that pictured Tobias Fünke as the husband in the last letter?

"... even if it means me taking a chubby, I will suck it up."

Who is Tobias Funke?

Who is Tobias Funke?

Perhaps the most awesome character played by David Cross in the underappreciated comedy "Arrested Development" on Fox. Other witticisms include. " I just need to prove to my wife that I can act like a man. And it's not about sex. I don't just lie there, if that's what you're thinking." "I suppose I'm, uh ... buy-curious" "I wouldn't mind kissing that man between the cheeks." "Well, Michael, you really are quite the Cupid, aren't you? I tell you, you can zing your arrow into my buttocks any time.", and the best one, "No, no, no, no. I was scared too, but I realized it was of being a leading man. Oh, I can just taste those meaty leading man parts in my mouth."

For British Eyes Only!

No wonder I didn't know the name.

I abhor sitcoms.

you're missing out in this case

How about his business card that lets people know he's a combination analyst-therapist "Anal-rapist"?

Tobias: "It's pronounced 'an ALL ruhpist"

Buster: "It wasn't the pronunciation that bothered me"

Huh. Guess I have no sense of humor.
I feel kinda deprived, not being able to "LMAO" at the tawdry sexual innuendos (Uh-hyuk! He said "In-u-end-oh"... Hyuk! Hyuk!) that seem to amuse the common man.

Whoever said "Laugh, and the world laughs with you" was never subjected to the "wit" of the typical sitcom writer.

Gay butt-jokes.
Wadda riot.

I don't much care for sitcoms either, leg_iron, but you may want to give Arrested Development a chance. It was canceled repeatedly due to low ratings, which speaks well for its intelligent writing and complex humor, IMO

It's too bad you like to knock things you've never seen because Arrested Development is one of the greatest shows ever made. I am sorry us common folk disgrace you so.

Tobias; I'm afraid i've prematurely shot my wadd, on what was supposed to be a dry run if you will, and now have somewhat of a mess on my hands
Michael; So many poorly chosen words in that sentence

Gee, that didn't reinforce my opinion of sitcoms, at all.

Hubby loves King of Queens & Everyone Loves Raymond. I find both shows predicable, asinine & flat out insulting. What's so funny about two guys that are constantly put down, insulted & degraded by their supposedly loving families? Nothing, pathetic shows.

Sitcom writers pitch their humor toward the shallow end of the pool.

I really hate laugh-tracks; the idea that the sitcom needs to "cue" laughter to indicate a "humorous moment" is odious.

I don't need some tech with his/her finger on the Ha-Ha button to tell me what I should be laughing at; invariably, the louder and more protracted the canned laughter, the less funny the joke is.

I wish my local cable company would allow the subscribers to pick and choose the channels they want, and pay only for the channels they ordered. I'd have History Channel, Discovery channel, a couple of news channels, and that's about it.

I certainly wouldn't waste my money on any of the absolute crap the above posters are extolling...

Quelle Barfe!

Arrested Development doesn't have a laugh track, nor is it your typical sitcom.

It is probably one of the most critically acclaimed series in recent history, though it was not a ratings success.

If you are interested in actually making an informed decision, all the episodes are free on MSN.

I dare you to watch 3 episodes and come back and tell me it is a lame sitcom like all the others.

While there is a lot of crap on TV, if you look in right places, some of the greatest story telling in the world is taking place on the small screen (The Wire). It would be a shame if snobbery and coffee house faux intellectualism got in the way of your enjoyment of it.

I personally resent the implication that one must have a low IQ in order to enjoy a sitcom. I completely agree about Everybody Loves Raymond, etc. Formulaic and sad.

However, I really enjoyed Arrested Development.

But then, I never say that I dislike all of any group of anything that can be so multi-faceted. Saying you don't like sitcoms isn't like me saying I don't like mushrooms; mushrooms all taste pretty much the same, whereas sitcoms rum the gamut from M*A*S*H to Northern Exposure to the asinine, laugh-tracked monstrosities.

I don't like most rap or hip-hop, either, but that doesn't mean that no one is doing it intelligently. And when someone does it well, I'm not too much of an intellectual elitist to say I like it.

You don't have to go to college to love physics, and you don't have to be dumb to enjoy a sitcom.

Sorry, but I couldn't do three episodes.
I didn't make it all the way through the pilot's introduction.

I've got no points of reference, no "sympatico" for the types of people portrayed in this sort of TV show. it's as foreign to me as tribal in-jokes from Bushmen in Africa.

It just is not funny to me. It is irritating to watch. I see no humor in dysfunctional families, "Gay excesses" don't amuse me. People that have "wine & cheese" fundraisers ("No thanks, I'm stuffed"), forced irony ("Gay people are so over-the-top with everything they do; it makes me want to... set myself on fire!") and the overall premise that "rich" people have all these foibles so let's laugh at 'em, leaves me cold.
To me, it Just. Isn't. Funny.

I guess that my sense of humor is lacking; these shows obviously have large audiences that enjoy the antics produced by the writers and actors employed by the Networks. To me, it's mind-numbing fare. I'd much rather be out in the garage, wrenching on the bikes, walking my ol' dog, sighting in that new .270... anything but sitting in front of the tube. Sedentary amusement is just that, sedentary.

Maybe it is snobbery on my part, I dunno. But I ain't never been in one of them coffee-houses, so that's yet another reference that goes right over my head. My kind usually isn't welcome in that sort of place, anyway...

You are entirely correct on one issue; there's no laugh-track.
Thanks goodness for that.