I never watched Arrested Development when it was airing on Fox, but I'd heard good things about it. I was looking for something to watch earlier in the week and discovered that Fox has put the entire series up on Hulu.

I'm about midway through Season 1 (the episode where Michael discovers Julia Louis-Dreyfus's attorney character's secret when he takes her dog to the vet). At this point, I am finding it amusing and engaging, but not LOL-levels of funny.

For reference, the comedies on right now that I follow are 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, and The Office, and generally get a few audible LOLs out of a given episode. On the other hand, I only ever found Sienfeld and Friends moderately amusing. And I consider Curb Your Enthusiasm to be unwatchable.

Given that, does AD take some time to get warmed up? Or is it basically as funny as it gets by the point I'm at? I'll continue to watch it, regardless. I'm just wondering if it one of those things where the best is yet to come, or if my sense of humor just isn't fully in synch with the show's sense of humor.

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Hope is the new black.

the jokes continue to pile on, and the show becomes increasingly clever and self-referential as the seasons go on.

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One of the best shows ever. Blows away 30 Rock, The Office, etc. If you don't "get it" the first few episodes I doubt you'll be a fan. It's that type of show, despite being insanely popular and winning Emmys, it was canceled.

there are a lot of call-back jokes too that you might not get the first time

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It wasn't really that popular. In its last season it averaged something like 4 million viewers, which is relatively low for a prime time show.

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Seconded.

I don't recall if I enjoyed the earlier or later seasons more, but I do recall that I found all of it hilarious (at least).

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What's the average viewership for sitcoms? (Even King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, etc)

Everybody Loves Raymond ranged in the final seasons between 17 and 20 million viewers.

King of Queens averages around 11 million.

The Office gets about 10 million.

Friends averaged around 20 million.

Seinfeld (which I hated) was also around 20 million viewers.

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I hit an episode last night that made me actively LOL - the Take Your Daughter To Work Day one.

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Hope is the new black.

I think it would have been better suited to HBO or Show.

It was great, we have watched every episode (twice) or more.

I don't think it was my fav. sitcom, but is definitely in the top 5.

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