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An ultimate guide to catching up on Arrested Development

If you know me in person or are friends with me on Facebook, there's a solid chance that you've noticed my slight obsession with Arrested Development. More particularly - the return of a new Netflix-exclusive season four that premiers Sunday. To say that I'm excited about it would be an understatement. There's a chance you haven't seen the show since it was on the air. There's also a chance that you've avoided a very crucial part of culture and have no idea what the show is about. There's good news...I'm here to help. To avoid that awkward moment where people are  talking about past seasons or if you want to watch season four but need some context into the story and inside jokes, these resources should help get you started.

Recurring Developments

I don't know who made this but this handy chart lists all of the running jokes from the show. Just hover over an episode or a joke and this interactive chart will connect the dots for you.

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 If reading isn't totally your thing and you just want to watch it all, this resource via a Huffington Post article shows a video clip of all the running gags throughout the series.

NPR gets in on the action

National Public Radio developed their own guide to the show. This includes foreshadowing and how all the jokes are connected by character and throughout the series to-date.

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You can find a working version of this chart by clicking here.

What the actors have to say about the return

The New York Times has a short list of interviews with different actors from the show including Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter and Jason Bateman. You can also check out an interview with David Cross on Vanity Fair and who influenced his epitome-of-awkward role of Tobias Fuke.  After learning about Tobias, you can try and find him in this Tobias version of Where's Waldo:

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Arrested Development on Pinterest

Great art is the kind of art that inspires more art. If you want a collection of Arrested development art inspiration, this board "Bluth Family Traditions" curated by @gumboshowjoe, @ratpack, @richardpaulguy and myself is a great resource of cool artifacts and information regarding the show. It's probably a handier guide to the show than this blog post. I'm not sure if the show has their own branded Pinterest profile or not but this one board boasts over 200k followers...so it's caught on.

Now that you are all caught up....

You'll want to be the first to know when it premiers right? How cool would it be to receive a text message as soon as it's live? Well, there's a way to have that very text delivered to your phone. According to this HuffPo article,  all you have to do is text "ANN" to 619-EGG-VEAL (619-344-8325), and the guys behind the service (Jonathan Gottfried and Michael Selvidge of Twilio), will text you when the time comes. It's like magic - wait - illusions!

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What about you?

If you are a true American and have seen every episode, what are your favorite moments? Any cool facts about the new season to share?