2. Arrested Development
Why You Should Watch It: The story of the wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them together. Yep, it's Arrested Development, and it's the most original sitcom in a long time. From the premise alone, it's hard to understand why Arrested Development would be so terrific. It's a comedy about a dysfunctional extended family. It's been done. Except, it hasn't really. Not like this, anyway. It's a show that took note of what other sitcoms did before it and decided to do the opposite of pretty much all those things.
Why You Should Watch It Again: Like The Simpsons, Arrested Development is a show that gets funnier the more you watch it, but not exactly for all the same reasons. One of the show's biggest selling points is the inside joke. There are literally dozens (dozens!) of inside jokes, gags, references, songs that run through the duration of the show. Some of these are easier to pick up on than others. Upon your first watch of the show, you might notice maybe a third of these gags, if you're lucky. The rest will be subtly hidden jokes waiting for you to discover when you watch the show again, and again. The jokes in Arrested Development are thrown at you at such a ridiculously fast hit rate, that it is absolutely impossible to keep up the first time. But, as you watch it again, you'll notice just how absolutely brilliant and thorough the writers are. And how perfect the cast are at the art of subtlety. It's a terrific feeling to devote time and attention to a show and be rewarded with such recurring humour. To feel like you're in on the joke. It's a secret between just you, the characters and the rest of the hardcore fans. The show really does reward it's devoted viewers. In spades. Arrested Development is not the kind of sitcom you could just throw on a random episode of and have a casual laugh. And although some people might think that's a bad thing, for those of us willing to give your heart and mind to a tv show, it's a really, really great thing.