Good Enough for the TV Museum, Good Enough for You

Every year, TV Guide produces a cover feature it calls "The Best Show on TV You're Not Watching." It's usually a high-quality series that is beloved by critics, but hasn't resonated with viewers and is likely to be canceled. I'll be shocked, shocked if TV Guide doesn't pick Fox's "Arrested Development" this year.

Hands down, "Arrested Development" was the best show to hit the airwaves this fall. (Yes, better than "The Mullets.") Its biting, deadpan humor and unique look (the show is shot entirely on hand-held digital video) looks like nothing you've ever seen. And the cast is incredible, including Jeffrey Tambor, Will Arnett, David Cross and even, believe it or not, Jason Bateman.

The Museum of Television & Radio gets it. The organization included "Arrested Development" among the series and TV figures honored at this year's William S. Paley Television Festival.

The annual event features casts and producers from classic TV series are reunited on stage, reminiscing about their show and taking questions from a moderator and the audience.

But this year -- the festival's 21st -- the focus was mostly on the new, as nights were devoted to shows such as "Joan of Arcadia," "The OC," "The Wire" and "Trading Spaces." ("Arrested Development" repped the only comedy included in the mix.) The Paley festival also included evenings with Angela Lansbury, William Shatner and "Gilligan's Island" creator Sherwood Schwartz.

Maria and I headed to the Directors' Guild theater (on Sunset Blvd.) on March 11 to attend the "Arrested Development" session. Museum officals noted that the evening was among the first to be sold out -- proof that the "Arrested Development" audience may be small, but it's fiercely loyal.

Just two days remain before the Paley Festival wraps up: The cast of "Smallville" will congregate on March 15, while perhaps the cast and crew of "Carnivale" -- which rounds out the fest on March 16 -- will explain just what their surreal show is all about.