Starting this week, and for the month of August, FOX will be re-airing 4 consecutive episodes of "Arrested Development", Season Two, every Friday night at 8 pm. So, I will take the opportunity to encourage anyone who hasn't already "gotten arrested" to check it out. (While you're at it, check out www.getarrested.com!)

In addition, as promised three weeks ago, I will explain what makes "Arrested Development" so good. It's simple... it's the new Seinfeld.

Check out all these ways in which the two shows are so similar:

1. Seinfeld took a while to really catch on. For the first three seasons, its schedule kept changing, it was close to being canceled, and it didn't get a full slate of episodes. Same thing for Arrested Development. Perhaps, just like Seinfeld it can finally get through initially tough times and last a long time.
2. Jason Bateman is the new Jerry Seinfeld. Although not all scenes involve him, the show does centre around the main character him. He is the sane character amongst a cast of "misfits". He is always the voice of reason. Yet he himself isn't always reasonable. He has his quirks too.
3. The dialogue is superb, especially Jason's character Michael Bluth. Remember Jerry's dismissive, off-the-cuff remarks like "That's a shame." Michael has his own such remarks that are delivered just as sarcastically: "Yeah, that makes sense."
4. There are always at least two (and sometimes three or four) different plots involving different characters, but they always intersect by the end of the episode. That's classic Seinfeld.
5. It’s a show for which you can watch an episode one day and then immediately watch it again that same day, and it’s just as funny and entertaining, because you can pick up things you didn't catch the first time. (In fact, if you have watched the show, check out www.fox.com/arresteddev/ and click on "In case you missed it")
6. Certain phrases used in one episode become a catch phrase later in the episode or in subsequent episodes, sometimes with an entirely different context. For example, "I've made a huge mistake." That often happened on Seinfeld too.
7. All the actors cast for significant parts - who were fairly often well-known but not always - do the job well. They don't just cast extras. This is something that always separated Seinfeld from the average sitcom.

Overall, the two shows were the most brilliantly-written comedies of their generations. Hopefully that should be enough to keep Arrested on the air for years to come.