Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

that originally aired on the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006. Created by

Mitchell Hurwitz Mitchell Donald "Mitch" Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' as well as the co-creator of ''The Ellen Show''. He is a ...

, the show centers on the Bluth family, a formerly wealthy, habitually

dysfunctional family A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often child neglect or abuse and sometimes even all of the above on the part of individual parents occur continuously and regularly, leading other members to accommodate suc ...

, and is presented in a

continuous Continuity or continuous may refer to: Mathematics * Continuity (mathematics), the opposing concept to discreteness; common examples include ** Continuous probability distribution or random variable in probability and statistics ** Continuous ...

format, incorporating hand-held camera work, narration, archival photos, and historical footage. The series stars

Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor, director and producer known for his roles of Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development (TV series), Arrested Development'' and of Mart ...

Portia de Rossi Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; 31 January 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian-American former actress. She played Nelle Porter on the American drama series '' Ally McBeal'' (1998–2002), for wh ...

Will Arnett William Emerson Arnett (; born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian actor, comedian and producer. He is best known for his roles as Gob Bluth in the Fox/Netflix series ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019) and as the titular charact ...

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series), The Berenstain ...

Alia Shawkat Alia Martine Shawkat ( ; ar, عليا مارتين شوكت; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in '' The Old Man'', '' State of Grace'', Maeby Fünke in the Fox/Netflix television sitcom ''Arrested Develop ...

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his role in the Fox comedy series ''Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth. Hale played Gary Walsh on the HBO comedy ''Veep'' from 2012 until its ...

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...

, and

Jessica Walter Jessica Walter (January 31, 1941 – March 24, 2021) was an American actress who appeared in over 170 film, stage and television productions. In film, she was best known for her role as a psychotic and obsessed fan of a local disc jockey in t ...

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

serves as an executive producer on the show, as well as its narrator. The first season consists of 22 episodes, which premiered on November 2, 2003, and concluded on June 6, 2004. Fox picked up a full 22-episode second season, which premiered on November 7, 2004, but its production order was later cut down to 18 episodes. The second season concluded on April 17, 2005. The show's third season premiered on September 19, 2005, and was also originally slated for 22 episodes, but the production order was later cut down to 13. The final four episodes of the series' original run were shown in one two-hour block on February 10, 2006, against

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's coverage of the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

opening ceremony. A total of 53 episodes of ''Arrested Development'' were produced over its original three seasons. Since its debut, the series has won a variety of different awards including six

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

s (including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2004), three

Television Critics Association Award The TCA Awards are awards presented by the Television Critics Association in recognition of excellence in television. There are eleven categories, which are presented every summer towards the end of the organization's summer press tour. Due to ...

s, a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

, and a

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

. Despite widespread approval from critics, ''Arrested Development'' never gained a sizable audience and was canceled by Fox in 2006. In November 2011, however, it was announced that

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

would license a new season. The fourth season of ''Arrested Development'' began filming in August 2012 and debuted on Netflix's streaming video service on May 26, 2013. Netflix announced on May 17, 2017, that it officially renewed the series for a fifth season, which consists of 16 episodes split into two eight-episode parts; the first half premiered on May 29, 2018, and the second half on March 15, 2019.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (2003–04)

The first season of ''Arrested Development'' consists of 22 episodes, which are listed below as ordered on the DVD collection and not in their original broadcast/production order.

Season 2 (2004–05)

The second season of ''Arrested Development'' consists of 18 episodes, which are listed below as ordered on the DVD collection and not in their original production order.

Season 3 (2005–06)

The third season of ''Arrested Development'' consists of 13 episodes, which are listed below as ordered on the DVD collection and not in their original production order.

Season 4 (2013)

Six years after the show had been canceled by Fox, filming for a revived fourth season began on August 7, 2012. The season consists of 15 new episodes, which debuted at the same time on

on May 26, 2013 in North and South America, UK, Ireland, and the Nordics. A 22-episode recut titled ''Arrested Development Season 4 Remix: Fateful Consequences'' was released on May 3, 2018.

Season 5 (2018–19)

References

External links

* * {{featured list