?" "Apparently he directed a movie called Cocoon"). So off he goes and learns that not only is Kitty Sanchez working there, but that Howard wants to make a film of his family, and this requires Michael to get signatures from all of his family members. Michael then bumps into a beautiful but still nameless woman, played by Isla Fisher, and he realises the only way he can get with her is if he sells out his family and impresses her by being a producer. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, Michael gets his father's signature only to realise that Ron Howard wants the film to be about Michael and George Michael, not Michael and George, and that the beautiful woman, Rebel Alley, is – he thinks – Ron Howard's mistress (actually, she's his daughter). 
 
 This could have been the most annoying episode yet with all the jokes about Ron Howard. But actually, it was fine. The real problems for me is that there's not enough interaction between the family, and Michael is becoming less and less likable, and, again, not really in a fun way. But we still have episodes from my favourite characters to come – Lucille, Gob, Tobias and Buster – and I'm beginning to see the shape of the plot arc over the series. 
 
 Episode 5 – Tobias 
 
 The best episode yet! Thank God. I knew I could rely on Tobias. 
 
 Tobias learns, to his astonishment, that his entire family thinks he's gay and, to disprove their theory decides to do the least gay thing he can think of: get a license plate saying "anustart" (a new start) and go on a pilgrimage to India, inspired by Eat, Pray, Love. It turns out that it was his luggage Lindsay took by mistake at the airport and it was Tobias who kept kicking Lindsay's seat on the plane. His pilgrimage is cut short when (Lindsay's) bus runs him over and he returns home, gets briefly back together with Lindsay, only to run off with DeBree just as Lindsay is running off with Marky Bark, with similarly disastrous results. With nowhere else to go, he returns to Lucille's apartment and rescues Lucille Ostero from an attacking ostrich ("Doctors said if that bird had got through my second layer of make up, he could have done real damage to my skin!"). She offers him a job at her rehab centre, he decides to keep working as the rock-covered The Thing from Fantastic Four on the streets. In desperation, he goes to see Maeby, crying out, "Is there a little girl here all by herself? Daddy needs to get his rocks off. I want to show her daddy's thing." He is promptly pounced upon by former newscaster John Beard, who is now hosting the paedophile-entrapment TV show, How to Trap a Local Predator. 
 
 OK, now I'm beginning to love it. The plotlines are starting to come together and the whole How to Trap a Local Predator (based on a real US show) is great and an excellent target for Arrested. Also, Maria Bamford is one of the few new guest stars who feels like she fits in right away, as opposed to being an awkward tack on. Pieces are falling into place. 
 
 Check back tomorrow for Hadley's recaps of episodes 6-10. ||||| 'Arrested Development' review: even better 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Photo: Mike Yarish, Netflix Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Image 1 of 5 Jason Bateman stars in the return of "Arrested Development" on Netflix. Jason Bateman stars in the return of "Arrested Development" on Netflix. Photo: Mike Yarish, Netflix Image 2 of 5 ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: Guest star Mary Lynn Rajskub (L) Jeffrey Tambor (C) and guest star John Slattery (R) in a scene from Netflix's "Arrested Development." ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: Guest star Mary Lynn Rajskub (L) Jeffrey Tambor (C) and guest star John Slattery (R) in a scene from Netflix's "Arrested Development." Photo: Sam Urdank, Netflix Image 3 of 5 This undated publicity photo released by Netflix shows David Cross, left, and Portia de Rossi in a scene from "Arrested Development," premiering May 26, 2013 on Netflix. The sitcom, also starring Jason Bateman and Will Arnett, was canceled by Fox in 2006 after three seasons. (AP Photo/Netflix, Sam Urdank) less This undated publicity photo released by Netflix shows David Cross, left, and Portia de Rossi in a scene from "Arrested Development," premiering May 26, 2013 on Netflix. The sitcom, also starring Jason Bateman ... more Photo: Sam Urdank, Associated Press Image 4 of 5 Will Arnett stars in the return of "Arrested Development" on Netflix. Will Arnett stars in the return of "Arrested Development" on Netflix. Photo: Michael Yarish, Associated Press Image 5 of 5 Jason Bateman and Liza Minnelli in "Arrested Development." A slew of guest stars in recurring roles and cameos dots the fourth season. The show is returning after being on hiatus since '06. Jason Bateman and Liza Minnelli in "Arrested Development." A slew of guest stars in recurring roles and cameos dots the fourth season. The show is returning after being on hiatus since '06. Photo: Mike Yarish, Netflix 'Arrested Development' review: even better 1 / 5 Back to Gallery 
 
 Arrested Development: Season four available for streaming on Netflix.com. 
 
 OK, so where were we? 
 
 "Arrested Development" is back after a hiatus that lasted too long for anyone who loves great television. And with the premiere of its fourth season Sunday on Netflix, it proves that there is still hope for sitcom genius from the TV industry, especially if it's created by Mitchell Hurwitz, narrated by Ron Howard and features one of the greatest ensemble casts of all time. 
 
 With expectations as high as they are among "AD" fans, do the new episodes live up to those of the first three seasons which ended in 2006? Yes, and then some: The new season is not only as smart and absurdly funny as ever, but also reflects the rapid changes in how we watch television. 
 
 Netflix and other new content providers get that people want to watch an episode of a show when they want to watch it. And if they want to watch two, give them two to watch. Three? Why not? For that matter, why not the entire "season"? 
 
 Yes, you can do this with any television show, including those in a traditional weekly format whose full seasons are now available on platforms like Netflix and Hulu. But the fact that the new "AD" episodes are even more self-contained than those of the first three seasons makes them an even better fit for new content providers. 
 
 Hurwitz gives each character his or her own episode in the early part of the new season. I don't mean that "Michael's 'Arrested Development' " features only Jason Bateman, but that the episode catches us up on how the character got from where he was in the third season to becoming a producer on a Ron Howard film about the Bluth family. 
 
 Getting caught up 
 
 When the show ended in 2006 with the episode titled "Development Arrested," it seemed at first as though Michael Bluth (Bateman) had finally succeeded in making his self-indulgent family's crooked business enterprise at least profitable enough to offer some hope for the future. But the episode ended with matriarch Lucille (Jessica Walter) commandeering the long-docked Queen Mary to escape the police boats, and Michael's alleged twin Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) learning she was actually adopted, which meant that Michael's son George Michael (Michael Cera) wasn't committing incest when he made out with his supposed cousin Maeby (Alia Shawkat). Michael's brother Gob, pronounced "Jobe" and played by Will Arnett, was about to unveil his Aztec Tomb magic trick, which served only as a temporary way for George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) to avoid the authorities. The eternally terrified Buster Bluth (Tony Hale) tumbled overboard and was confronted immediately by his greatest fear in life - a live seal - as Michael and George Michael happily sailed away into the sunset, leaving the rest of the clan to their own devices. 
 
 The fourth season begins with an episode called "Flight of the Phoenix," which refers in the show's context to both the city of Phoenix and the online University of Phoenix. However, the myth of the phoenix is that it was a bird that rose from the ashes, and that pretty much describes the history of "Arrested Development" too. 
 
 I don't want to spoil too much for anyone who didn't stay up all night binge-watching the 15 new episodes, but they quickly establish that while some things have changed, the Bluth family's craziness is as rampant as ever, and Michael has little hope of escaping them. 
 
 The umbrella story arc has to do with getting the family together to testify on Lucille's behalf at her upcoming trial for stealing the Queen Mary. Meanwhile, George senior's twin, Oscar (both played by Tambor), has set up a sweat lodge on the U.S.-Mexican border that George commandeers and turns into something he calls "Sweat 'n Squeeze" - a way to con money out of rich guys. The compound includes "visitor yurts." 
 
 A new start and cameos 
 
 Lindsay goes off to India to find personal awakening but comes back with fake designer bags and a willingness to work on her marriage to Tobias. She instead falls for another guy whose girlfriend, DeBrie (Maria Bamford) had a brief role in a quickie film version of "The Fantastic Four." 
 
 For his part, Tobias wants to make a new start. In fact, he orders specialized license plates announcing his new start. Except that the guy who once thought he could find success by combining being a therapist and an analyst, and advertised his trade as "Analrapist," comes up with a similar new word for his license plate, "Anustart." Among the many pleasures of watching the new episodes is spotting cameos. Between the guest stars in recurring roles and the cameos, it's as though everyone in Hollywood wanted to get in on the "Arrested Development" action. Guest stars include Kristen Wiig and Seth Rogen as younger versions of George and Lucille, as well as Christine Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Amanda de Cadenet, John Krasinski, James Lipton, Andy Richter, Isla Fisher, Ed Helms, Bernie Kopell, Max Winkler playing a young version of his dad Henry's role as Barry Zuckerhorn, Scott Baio as Bob Loblaw, John Slattery, Debra Mooney, Conan O'Brien, Brian Grazer, John Beard, Ron Howard (in addition to narrating) and the three guys from Comedy Central's "Workaholics," Adam DeVine, Blake Anderson and Anders Holm, as three extremely passive-aggressive airline ticket agents. 
 
 OK, so when can we expect season five? ||||| There are two questions regarding “Arrested Development,” which returned this weekend via Netflix: Is it good — or as good as it was — and does that really matter? Regarding the second, probably not. That’s because Netflix is emulating HBO by playing the attention-getting game, and as with “House of Cards,” reviving this Emmy-winning comedy has brought the service ample media coverage, reinforcing the perceived value of its original-programming efforts. So a vacillating answer to the first part is virtually irrelevant, especially since Netflix opted not to make episodes available in advance, allowing die-hards and critics (in this case, a group with considerable overlap) to weigh in simultaneously. 
 
 Unlike “House of Cards” — a fine if hardly groundbreaking serialized drama — the prospect of binge viewing (Netflix’s main distribution innovation) this new 15-episode batch of “Arrested Development” feels less like a treat than a rather numbing burden. The program’s arched eyebrows, rapid-fire gags and snark actually play better when spread out, and trying to power through multiple episodes felt exactly like that — a bit like cramming for a test the night before. 
 
 That’s not to say the cast and series creator Mitchell Hurwitz (who directed with Troy Miller) don’t deliver their share of moments, although the format has a way of blunting them. Each episode essentially focuses on one of the characters, but they frequently intersect — an ambitious narrative approach, if one also seemingly designed to narrow the program’s appeal even further. Inasmuch as the show was canceled for precisely that niche quality despite all its accolades, it’s perhaps advantageous Netflix has resisted releasing user data, allowing the media to create its own echo chamber amplifying the show’s impact, irrespective of the reality. 
 
 Ultimately, this “Arrested” revival plays a bit like a reunion special, where the individual cast members come out and take their curtain calls. After the warmth of seeing them reunited (or semi-reunited, given how rarely more than one or two are featured in a scene together), there’s a sort of awkwardness to it, as if nobody really has much to say. We’re meant to bask in the nostalgia, while the particulars are of relatively little consequence. 
 
 Beyond Jason Bateman — who has established a busy film resume since the show — the producers have also stocked these episodes with plenty of celebrity cameos, which are alternatively amusing and distracting. Chalk that up, perhaps, to the “Arrested Development” movie that was discussed before the producers settled on this long-delayed “fourth season,” which, given the cultish limits, probably made more sense. 
 
 All told, it’s hard to fault anyone involved for making this happen — from Netflix for cashing in on the name to Hurwitz for revisiting the best gig he’s likely to ever have to the cast, who have almost uniformly stayed busy since the show ended but clearly appear to relish re-inhabiting these roles. 
 
 Still, wading through the episodes themselves, it’s hard to enthusiastically applaud them for it either. From that perspective, “Arrested Development’s” long-awaited encore is like a lot of TV development — namely, an interesting idea that was more exciting on paper. ||||| Netflix debuted all 15 episodes of the revived, beloved series Sunday, featuring the original cast, a slew of A-list guest stars and numerous go-to references. 
 
 Having watched all 15 episodes of the new season of Arrested Development, this is the first thing you should know: Watch all 15 -- in a marathon (or two, if needed). And you'll probably want to watch them again after that. 
 
 Not only is there a real brilliance to how the episodes are constructed, but after a slow-ish start (as creator Mitch Hurwitz and his writers no doubt had to get their mojo back, but also because the structure is incredibly intricate and, at first glance, there seems to be a disjointed feeling to them), the comedic payout begins to multiply with each succeeding episode. 
 
 PHOTOS: From 'Arrested Development' to 'House of Cards,' Exclusive Portraits of Netflix's Stars 
 
 The Rashomon-style storytelling takes a bit to get used to, and the sometimes feverish flow of the jokes (which fans may remember from the hall-of-fame first three seasons) struggle to unleash themselves in the first couple of episodes, but then it snowballs into seven-and-a-half hours of hilarity just waiting for a movie to follow it up. 
 
 That, of course, was the whole intention of this Netflix idea. A two-hour big-screen movie about a cult television series wouldn't really fly if newbies had no idea who the characters were or what the recurring jokes might be. Part of the reason that Arrested Development is revered as one of the greatest comedies of all time is that Hurwitz and his writers spent an inordinate amount of time stuffing jokes into each 22-minute episode (until Fox scheduled it against the Olympics and killed it). That layering of the humor -- multiple jokes in every scene -- was the kind of effort that paid off for fans who discovered the series by DVD or Netflix long after it was on Fox. 
 
 The fact that Arrested Development could contain, simultaneously, a verbal joke, a visual joke, a physical joke, several call-back mentions to past jokes (stretching back to previous seasons) and even humor in the voice-over narration and music was an epic effort that was, sadly, lost on most network viewers back in the day. 
 
 This fourth "season" was created as a way to tell a complicated backstory that would set up a movie. Whether that movie will ever get made, who knows, but there is enough closure on these 15 episodes as a television season -- and enough unresolved issues -- for a movie. Perhaps it will be a win-win. 
 
 Much has been written about how the Netflix format -- dropping all the episodes online at the same time for marathon viewing or binging as you wish -- had allowed Hurwitz to tinker with the traditional narrative format. Tinker he did. Although the initial conceit was that viewers could actually watch the episodes out of order, it's certainly best to watch them in a row. 
 
 PHOTOS: 'Arrested Development' Premiere: A Bluth Family Reunion 
 
 But it's impossible to give Hurwitz enough credit for the insane number of call-back jokes, feints, altered point-of-view translations of innumerable punch lines and the nutty way Arrested Development plays as a Rubik's Cube of laughter. Repeat viewings after the initial run would, in fact, be perfectly acceptable in an out-of-order fashion just to better appreciate the skill that went into the season. Not only does this format fit what Netflix is all about, it rewards all the effort that it will take on the part of viewers to suss out the jokes. (You'll definitely want to freeze-frame anything that has printed material in it). In essence, the way the series is constructed rewards repeat viewings however randomly they're watched. 
 
 When telling the "story of one family whose life was abruptly canceled," Hurwitz and his writing team give each character his or her own episode (sometimes more than one, of course) and very rarely has the cast in the same scene (logistics issues). Fear not, however, because apparently every funny actor in Hollywood has a cameo in this season of Arrested Development. Seriously, you'll give up counting (but still smile when you see them). 
 
 A smattering of those: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Ben Stiller, Ed Helms, Terry Crews, Judy Greer, Andy Richter, Jeff Garlin, Liza Minelli, John Beard -- and the list goes on until you lose track (and not knowing is part of the joy, so let's leave it at that). 
 
 The main cast, of course, shines as expected. Jason Bateman's impeccable comic timing, so essential to the success of the original series, doesn't miss a beat here. Will Arnett is comic gold. Jessica Walter and Jeffrey Tambor are flawless (and Tambor does double-duty as George and Oscar). Michael Cera, Tony Hale, David Cross, Portia de Rossi, Alia Shawkat, Ron Howard -- everybody has their own standout moments. Cross' "speaking in a misleading way" is such a tour de force of cluelessness from the character and a willingness to go for it from the actor. Cera taps into the geeky naivete from the past but also grows up and expands the character. The number of painful laughs generated by Hale is countless. 
 
 All of your favorites -- both fringe characters and go-to references -- are back in force during season four. Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler), Ann Veal (Mae Whitman), Annyong (Justin Lee), Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade), Bob Loblaw (Scott Baio), James Lipton, Carl Weathers and many more. 
 
 PHOTOS: 'Arrested Development' Returns: 17 Posters for the New Netflix Episodes 
 
 Also present: "I've made a huge mistake." The Cornballer. No touching. Buster's maps. Lucille's wink. Dangerous Cousins. And yep, you'll laugh at other familiar call-backs, just as a whole slew of new references will enter your vocabulary, such as "straightbait," "Hello darkness my old friend," "roofie circle," "face-blindness," "Anustart," "the old noodle thrust," "A much-vaunted yes" and "China Garden," plus sublime jokes about Google, lemonade, Imagine Television and Eat, Pray, Love. 
 
 The beauty about the Netflix version of Arrested Development is that, given the laws of time and hype, it should not have succeeded. If you were on Twitter in the early light of Sunday, when it launched, you would have read some discouraging comments (more proof that recaps of individual episodes are a mug's game) and perhaps felt the twinge yourself of over-anticipation, when jokes seemed to fall flat or scenarios made no sense. But the series quickly found its pacing; the elaborate Rashomon structure revealed its glorious ambition and the combination of absurdity and intelligence meshed as well or better than you may have remembered from the original three seasons. 
 
 While there are countless jokes that could be recalled here, why spoil the fun? If you were holding your breath that a legend un-retiring might be a disaster in the making, breathe deep, carve out some time for a marathon or a binge, then set aside even more time to go back for what you missed. Hurwitz, his writers (particularly Jim Vallely), the directors and all the actors put a lot of genius into the resurrection of this classic. And if you don't have a Netflix subscription, well, why do you think they made more of this thing? 
 
 Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com 
 
 Twitter: @BastardMachine
– The long wait is over: Arrested Development is back, with the entire fourth season available on Netflix. But does it live up to the hype? Plenty of critics say yes, though not all agree. Still, if you're not enamored with the show's new style, give it time and you just might change your mind. "If you were on Twitter in the early going of Sunday, when it launched, you would have read some discouraging comments ... and perhaps felt the twinge yourself of over-anticipation when jokes seemed to fall flat or scenarios made no sense," writes Tim Goodman at the Hollywood Reporter. "But the series quickly found its pacing, the elaborate Rashomon structure revealed its glorious ambition, and the combination of absurdity and intelligence meshed as well or better than you might have remembered from the original three seasons." "Just as the show's creator rehauled the traditional sitcom in 2003-06 when the original three series aired, he's trying to do the same again seven years on. But change always takes some getting used to," writes Hadley Freeman in the Guardian. "It demands the same kind of patience from the viewer as a show like The Wire, but with more ostrich attacks." "Do the new episodes live up to those of the first three seasons which ended in 2006? Yes, and then some: The new season is not only as smart and absurdly funny as ever, but also reflects the rapid changes in how we watch television," notes David Wiegand in the San Francisco Chronicle. But at Variety, we get a very different opinion from Brian Lowry: The show's return "feels less like a treat than a rather numbing burden," he writes. It's like "a reunion special," and "there’s a sort of awkwardness to it, as if nobody really has much to say."