Arrested Development
2003 - 2019
The story of a wealthy family who lost everything and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together.
- Stars: Jason Bateman, Michael Sera, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Ron Howard
- Created by: Mitchell Hurwitz
- Tags: family, quirky
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Episode Tropes
Season 1
- Romeo and Juliet: Episode 3, "Bringing Up Buster" (2003). George Michael finds out that Maeby is trying out for the school play, Romeo and Juliet, so he decides to try out too. Maeby gets the part of Juliet, and George Michael is the stand-in for Steve Holt, who's playing Romeo. When Maeby tells George Michael she's only doing the play so she can kiss Steve Holt, he considers backing out, but then she tells him that Steve Holt has to miss most rehearsals because of football practice, so she'll have to kiss the stand-in.
- Bachelor Auction: Episode 5, "Charity Drive" (2003). In a rare occurrence of a bachelorette auction (I'm making an exception), Lindsay and Lucille put themselves on the auction block for charity, but Lindsay takes a tour of the wetlands first and shows up looking a hot mess and only getting a pity bid from Michael, and Buster, who was supposed to bid on his mom, shows up late and accidentally bids on Lucille 2 instead.
- Role Reversal: Episode 6, "Visiting Ours" (2003). Lindsay and Tobias go to therapy, and the doctor suggests they try role reversal, but Lindsay refuses to participate, so the therapist plays Tobias.
- Exclusive School: Episode 11, "Public Relations" (2004). Michael is trying to get George Michael into the exclusive Milford school, which he and his brothers attended as kids, but the school has changed, and they don't want to be associated with the Bluth family anymore, especially after a recent bust up between Lindsay and Lucille at a family restaurant made the papers.
- Bachelor Party Gone Wrong: Episode 19, "Best Man for the Gob" (2004). Gob got married to a stranger on a dare, and now, even though he's already married, he wants a bachelor party. His dad/best man, who's currently in jail, decides to use the opportunity to get rid of his accountant by making him think he killed a stripper. On his dad's instructions, Gob hires a narcoleptic stripper, who falls asleep inside a giant cake, and fills two buckets with corn syrup and red food coloring, which Buster mistakes for juice and promptly drinks. Then Buster tries to eat the giant cake, finds the passed out stripper, and passes out himself.
- I'm My Own Grandpa: Episode 20, "Whistler's Mother" (2004). Jeffrey Tambor plays both George Bluth and his twin brother, Oscar.
Season 2
- Bachelor Auction: Episode 9, "Burning Love" (2005). Lindsay and Lucille once again join the charity bachelorette auction, and it's almost an exact repeat of the year before. Lindsay is a mess again, this time because Tobias accidentally shot her with a tranquilizer, thinking she was a wolf, and Lucille asks Gob to bid on her this time, but just like Buster, he bids on Lucille 2 instead.
- Election: Episode 14, "The Immaculate Election" (2005). At Ann's encouragement, George Michael decides to run for student body president, but when Michael finds out he's running against Steve Holt, he worries George Michael isn't cool enough to win, so he enlists Gob to help run his campaign. Gob makes a video designed to make George Michael look cool, but he made it using what is apparently the Bluth family's only tape, and at the end, the whole school saw George Michael practicing light saber moves while wearing headgear.
- Will You Marry Me Again?: Episode 16, "Meet the Veals" (2005). George is desperate to get Lucille back from Oscar, so to prove his love for her, he plans a vow renewal ceremony, which is made difficult by the fact that he's on the run from the law. He enlists Gob to knock out Lucille with ether, then abducts her in a limousine and drives to Ann's church, where her reverend father performs the ceremony, but Oscar runs in and disrupts the proceedings.
Season 3
- Beauty Contest: Episode 4, "Notapusy" (2005). Ann enters an "inner beauty" pageant, and when the Funkës hear about it, they all want to to get in on it. Lindsay decides to help Bob Loblaw's daughter, Hope, win in a bid for Bob's attention, Tobias decides to help Ann win to impress Lindsay, and in protest, Maeby enters as her alter ego, "Shirley," wearing glasses and a fake nose and using a wheelchair.
- Plastic Fantastic: Episode 8, "Making a Stand" (2005). Lucille decides to get another facelift, and she recovers at the model home. When she comes out for a drink, Maeby sees her and is so horrified that she decides to use post-op Lucille's look for a monster in a movie she's working on, which she calls "Gangie."
- Accidental Marriage: Episode 10, "Fakin' It" (2006). Maeby and George Michael act out a pretend wedding for the elderly patients at the hospital, but a mix-up causes a real priest to step in for the pretend priest, and he ends up marrying them for real.
Character Tropes
- Mommie Dearest: Lucille Bluth - Played by Jessica Walter.