Unfortunately, I only saw about 4 episodes before the show was moved around, canceled or lost. But this show had a lot of things that made "Arrested Development" so popular - though perhaps a degree of anarchy that killed it. Mike White ( "School of Rock", "Orange County", "The Good Girl" ) writes/directs with the usual blend of wit, irony and character-based storytelling. Jason Schwartzman does his best "I Heart Huckabees" -meets- "Charles In Charge" as Ben, a grad student studying the Shackleton family. The Shackletons - with "Mom" played by a neurotic Molly Shannon - are a mess. Ben attempts to bring in sanity and heart. Whether he had any chance, remains to be seen. This show didn't get off the ground, but it deserved a chance. It had enough talent to grow a heart - it just needed another half-season.
Plus, if you haven't seen the episode with Jack Black as a drug counselor, you're missing a great piece of work. Hilarious.
Please bring this to DVD - at least the treatment given to other short-lived series like the nice package of "God, The Devil and Bob" or (the dream), something like "Freaks and Geeks" or "Firefly".
