Arrested Development is an American television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show is centered around the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family and is presented in a pseudo-documentary format, incorporating hand-held camera work, narration, archival photos, and historical footage. Ron Howard is an executive producer and the uncredited narrator. Although set in Newport Beach and Balboa Island, California, Arrested Development was primarily filmed around Culver City and Marina del Rey. Three seasons of the show were produced and aired between 2003 and 2006.
Since debuting on November 2, 2003, the series received six Emmy awards, one Golden Globe, critical acclaim, a cult following, several fan-based websites, and a spot on Time' s 100 Greatest Shows of All Time. Despite the approval from critics, Arrested Development never climbed in the ratings. Fox aired the final four episodes of the third season in a block as a two-hour series finale on February 10, 2006, opposite the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Despite its cancellation, the series has developed a very devoted fanbase and cult following.
An Arrested Development motion picture is currently in development.
Development
Discussion that led to the creation of the series began in the summer of 2002. Ron Howard had the original idea to create a comedy in the style of hand-held cameras and reality television, but with an elaborate, highly-comical script resulting from repeated rewritings and rehearsals. Howard met with David Nevins, the President of Imagine Television, Katie O’Connell, a senior vice president, and two writers, including Mitchell Hurwitz. In light of recent corporate accounting scandals, such as Enron and Adelphia, Hurwitz suggested a story about a "riches to rags" family. Howard and Imagine were immediately interested in using this idea, and signed Hurwitz on to write the show. The idea was pitched and sold in the fall of 2002. Over the next few months, Hurwitz developed the characters and plot to the series. The pilot script was submitted in January 2003, and filmed in March 2003. It was submitted in late April, and added to the Fox fall schedule in May.
Characters
Main article: List of Arrested Development charactersThe plot of Arrested Development revolves around the members of the Bluth family, who generally lead excessive lifestyles. At the center of the show is the relatively honorable Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman), who strives to do the right thing and keep his family together, despite their materialism, selfishness, and manipulative natures. His teenage son, George Michael (Michael Cera), has the same qualities of decency, but feels a constant pressure to live up to his father's expectations, and is reluctantly willing to follow his father's plans, which do not always agree with his.
Michael's father George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) is the patriarch of the family. At times dictatorial, George Sr. goes to considerable lengths to manipulate and control his family. His wife, and Michael's mother, Lucille (Jessica Walter), is equally manipulative, materialistic, and hypercritical of every member of her family, as well as being a perpetual drunk. In particular, she has a tight grip on her youngest son Byron "Buster" Bluth (Tony Hale), who, as a result of his mother's dominance and sheltering, is unstable, socially inept, and prone to panic attacks.
Michael's older brother is Gob, played by Will Arnett. His name is an acronym for George Oscar Bluth II, and although pronounced Jōb , as in the Biblical figure, it is frequently mispronounced as Gŏb by various characters in the show. Gob is an unsuccessful professional magician whose business and personal schemes usually fail. He uses a Segway for transportation, and sometimes converses with others from it while stationary, as if it were a pulpit. Gob is used by his father to undermine Michael's control of the family business. Michael's twin sister Lindsay Fünke (Portia de Rossi) is flamboyant and materialistic, continually desiring to be the center of attention and attracted to various social causes, usually for a week or so. She enjoys being objectified, but also protests it. She is married to Tobias Fünke (David Cross), a discredited psychiatrist, aspiring actor, and "never-nude", whose language and behavior have heavily homosexual overtones to which he seems totally oblivious and which are the center of much tongue-in-cheek comedy throughout the series. Their attention-starved but sweet daughter Mae "Maeby" Fünke (Alia Shawkat) is the polar opposite of her cousin George Michael—skipping school, cheating on homework, and stealing money from the family's frozen banana stand business (which also happens to be managed by George Michael). The ever-rebellious teen, Maeby's chief motivation is going against her parents' wishes.
Several other characters regularly appear in minor roles. George Sr.'s identical twin brother Oscar (also played by Jeffrey Tambor, albeit in a wig) is a lethargic ex-hippie seeking the affection of George's wife Lucille. The family's lawyer, Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler) is an incompetent sexual deviant, who often hinders the family's legal battles rather than helping them. He is eventually replaced by Bob Loblaw (Scott Baio). Lucille Austero, or "Lucille 2", played by Liza Minnelli, is Lucille's "best friend and chief social rival" as well as a sometimes-love interest of Buster, and later, Gob. Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade) is a senior (taking the year for the third time, as evidenced by his appearance in three yearbooks) and football star at the high school George Michael and Maeby attend. He often shouts his name, "Steve Holt!", while pumping his fists in the air. He is later discovered to be Gob's biological son. Carl Weathers plays a parodic version of himself as an unemployed, excessively thrifty, stew-loving actor. Beginning in the second season, Mae Whitman portrays Ann Veal, George Michael's sternly Christian girlfriend, who is often forgotten or disparaged by Michael. Ann had been played by Alessandra Toreson in the character's first appearance in Season 1 in the episode "Let 'Em Eat Cake". J. Walter Weatherman (Steve Ryan), a one-armed amputee, is an old employee of George Senior. Weatherman appears in flashbacks from many episodes where, as hired by George Sr., he would lose his prosthetic arm in attempts to scare Michael, Gob, Lindsay, and Buster and teach them such lessons as "Always leave a note", "Don't yell", or not to " the door open with the air conditioner on". A British mentally handicapped female named Rita Leeds, Charlize Theron, makes appearances in five episodes in the third season playing Michael's female companion. Michael was completely unaware of her mental condition until just before their wedding was supposed to begin.
Casting
The most difficult part for casting the series involved finding people who would be believable as a family. Alia Shawkat was the first person cast. Michael Cera, Tony Hale, and Jessica Walter were cast from video tapes and flown in to audition for Fox. Jason Bateman and Portia de Rossi both read and auditioned for the network, and were immediately chosen. The character of Gob was the most challenging to cast. When Will Arnett auditioned, he depicted the character with a "macho" streak different from expectations; he was chosen immediately. The characters of Tobias and George Sr. were originally going to have minor roles, but David Cross's and Jeffrey Tambor's portrayals mixed well with the rest of the characters, and they were given more significant parts. Ron Howard, the executive producer, provided the narration for the initial pilot, but meshed so well with the tone of the program that the decision was made to stick with his voice. Howard also aided in the casting of "Lucille 2"—the producers told him that their dream actress for the role would be Liza Minnelli, but assumed nobody of her stature would take the part. However, she agreed when Ron Howard offered to ask her himself, because they were old friends; she had in fact been his babysitter when he was a child and she was a teen.
Plot synopsis
Main article: List of Arrested Development episodesFirst season
George Bluth Sr., patriarch of the Bluth family, is the founder and former CEO of the Bluth Company, which markets and builds mini-mansions, among other activities. George Sr. is arrested by the Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors and gross spending of the company's money for "personal expenses". His wife Lucille becomes CEO, and immediately names as the new president her youngest son Buster, who proves ill-equipped, as his only experience with business is a class he took concerning 18th century agrarian business. Realizing that they need Michael, the middle son and twin to Lindsay, the family asks him to come back and run the company. To keep the family together, Michael asks Lindsay, her husband Tobias and their daughter Maeby to live together in the Bluth model home (after George Michael expressed his desire to live closer to family, due to his interest in Maeby).
Throughout the first season, different characters struggle to change their identities. Buster works to escape from his mother's control through brotherly bonding and love interests such as Lucille Austero, Lucille Bluth's neighbor and chief social rival. George Michael nurses a forbidden crush on his cousin Maeby, while continually trying to meet his father's expectations. Lindsay's husband Tobias, a psychiatrist who lost his
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