That's definitely the main problem of the first few episodes.

There's even a point later on (is it the fourth episode) where Tambor is playing Oscar pretending to be George sr and it's pretty obvious even though no one states it outright.

You will know the timeline so well by the end of the run that you could recite it in your sleep. Pretty much it goes Stolen Boat - Family Meeting - Destroyed Penthouse - Three simultaneous events at hotel (are any of those in the first two episodes) - Cinquo de Quatro.

Also didn't get the THIRD joke in the Loose-Seal/Lucille joke which has the "loose seal" running over a hook.

I am sort of in agreement with both since Michael as just full blown crazy is not nearly as funny as Michael not realizing that he's crazy.

Well also note that in the "that's like tipping African Americans" scene with Earl and Earle that even when he objects to the fact that neither George sr or Lucille tip them, he also neglects to tip.

I thought it was funnier later in the series when it gets a callback. Almost every Arrested Development joke thrives on repetition and this 15 episode season is charged with the task of coming up with the majority of the jokes within the season - since the callbacks to the first three seasons can't work nearly as well…

I thought so too. It was also a big part of why I didn't like the first episode - because even though I agree with the writers of this column that Michael is just as crazy and as self-centered as the rest of the Bluth clan, I think it's much funnier when his insanity is just below the surface and he has that veneer of…

Really? Secrets and Lies is the best one. Damn. That's bothersome.

So very very weird. 

Yeah that scene stops the movie and really brings out the integrity of the characters. I rather love the exasperated shouting that reveals everything scene in Michael Leigh's movies. I thought he did it better in later films (most notably in Secrets & Lies which just allowed Timothy Spall to just take the reins and in…

More like begged and pleaded into it with the most whiny voice possible.

Didn't pay much attention to the Worf-ification of the Borg. I didn't see many of the episodes either. I just know that the few times I watched in the later seasons, I wasn't filled with quite the same sadness as I was in the original seasons.

In the interest of the joke, I decided not to look up the frog and the scorpion story in all of its permutations before making that joke.

So the original ending isn't "Welcome to the Middle East"? Darn.

And I just looked up details of her divorce to Jack Ryan whom Obama beat for the Senate race.

She had a fun delivery. And her character actually got to be interesting.

No really, the show doesn't suck the life out of everything it touches. It's not a boring cliche ridden show until 7 of 9 shows up.

Netflix the last couple of seasons when it sort of became interesting.

You don't like the board meeting scenes from TNG? Damn, those were the most exciting parts. Troi says something vaguely hippie. Number One steamrolls over objections. Picard says 'make it so". What's not to love?