On Sunday, Netflix released a beautiful gift into the world: an entire new season of Arrested Development.

In the first episodes of the series, we get a glimpse of what happened to the characters after the end of the third season.

A quick refresher: When the series left off, George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) was using his eldest son GOB's (Will Arnet) magic trick to escape arrest, while his wife, Lucille (Jessica Walter), was commandeering an historic ocean liner with a similar end goal. Meanwhile, perpetually panicked Buster (Tony Hale) fell off the boat, bringing him face to face with his greatest fear: seals. Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) found out she had been adopted, making George Michael's (Michael Cera) crush on his cousin Maeby (Alia Shawkat) slightly less creepy. And, finally deciding to cut ties with the family nonsense, Michael (Jason Bateman) is seen sailing away into the sunset with this son, George Michael.

In other words, it's horribly convoluted and — ultimately — hilarious.

In the new season, Michael is struggling to look after himself financially since distancing himself from the family business. He is pursuing his dream to "Become a Phoenix" by taking online classes. Not to worry though, as he is getting the full college experience by freeloading out of George Michael's dorm room. George Michael and his sort-of cousin who is "definitely not his girlfriend," Maeby, are working to gain independence from the Bluth family by kicking Michael out of the dorm.

Lindsay is taking an Eat, Pray, Love inspired trip to an Indian resort in an effort to let go of her material possessions, find herself and, most importantly, buy some knock off purses in which to keep her material possessions. Lucille and George Sr. are scheming, as always, trying to find a way back on top of the social ladder and avoid the punishments they deserve. I won't spoil it for you, but plan involves doppelgangers, Mexico and questionable parenting decisions.

Tobias (David Cross) and Gob are in the first few episodes, although not heavily featured until later on in the season.

The revival has received mixed reviews. Maybe that's the result of a big build up— the show was on hiatus for seven years and the new season has been getting a lot of hype since it was announced—or maybe this season just isn't as good as the others.

But, there's been a good amount of positive feedback as well. Fans have been loving Kristen Wiig as young Lucile. Wiig can perfectly replicate Lucile's distinctive pursed lips and disinterested side-eye. Seth Rogen joins her as a young George Sr. Rogen's performance is less notable, but does provide an amusing visual for what George Sr. looked like with hair.

This collection of episodes has some notable differences from the previous three seasons. Each episode focuses on an individual Bluth trying to "keep him/herself together." The episodes take place around the same time frame and circle back on events other episodes already covered.

It's not a bad season, and it certainly picks up a few episodes in. The jokes come quicker and the characters settle into themselves. The season doesn't start off as strong as anyone would have hoped, but it is still a great show.

So, grab your frozen bananas and prepare for some puns. The Bluths are back.

Coming to your television screen sooner rather than later (unlike the story of Jodi Arias, which is constantly on the edge of any television viewer's consciousness): Lifetime presents Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret.

The synopsis, via Movienews.com:

Based on the disturbing murder trial that has captivated the nation, “Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret” tells the story of Jodi Arias (Tania Raymonde, “Lost”), a seductive 27-year-old aspiring photographer recently found guilty of killing her former lover Travis Alexander (Jesse Lee Soffer, “The Mob Doctor”), who was found nude in his apartment shower with a slit throat, 27 additional stab wounds and a bullet to the head. While investigating the violent killing, Mesa, Arizona, police retrieved a digital camera from Travis’ washing machine, revealing shocking images authorities claim Jodi took of their sexual escapades, as well as during and after his murder.

While Jodi pled not guilty and contends she killed Travis in self-defense, police concluded that when Travis broke off his relationship with Jodi, she became a real life “Alex Forrest” (portrayed by Glenn Close) from the film “Fatal Attraction.” Jodi, they say, stalked her ex-boyfriend, who she successfully seduced one final time before murdering him and then attempted to cover her tracks. Her subsequent trial has been grand theater, dominating the cable news networks, with Jodi testifying in her own defense, offering insight into the sex, lies and obsession that led up to Travis’ murder — beguiling media and onlookers, alike.

SEX. MURDER. INTRIGUE.

This is stupid.

You can watch the stupid, non-event made-for-TV movie based off of a stupid, non-event murder trial on June 22 on Lifetime.

In what I can only assume is some sort of retaliatory shot at our fair city for celebrating the cancellation of The Cleveland Show, the folks at Family Guy dropped another insult on Tucson, this time mocking the young minds being molded at the University of Arizona:

Ooooh, man. That...that one stung. I'm not certain we'll be able to make it back, as a community, from a burn of that magnitude. SOMEONE, BUY ALL OF THE ALOE.

For those keeping score, that was the second insult lobbed in our direction in the past year by Fox's Animation Domination Sunday Broadcast Funnytime Cartoonshow Block, as another Seth MacFarlane animated comedy, American Dad, got us—hard—by calling the Old Pueblo "unnecessary," which, like, still hurts.

Near as I can tell, no one associated with the most recent episode of Family Guy is affiliated with Tucson or UA in any way — which means that this one was personal.

About a year ago, a YouTube channel started up, promising to tell women’s stories.

Since then the channel, WIGS, has accumulated nearly 40 million video views and 180,000 subscribers. It’s the #1 channel on YouTube for scripted drama.

WIGS uploads short films and inspiring documentaries, but it focuses on producing fictional web series. So far, there have been 13 series, each with a strong female lead.

Other than the main characters' gender, the shows don’t have much in common.

“Blue” was one of the first series to premiere on the channel. It stars Julia Stiles as a single mother with a 9 to 5 job that doesn’t quite make ends meet. To help cover expenses, she starts working as a prostitute. She’s well into her career when the series begins.

Another series, “Kendra” focuses on a post-op nurse who struggles to deal with the secrets her patients spill while under anesthesia.

WIGS even makes a run for being topical and empowering in “Lauren,” a series examining sexual harassment within the military.

I love the idea. The world needs more diverse, estrogen-fueled entertainment. I just wish it seemed a little less gimmicky.

Everything WIGS airs shares its same name with the female lead—Lauren, Serena, Rochelle, the list goes on. WIGS has 13 series and it's getting hard to keep the characters straight.

It's like they’re saying, “Here you go! Another webseries starring a woman. That’s enough to make you want watch it, right?”

Talk about poor marketing. When a new series pops up in my subscription box, all I see is a name and a face. I have no idea what the series is about. It’s easy to skip over.

Yes, these are women’s stories. But they’re not just great because they star women. WIGS needs to focus on the stories of the women they’re talking about, not just their gender.

David Mendez asked me to fill in with a post today, so you get this: a supercut by the new site previously.tv with the most flatulent moments in Downton Abbey history. Enjoy!

[Update: The Bouzaglos claim to have been "hacked."]

We now present a masterclass in how a business owner should not respond to criticism.

You might be familiar with Amy's Baking Company, up in Scottsdale — and likely, not for the reason that a restaurant would prefer to be known for.

This 2010 video (which we're linking to due to poor audio quality) from Phoenix's KTVK shows a mighty tiff between a Phoenix-area Yelper and owner/chef Amy Bouzaglo — though, honestly, that's nothing compared to the display from the recent season finale of Gordon Ramsey's shout-fest TV show, Kitchen Nightmares, during which Amy and her husband Samy Bouzaglo freak the fuck out at anything and everything — customers, Gordon Ramsey, each other — in their quest to be a notable business.

If their aim was to gain notability through (spoilers) making Ramsey toss up his hands and walk off, they appear to have succeeded. But, they didn't stop there: somehow these folks poked the bear that is the Internet, earning a ridiculous discussion thread on Reddit that appears to have poured into their Facebook page. Now?

• facebook.com
• That seems excessive.

Presumably, Amy and Samy have decided to rain hellfire upon their Facebook audience, salting the earth where any goodwill might one day grow, with statuses and responses that include lines like "WE WILL START A GENERATION OF TRUTHFULLNESS (sic) AND WE WILL FIGHT TO BRING PLACES LIKE, YELP AND REDDIT, AND HORRIBLE PEOPLE LIKE GORDON TO THE LIGHT" and "I AM GODS CHILD. PISS OFF ALL OF YOU. FUCK REDDITS, (sic) FUCK YELP AND FUCK ALL OF YOU" and "AMERICA IS ABOUT RESSLING, (sic) IT IS NOT A BIG DEAL. THE CAKES WE OFFER ARE EXPENSIVE BECAUSE WE HAVE TO REPACKAGE AND SHIP" which is seems to be in response to (seemingly accurate) accusations that they purchase desserts and re-sell them under their own name.

May 26, TV nerds will welcome the long-awaited return of one of the most lauded shows in recent years — and I'm having trouble waiting.

Arrested Development finally comes back to TV — or at least, to television sets linked to the Internet, as all 15 episodes of the new season will be launched at once, via Netflix's streaming service.

If you've yet to subscribe to Netflix, I'm not telling you that you should drop $8 a month on their service, that everything there is going to be worth your time, money and effort, or that Arrested Development will change your life for the better — I'm just strongly suggesting it.

Sen. John McCain may be less popular now than he has been in more than 20 years, but that doesn't stop the former maverick from doing what he feels is right — at least, when it comes to the wacky, wild world of telecommunications.

Yesterday, May 9, McCain introduced the Television Consumer Freedom Act (you can tell it's important, because FREEDOM), which would force television providers to split up their growing hordes of tiers and bundling, allowing cable subscribers to pick their channels a la carte — channel by channel — rather than being forced to pay for channels that they don't watch (meaning that I can FINALLY cast off the oppressive yoke of HGTV and their massive programming blocks of House Hunters).

In good news for sports fans, this would get rid of the absurd blackout rules put in place by leagues whose teams use publicly-funded stadiums (which are becoming increasingly, INCREASINGLY popular) — so suck on that, NFL blackout rule.

From cnet.com:

McCain's main beef with paid TV providers, sports leagues, and broadcasters that threaten to make their popular content available only to a paid audience is that consumers are being forced to pay more for TV content than they should be paying.

When it comes to the bundles, McCain argues that cable companies and other TV providers force consumers to pay for a bigger bundle of channels than they actually want. So instead of only getting the one or two channels they want to watch, they must pay for 10, 20, or even 50 channels that they don't watch. As a result, consumers are paying more per month for content they never watch.

"This is unfair and wrong — especially when you consider how the regulatory deck is stacked in favor of industry and against the American consumer," McCain said.

The cable industry has for years fought against offering a la carte pricing for TV shows or even channels. And in a statement following the introduction of McCain's bill, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association said it would not benefit anyone, even consumers, to move to such a model.

Apparently, the concept for Does Someone Have to Go? has been kicking around Fox for awhile, possibly waiting for the economy to improve, so that television viewers, pushing giant piles of money out of their line of sight, would feel good about a program where people lose their jobs as part of the basic premise.

However, that day has not yet come (thanks for nothing, Obama!) and you have to fill the broadcast day with something, so the show that you'd think will likely end in a murder/suicide of some sort will debut on Fox May 23, right after Hell's Kitchen. I try to limit the hours I spend a week laughing at the pain of others, but if you want to see employees turn against each other for seemingly no other reason than to grab a rating point or two, six episodes of this atrocity are scheduled, two for each employer. Watch someone beg for the opportunity to continue feeding their family! Yay!

Were it not for the massive brand cache that MTV still carries (somehow) I wouldn't bat an eyelash if they decided to re-brand in some way that called to light the fact that most of their programming is reality/pop-culture, with token lip-service to music a few times a year.

Regardless, given Tucson's growing recognition as a bastion of culinary talent in the American Southwest, I think it wouldn't be a terrible idea for the Old Pueblo's cooking talents to have a coming out party on a television show that hopefully will be as great as I hope, rather than being a steaming pile of awful, as many fledgling reality shows tend to be.

From MTV and Dorin Ofir Casting: Food School!

For the first time ever MTV and Doron Ofir Casting are seeking aspiring chefs to fulfill a lifelong dream in the culinary arts that will lead to the job of a lifetime and launch a career of epic proportions.

We are seeking amateur chefs, bakers and cooking enthusiasts of all kinds (who are at least 18 years old), with the biggest personalities and a fierce appetite for competition, to live under one roof and be schooled in the most intensive and practical culinary training, with mentorship by legendary food masters.

Your fiery passion for cooking will be put to the test and be given the opportunity to experience the delicious taste of success.

A sample of questions on the application (which can be found here):

Who are you in your social circle of friends? (for example leader, follower, etc.)

Describe your personality (the good and the bad)

BRAG! What makes you the best cook out there?

and, because it would be reality television,

What kind of people do you usually get along with, and what types of people get under your skin?

Check this out, Tucson. I hope, one day soon, to liveblog your cooking experiences as you face off against the flamboyant stereotype Gregor from the Bay Area and street-wise caricature Gabriella from Miami.