Afternoon Baseball

CNN.com -- Charlize Theron to guest-star next week

A night after being stiffed from all the big Emmy awards ("Everybody Loves Raymond" winning Best Comedy? Find me someone who's sad that show is off the air. I dare you), the best comedy on television returned for a third season, something that is a miracle in itself.
On last season's finale, George Sr. turned himself in, but really just shaved his twin brother Oscar's hair and put him in jail. Tobias ran off to Vegas with Kitty, who punched out Lindsay as she tried to reclaim her man. "Man" used loosely, of course. Also, George-Michael seriously made out with his cousin Maebe in the model home, which is in the midst of collapsing because it was never designed to be used as a real home.

All caught up? Besides the new developments, including the car-wreck quality of Maebe and George-Michael's bizarre "relationship" and the first explicit "outing" of Tobias (and Barry, played by the wonderful Henry Winkler, whose own new show aired on CBS tonight at 9:30), the references to past episodes abounded. The Blue Man Group figures prominently -- it's George Sr.'s perfect escape plan, as no one recognizes him in blue paint, and Tobias, once again, is denied a chance to work as a Blue Man. Steve Holt (of "Steve Holt!" fame) returns as he connects with Gob at a father-son reunion, not realizing that they are in fact father and son (revealed in the student council episode of season 2). He later makes out with Maebe, fulfilling her crush on him dating back to Season 1, Episode 3, and also making him the second cousin that she's made out with (third if you count Annyong, the Korean adoptee who was sent to the Milford School early last season).
The first interaction ever between Michael and his son, that of them sleeping on the attic floor in the model home during the pilot, is recalled when they visit the family cabin, which is just about to be hauled away.
Buster's proclivity for napping at a moment's notice, seen in both seasons (episode 3 of both seasons, I believe) is seen, and the hook on his hand since the seal bit it off, is recalled when Gob meets Steve Holt by the "statue of the boy who found the hand."
George Sr., of course, is up to no good. Pick virtually any episode to find that.

"Arrested Development" is a show that begs for repeat viewing, as there are so many little things that it's impossible to see them all on first viewing. Some is actually deliberate -- the pilot episode had a mention of the Sitwell Corporation, which is never mentioned again until part-way into the second season. The second season abounds in references to Buster and hands, or missing hands, with no reference in sight until later on when that hand is taken from him.

And that may be the genius of the show: The episodes get better with age. That's tough to do by accident, and nearly impossible to do deliberately. Yet it seems the people behind the series have done that, and we can only hope they keep it up.