''
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 ...
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. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Created by
Mitchell Hurwitz, the show centres' on the Bluth family. The Bluths are formerly wealthy and a 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 such ...
. It 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, and incorporates hand-held camera work, narration, archival photos, and historical footage. The series stars
Jason Bateman,
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 w ...
,
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 char ...
,
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'' and portraying a young Chuck B ...
,
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 Devel ...
,
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 ...
,
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 si ...
,
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 ...
. In addition,
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 the series narrator and an executive producer on the show.
The main characters of ''Arrested Development'' can be divided into the Bluth ( ) and Fünke ( ) families.
Bluth family tree
† denotes a deceased character
Dashed lines denote adoption
Cast table
Primary characters
Michael Bluth
Michael Bluth (played by
Jason Bateman) is the second oldest Bluth son and the main
protagonist of ''
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 ...
''. He is the father of
George Michael Bluth and widower to Tracey Bluth.
In season 3, it is revealed that there is a
typo
A typographical error (often shortened to typo), also called a misprint, is a mistake (such as a spelling mistake) made in the typing of printed (or electronic) material. Historically, this referred to mistakes in manual type-setting (typography) ...
on his birth certificate, which reads ''Nichael Bluth''. Michael's wife Tracey died of
ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different c ...
two years prior to the first season. Possibly as a result of this, he is very close to his son, George Michael, which is shown partly because, whenever an opportunity to spend more time with his son presents itself to him, he will jump at it (although this time is almost always immediately interrupted). Michael is often reluctant to date, thinking that his son would disapprove, and most of his relationships have featured misunderstandings or outright deception. His wife's death is usually the subject of tasteless and unaware jokes made by his family members. His role in the story is that he is the one son who has no choice but to keep the family together, and he serves as the
straight man
The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the c ...
in the comedy series. Throughout the original run of the show, Michael is consistently the ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' president of the Bluth Company after his father's arrest. He is the only main character who appears in every episode of season 4, making him the only character to appear in every episode of the series.
Lindsay Bluth-Fünke
Lindsay Bluth-Fünke (
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 w ...
) is the adopted daughter of
George Sr. and
Lucille Bluth, as well as half-sister of Lucille, who raised her and
Michael to believe that they were twins. She is unhappily married to
Tobias
Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible ...
and together they are the neglectful and self-absorbed parents of
Maeby.
Lindsay never finished college, believing herself to be a dedicated
activist, though she is actually vain, greedy, selfish, and materialistic (much like the rest of her family), mainly supporting current trendy causes for the social status and regularly holding extravagant charity drives that waste more money than they make. These causes have included
opposing circumcision,
anti-Iraq War protests, the
removal of the 10 Commandments from a courthouse, the
right to die
The right to die is a concept based on the opinion that human beings are entitled to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of this right is often understood that a person with a terminal illness, incurable pain, or without ...
(specifically regarding her brother Buster), and awareness about
graft-versus-host disease (which her husband was afflicted with due to unnecessary hair transplants). Despite her outward confidence, Lindsay has rather low self-esteem as a result of her mother's constant hints and cruel jokes that she is overweight, which are untrue. Lindsay is portrayed as extremely resentful towards her sexually uninterested husband Tobias, with whom she ultimately agrees to an
open marriage
Open marriage is a form of non-monogamy in which the partners of a dyadic marriage agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded by them as infidelity, and consider or establish an open relatio ...
. During this time, Lindsay flirts and pursues relationships with many other men, with little or no success. She sometimes dates successful actors, such as Moses Taylor and
Tom Jane. In season 3, Lindsay becomes interested in the family's new lawyer
Bob Loblaw.
In the last episode of season 3, it is revealed that Lindsay is not actually Michael's twin sister, or even a Bluth at all; she was adopted by the Bluth family to "stick it" to the Bluth family's rivals, the Sitwell family. Had Lindsay been adopted as the daughter of
Stan Sitwell, she would have been named Nellie. She also discovers that she is 40 years old, three years older than she had previously believed herself to be. Feeling that her youthful allure has now escaped her, she becomes desperate to marry a successful man, and divulges to Michael that they are not biological siblings, hoping (with no luck) that she can seduce him.
Creator
Mitchell Hurwitz came up with Lindsay as the family's politically liberal figure, but Lindsay is also meant to represent a liberal who personally
benefited from her politics more than she sacrificed, due to the image she built.
[''Breaking Ground: Behind the Scenes of Arrested Development.'' In ''Arrested Development: Season 1- Disc One'', Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc., 2004.] This motif is continued in the
series' revival and fourth season, in which Lindsay travels to India in an attempt to connect to her spiritual side and then tumultuously dates Marky Bark, another (albeit a true) liberal activist, while still married to Tobias. She later unwittingly becomes the
call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...
of politically conservative politician Herbert Love, eventually abandoning her long-held liberal views and finally realizing her closer affinity for conservative ones. When Love falls into a coma, Lindsay at the last minute takes up his mantle in his campaign to run for U.S. Congress.
In the show's fifth season, Lindsay goes missing after no longer being able to tolerate her supposed mother's controlling attitude, but reemerges in the final scene. The season's penultimate episode reveals through a Ron Howard documentary about the Bluth family shown to the court, that Lindsay is in fact Lucille's half sister, being the daughter of Lucille's mother who put her up for adoption.
Having previously appeared in ''
Ally McBeal'', de Rossi said that she was looking for a new series like it. De Rossi was also attracted to ''Arrested Development'' for what she thought was a "fresh new perspective on comedy." She played Lindsay as someone who "doesn't have much of a clue but... has a pretty good heart."
She explained her approach by saying that, "with ''Ally McBeal'', we were very rehearsed and staged. But this is a lot looser." Hurwitz felt that de Rossi made the character somewhat similar to Lucille.
Gob Bluth
George Oscar "Gob" Bluth II (known by his initials "G.O.B.", ; played by
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 char ...
) is the oldest child of George Sr. and Lucille Bluth.
By trade a part-time
magician, he is a founding member of the "Magicians' Alliance", a group that was formed to preserve magicians' secrets; however, he was later
blacklist
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, ...
ed by them for revealing such a secret in the pilot episode. He is known for incorporating over-the-top theatrics into his magic shows, including
pyrotechnics, dance routines, wind machines, and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
's "
The Final Countdown". Gob's illusions (which he adamantly never calls "tricks") rarely work and he often shoots lighter fluid accidentally from his shirt sleeve or collar.
George Sr. paid little attention to Gob as a child and has no respect for him as an adult; his mother Lucille openly loathes him. Gob's desperate and unsuccessful attempts to win his father's approval and become the Bluths' "favorite" son is a major theme of his character. As Michael's older brother, Gob believes he is inherently entitled to more respect, and feels threatened and insulted by the fact that he is less successful than Michael. On several occasions, Gob and Michael realize that their rivalry has been nurtured by their father and mother's manipulations. Gob is known to be the womanizer of the Bluth family, though he often exaggerates his romantic encounters in what he believes is an intense competition with Michael (though Michael does not reciprocate these competitive feelings). In fact, Gob loves Michael more than anyone else in his family and is surprised whenever Michael does not express such feelings in return. Eventually, Gob discovers that he is the father of the teenage jock
Steve Holt. Toward the end of season 1, Gob, in a series of escalating dares, marries a woman who deals in trained seals (played by then-real-life wife
Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy tro ...
). The two immediately and permanently become estranged from each other and she later becomes infatuated with
Tobias Fünke, Gob's brother-in-law, and joins the army in the hopes of avoiding her attraction. A running joke throughout the series is that Gob never learns his wife's name.
Any time his self-esteem is shattered or challenged, Gob will burst into tears and cry with self-loathing, or take extreme and often self-destructive measures to cease the self-disgust he feels. He recurringly ingests "forget-me-now" pills (i.e.
roofies) in order to forget these emotionally damaging activities. When upset or excited, Gob often fails to use articles or prepositions in his sentences, saying things like "Look at Banner!" and "Still mad me, Michael?" He also sometimes has difficulty pronouncing words that begin with the letter "c". Despite Gob's "womanizing" abilities, he has no real friends; his closest friends are the Hot Cops, a group of gay strippers that Gob once worked with. He uses the Hot Cops in many situations, including a fake drug bust and for fake friends at a bachelor party. He desperately desires to be liked but his habits of treating people poorly and lack of any real self-awareness prevent him from ever forming bonds. He wants to be looked to for decisions but is completely unwilling to accept any responsibility and most of his family regard him as an idiot.
He is also the original creator and inspiration for the
Mr. Bananagrabber character. Although he retains most of the rights to the character, he gave away the animation rights to Michael. It was later made into an animated television series that became an infrequent
background joke. He also briefly had a
ventriloquist
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...
act with a stereotyped African-American doll named
Franklin Delano Bluth
''Arrested Development'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the Fox network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Created by Mitchell Hurwit ...
. Gob and Franklin produce an album together, "Franklin Comes Alive". He is frequently seen throughout the series getting around on a
Segway
The Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter invented by Dean Kamen and brought to market in 2001 as the Segway HT, subsequently as the Segway PT, and manufactured by Segway Inc. ''HT'' is an initialism for "human transp ...
which has a pouch that says "Gob" on it. Gob's often repeated lines are "Come on!" and, "I've made a huge mistake" which are also used in various forms by himself and later by other characters as well. In the fourth (revival) season of the show, Gob prepares to marry his nephew George Michael's ex-girlfriend, Ann, though he escapes the wedding during a botched magic trick. He then attempts to thwart his long-time magician rival, Tony Wonder, though the two find themselves experiencing surprising romantic feelings for each other and even have a sexual liaison.
Gob's character has been well received and Arnett was nominated for a number of awards for his performance as Gob including the
Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006 as well as the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (shared with the entire cast).
George Michael Bluth
George Michael Bluth (also known as George-Michael Bluth during season four) (born March 3, 1990; played by
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'' and portraying a young Chuck B ...
and in flashback sequences by Christian Lavery) is the son of
Michael Bluth
Nichael "Michael" Bluth is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development'', created by Mitchell Hurwitz, and portrayed by Jason Bateman. Michael serves as the series straight man, and leads h ...
. He begins the series as a student at Balboa High School, and works at the family
frozen banana stand, where he is "Mister Manager." He is straight-laced, quiet, awkward, and obedient.
He is reunited with his cousin
Maeby in the first episode, and develops a crush on her after she forcibly kisses him (to teach their parents a lesson for not letting them spend more time together, although it fails because their parents are entirely oblivious to it). His nervousness around Maeby and his wrestling with his sexual emotions for her become one of the main recurring themes of the show. In the second season, he starts dating a girl named
Ann
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
, a devout Christian whom his father and Maeby dislike. Season 2 ends with George Michael and Maeby kissing, to his delight. After the incident, the two try to avoid each other for much of the third season. Later in the season, he and Maeby accidentally get married during what they believed was a fake wedding to cheer up Alzheimer's patients in a hospital.
They also kiss passionately after getting drunk off fake wine when George Michael, suspecting Maeby may be adopted, tells her they might not be related by blood. When his uncle Tobias, oblivious to their secret, proves to them both that Maeby was their naturally born daughter it becomes more cause for consternation to George Michael for the remainder of the original series until the final episode when it is revealed his aunt Lindsay was herself adopted, thus eliminating any blood ties between the two erstwhile cousins. He ultimately decides to escape to Newport by stealing his uncle Gob's boat, feeling he doesn't belong there anymore. Upon learning of Lindsay's origins, he reconciles with his father and finally reveals his feelings for Maeby. Both realizing that further contact with their dysfunctional family is more trouble than it's worth, he and Michael escape to Cabo with $500,000 and a house waiting for them, not knowing that George Senior has escaped to the same destination with the same plan. Besides his crush on his cousin, George Michael is also shown to be extremely close to his father, Michael, presumably with the two bonding more after his mother's death.
In season 4, George Michael is now in his early twenties and in college at the University of California, Irvine. He works on new software called "FakeBlock", together with his roommate Paul "P-Hound" Huan, which was initially intended to be a
wood block app but, through several lies he has told, is now believed to be an
anti-piracy Anti-piracy may refer to:
* Anti-piracy, protection against copying of computer software.
* Piracy#Anti-piracy measures anti-piracy measures, measures to counter maritime pirates.
See also
* Pirate (disambiguation)
A pirate is a person who com ...
and anti-hacking software, or "anti-
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
". George Michael is dismayed when his father moves into his college dorm room with him to attend college, through an online university. It is revealed that George Michael and Maeby have agreed not to further their relationship, though their feelings are still strong for each other; however, when George Michael is assigned to tutor Maeby in mathematics, he takes the opportunity to try and seduce her, but fails. After Maeby, now desperate for money, tried to kickstart his FakeBlock business, she puts too much pressure on him (since she has lost her own job at the film studio), and his first decision with his new business is to fire her. Meanwhile, P-Hound threatens with taking legal action regarding the ownership of FakeBlock. George Michael, ultimately, under the alias "
George Maharis
George Maharis (born September 1, 1928) is an American actor who portrayed Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of the TV series ''Route 66''. Maharis also recorded numerous pop music albums at the height of his fame, and later starred in t ...
" (also the public name of the man behind FakeBlock) begins a relationship with Rebel Alley, Ron Howard's daughter, only to find out that she is also dating his father. The father and son nearly reconcile when they realize this, but when Michael inadvertently reveals that he had known about the relationship for a while, George Michael angrily punches his father in the face.
Maeby Fünke
Mae "Maeby" Fünke (born September 22, 1990; played by
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 Devel ...
) is the overlooked yet independent, sarcastic, and crafty daughter of
Lindsay and
Tobias
Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible ...
. Maeby attends a
progressive school
Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''p ...
before she and her parents move in with her uncle
Michael. Maeby immediately becomes unmotivated and disengaged when she enters the
public school system. She frequently directs her efforts at new ways to shock her woefully neglectful parents, which inadvertently turn her into a rather successful con artist. In one instance, Maeby swindles her peers out of charity money by pretending to be a disabled girl named "Surely" who suffers from a rare, debilitating illness called "B.S." In the third season, Maeby actually prospers professionally despite her academic failures, conning her way into a job as a movie executive and maintaining the charade (with astounding and increasing success) for several months. She gets fired only when George Michael sends invitations for her sixteenth birthday party to all the other studio executives in her address book, who suddenly realize how young she really is. Her boss, Mort Meyers, though, wants her back when he realizes what a celebrity she has become as a result of this scandal.
Many storylines featuring Maeby involve a mutual but heavily restrained sexual attraction shared with her first cousin, George Michael. Because the model home is so cramped, the two are forced to share a bedroom. This forced proximity and the American remake of "Les Cousins Dangereux" lead to their first real kiss, after which the mortified cousins start avoiding each other, though not always successfully. Maeby legally marries George Michael when a "fake" wedding ceremony to entertain Alzheimer's patients goes wrong. On her marriage certificate, her birthday is stated to be September 22, 1990. George Michael is the only character to remember Maeby's sixteenth birthday and arrange a celebration for her. Maeby is touched by the kindness George Michael has shown her; when George Michael explains how she may not be related to the Bluths at all, the two share a passionate kiss (and, it is mentioned, reach
Second Base). In the final episode of the original run, "
Development Arrested
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", it is confirmed that they are indeed not blood related at all (her mother, Lindsay, was actually adopted), allowing the two to be finally together, but George Michael has second thoughts after Michael explains that despite not being blood relatives, they are still family. Again, the two anguish over their doomed relationship. In the end, Maeby pitches her life story as an idea for a television show to producer
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 ...
(who is also the narrator of the series). Howard tells her that her story may be better as a movie.
Maeby's knack for unwittingly stumbling into potentially incestuous situations is a running joke throughout the series. In the second season, she sings an unintentionally provocative duet with her uncle Michael and kisses George Michael in a futile attempt to shock her parents and, similarly, kisses Annyong, her adoptive uncle, to shock George Michael. During her estrangement from George Michael, Maeby distracts herself by dating
Steve Holt, who turns out to be Gob's illegitimate son and therefore another one of Maeby's first cousins. Maeby ends up slipping Steve one of Gob's "
forget-me-nows" to avoid having sex while tricking Steve into thinking they had. In the season 4 revival of the series, Maeby has stayed in high school for five extra years, vowing to continue this routine until her parents finally notice. She begins a relationship with Lucille Austero's adopted son, Perfecto Telles, who she thinks is an undercover cop at the high school but is actually merely a student and whose age is young enough that her sexual relationship with him can be considered statutory rape. She is last seen being arrested on such charges.
Maeby is portrayed by
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 Devel ...
. Shawkat tried out for the part with
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'' and portraying a young Chuck B ...
, who plays George Michael, in Los Angeles, and the creators thought they both did well. The two were the first to join the cast. For her role as Maeby, Shawkat won a
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...
in 2005. Creator
Mitchell Hurwitz named the character after his daughters Maisy and Phoebe.
[Audio commentary. "Extended Pilot". In ''Arrested Development: Season 1- Disc One'', Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc., 2004.] Hurwitz acknowledged the peculiar result of this blending, saying "It just seemed like crazy extra fun to think of weird names. I don't want us to become too self-conscious about it but, yes, we do have some strange names." Incidentally, she is often described as George Michael's "Cousin Maeby", a play on words making reference to the fact that they may not be related. Maeby was initially imagined as a pseudo-conservative, to be a deliberate foil to her activist mother Lindsay, but eventually re-imagined to be a troublemaker in other ways.
In making Maeby an opposite to George Michael (she is bolder and not at all reverent towards her parents), Hurwitz thought this also contributed to the idea of George Michael and Maeby developing a romance.
Buster Bluth
Byron "Buster" Bluth (born 1973; played by
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 ...
) is the youngest son of
George Sr. and
Lucille, though it is later revealed that his biological father is actually George Sr.'s identical twin brother,
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
.
As indicated by the narrator in season 2, despite being typically childish, Buster is probably more intelligent than his siblings Gob and Lindsay. He has frequent panic attacks, hates both
closed and
open spaces, is terrified of sheep, seals, and birds, and is wrathfully
rivalrous
In economics, a good is said to be rivalrous or a rival if its consumption by one consumer prevents simultaneous consumption by other consumers, or if consumption by one party reduces the ability of another party to consume it. A good is consider ...
toward his
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
n-born adopted brother,
Annyong. Buster demonstrates various childlike nutritional sensitivities as well: for instance, he becomes hyperactive from the sugar in juice and irritable after eating cheese; he also takes frequent naps. He has an unhealthy attachment to his domineering mother Lucille; one of the running gags throughout the series is his quasi-incestuous,
Oedipal complex
The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to have ...
. For her part, Lucille won't let him go in the sun, swim in the ocean, or stand on their balcony in windy weather. George Sr. makes reference to the "claw marks" left on Lucille's womb after she gave birth to Buster. He sometimes tries to assert his independence by defying his mother's orders, as when he dates her rival,
Lucille Austero. He has an alienating habit of greeting people with
shoulder massages, and commonly addresses his relatives by their relation to him (for example, Gob and Michael are greeted with "Hey, brother" and Oscar is greeted with "Hey, uncle-father Oscar." Steve Holt is greeted with "Hey, possible nephew"). Buster seems to have inherited many personality quirks from his biological father Oscar, such as his cluelessness, doughiness, and propensity to give shoulder massages. Despite his obvious personality flaws, Buster does care about the rest of his family more than many of the other Bluths, shown when he, unlike the rest of his siblings, does not sell the company stocks at Michael's request and fakes a coma so that he wouldn't have to testify against his family.
In the second-season premiere, Lucille spontaneously enlists Buster in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
at the urging of a
Michael Moore impersonator. Although Buster's training is poor, his possible deployment to Iraq is a recurring fear of his and his mother's. This possibility is abruptly nullified when Buster's left hand is bitten off by a "loose
seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...
" (pun on "Lucille"), when he impulsively gets the courage to jump into the ocean one day after years of being afraid to swim. In subsequent episodes he wears a
trans-radial prosthetic on his left arm that is sometimes a hook and other times a prosthetic hand.
In season 4, Buster reenlists in the Army for a sense of purpose after his mother Lucille is arrested and Lucille Austero rejects him for being unable to have a relationship rather than view her as a surrogate mother. In the Army, Buster is unwittingly made a
UAV
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...
pilot (thinking he is merely playing a video game), but is "wounded" after falling out of his chair, receiving several commendations and being fitted with an oversized robotic hand that makes more powerful motions than he can control. Realizing for the first time that he has been killing people as a UAV pilot, he fakes failing his physical therapy, eventually failing the "Q Test" (cute test) in which he proves he is able to control his prosthetic when he delicately holds a kitten. After being discharged from the Army, he meets Herbert Love's wife, Ophelia, who takes pity on him and convinces her husband to let him stay with the family, suggesting he could be useful to the campaign as a poster child against wasteful government spending. She later sleeps with Buster in retaliation for photos she finds of Herbert and Lindsay, but then breaks it off with him after Herbert ends his affair and wants to make the marriage work. At Cinco de Cuatro, Buster knocks Herbert unconscious with his prosthetic hand after being told by Perfecto Telles (an anti-bullying squad member defending Maeby) that Herbert is a bully. His storyline in the fourth season ends with him being arrested for Lucille Austero's murder after being seen around the staircar where her body went missing.
In season 5, Buster is arrested for the murder of Lucille Austero. He participates in a float parade participating as an inmate. Oscar breaks Buster out of jail by escaping from the parade and leads Buster to believe that this is part of the parade and later tells him that they are on the run from the police and must remain in hiding. Buster is not told that he has already been cleared for release from jail after the charges against him were dropped because of a lack of evidence, namely Lucille Austero's body was not found. He later reveals that he figured out that he was not on the run from the police. At the end of season 5, a cement wall used by GOB for a magic trick is broken open where Buster had placed a mannequin. When the wall is broken open, Lucille Austero's body falls out while the entire Bluth family looks at Buster who finally confesses that he did it; he murdered Lucille Austero and says that she reminds him of his own mother.
''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' selected Buster as the uncle for "The Perfect TV Family".
Tobias Fünke
Tobias Onyango Fünke (
/ˈfjuːŋkeɪ/ ''FYOON-kay'') played by
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 si ...
) is the husband of
Lindsay, father of
Maeby Fünke, and uncle of
George Michael Bluth. He was the chief resident of psychiatry at
Massachusetts General Hospital until he lost his license for giving
CPR
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...
to a man who was not actually having a heart attack. At one point, he was licensed as both an
analyst and a
therapist
Therapist is a person who offers any kinds of therapy
A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis.
As a rule, each therapy has indi ...
, supposedly making him the first licensed "analrapist" ( ), which he later changes to "theralyst". Tobias is very fond of awkwardly rolling or somersaulting into and out of certain situations mainly to show his supposedly catlike agility and balance, though this often backfires.
At the beginning of the series, Tobias decides that his destiny is to become an actor, and he pursues this career throughout the series with very little success. Highlights of his "career" include being turned down for the role of "
Dr. House"; landing the part of "frightened inmate number two" in a prison film, only to get fired for not being able to do the shower scene due to his never-nude condition (see below); portraying George Sr. in the poorly narrated series, ''Scandalmakers''; and attempting to join the
Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...
as a standby
understudy
In theater, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to a ...
and, as a consequence, spending part of the second season covered in blue make-up. In a move inspired by the film ''
Mrs. Doubtfire
''Mrs. Doubtfire'' is a 1993 American comedy-drama film directed by Chris Columbus. It was written for the screen by Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon, based on the 1987 novel ''Alias Madame Doubtfire'' by Anne Fine. Robin Williams, who also s ...
'', Tobias masquerades as a British housekeeper/nanny named "Mrs. Featherbottom" in an attempt to spend time with his wife and daughter after Lindsay kicks him out of the model house. While the disguise fools no one, the family humors him since this gets the housework done. In season 4, he receives an audition for ''
The Big Bang Theory
''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on C ...
'', but never hears the answering machine message saying so.
Tobias suffers from "never-nude" syndrome (which, as the narrator states, is "exactly what it sounds like") and wears denim cut-off shorts under his underwear (and underneath that, a tube sock) at all times in order to avoid anyone (including himself and his wife) seeing his genitalia. The condition is similar to severe
gymnophobia
Gymnophobia is a fear (phobia) of nudity.
Symptoms
Gymnophobics experience anxiety from nudity, even if they realize their fear is irrational. They may worry about seeing others naked, being seen naked, or both. Their fear may stem from a general ...
, although it is portrayed humorously. In the episode "
In God We Trust", he attempts to reach out to his nephew George Michael during his tenure in the "Adam" muscle-suit for the "Living Classics Pageant" mistakenly assuming they have the same phobia (in reality, George Michael is trying to impress his cousin,
Maeby). He conquers this for a time in the middle of Season 1, but after a close-up picture of his genitalia is shown on the evening news (where it has been mistaken for a photo showing evidence of
WMDs in Iraq), he is driven back to the cut-offs.
Although he is
heterosexual
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" ...
, he has said many things that make people question his sexuality. The hints come in the form of subtle
innuendos and sexual
double-entendres
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially a ...
, to which he seems completely oblivious. In season 2, Michael advises him to record what he says for a day, after which Tobias acknowledges that he is a "blowhard" (in "
Ready, Aim, Marry Me
The second season of the television comedy series '' Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
"). Lindsay, who married Tobias to spite her parents, is convinced that her husband is gay. His self-help book, ''The Man Inside Me'', is a success, though only in the gay community, due to the fact that he replaced all gender-related pronouns with only male pronouns, to avoid confusion. He has experienced sexual difficulties with his wife. This leads to their joint decision to try an "open" marriage, even though Tobias himself acknowledges that this path never works. Tobias doesn't really follow through with the "open relationship", and often stalks his wife covered in Blue Man Group blue paint, following her around on her attempted dates hiding in areas that are blue in color in order to remain unseen. Although he continually takes very expensive acting lessons from
Carl Weathers
Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is an American actor and former professional football player. He is known for his roles as boxer Apollo Creed in the first four ''Rocky'' films (1976–85), George Dillon in '' Predator'' (1987), Action Ja ...
, he mainly gets tips on frugality from Mr. Weathers. Lindsay continually pokes fun at Tobias' desperation to become an actor, and they split up and reconcile many times over the course of the series.
As of season 4, Tobias is also a registered sex offender in Orange County, California after inadvertently appearing on "To Entrap a Local Predator", a pedophile sting operation hosted by John Beard, similar to Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator." Eager to see his daughter and remove his rock monster costume, Tobias enters the house and proclaims, "Is there a little girl here all by herself?" and equally incriminating, "Daddy needs to get his rocks off." Tobias drives a Volkswagen Cabriolet with a vanity plate intended to say "A New Start!", which is abbreviated as "ANUSTART". This becomes a recurring nickname in season four. During this season, he falls in love with the hardcore drug addict and recovering actress DeBrie Bardeaux (
Maria Bamford
Maria Bamford (born September 3, 1970) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Her work has drawn critical acclaim and controversy because her humor often uses self-deprecating and dark topics, including her dysfunctional family, depressio ...
).
The
Russo brothers
Anthony Russo (born February 3, 1970) and Joseph Russo (born July 18, 1971), collectively known as the Russo brothers (), are American directors, producers, and screenwriters. They direct most of their work together. They are best known for dir ...
asked Cross to make a cameo appearance as Tobias in their 2018 superhero film ''
Avengers: Infinity War'', but he was unavailable for filming; however, Tobias can still be seen in the film as one of the alien
Collector's specimens, played instead by an uncredited extra covered in blue paint.
George Bluth Sr.
George Oscar Bluth Sr. (portrayed by
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 in flashback sequences during season four by
Seth Rogen
Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series '' Freaks and Geeks'', and then got a part o ...
, and in flashback sequences during season five by
Taran Killam
Taran Hourie Killam (born April 1, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for his television work on ''The Amanda Show'', ''How I Met Your Mother'', ''MADtv'', ''New Girl'', ''Saturday Night Live'', and ''Single Parents''. ...
), called "Pop-Pop" by his grandchildren, is the husband of
Lucille Bluth, and father of
Gob,
Lindsay,
Michael, and
Buster (and, much later, the adopted
Annyong). George Sr. was born in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Ohio, on August 5, 1947. He was the original CEO of the
Bluth Company, which he founded; however, after years of "
creative accounting" practices, he became the subject of an investigation by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
and was imprisoned or in hiding during the first three seasons of the show.
While in prison, George Sr. continues to try to exert control over the company, often using his son
Gob to undermine his more competent son Michael's authority. At the end of season 1, George Sr. escapes to Mexico with a briefcase filled with evidence of his dealings with
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. In season 2, George Sr. fakes his death in Mexico and returns to America to hide in the attic of the Bluth model home. Early in season 3, after being discovered among the
Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...
in
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
, he is placed under
house arrest. He tells Michael that he has been set up to build homes in Iraq by a group of British contractors operating out of "Wee Britain" in
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
, but ultimately admits that he may be guilty of "light treason." By the end of the series, however, it is revealed that he is under the control of his wife, Lucille, and that the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
have in fact set him up as a "patsy". He escapes to
Cabo with Michael and George Michael following the party at the conclusion of season 3. In season 4, George Sr. and Lucille pretend to be separated while he establishes a sham
sweat lodge for wealthy CEOs on the border of Mexico, while planning his larger project of building a
wall on the border of Mexico and the US, with the support of politician Herbert Love. His separation with Lucille becomes a real one when she realizes he has been appeasing her sexual needs by swapping himself with his identical twin brother, Oscar; Lucille consequently announces her desire for an actual divorce.
Before the events of the show, George Sr. was also the inventor of the Cornballer, a faulty product which has been banned in numerous countries. He has a religious awakening twice on the show, once becoming Jewish after a period of isolation and selling a video series entitled "Caged Wisdom", and once becoming a devout Christian after reading a pamphlet in a garbage bag while hiding in the attic.
Lucille Bluth
Lucille Bluth (née Jenkins) (played by
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 ...
, in flashback sequences during season four by
Kristen Wiig
Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Canandaigua, New York, she was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, New York. She moved to Los Angeles, where she jo ...
, and in flashback sequences during season five by
Cobie Smulders
Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders (born April 3, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS sitcom '' How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in the ...
) is the matriarch of the Bluth family. She is the mother of
Gob,
Michael,
Buster, and the adoptive mother of
Lindsay and
Hel-loh "Annyong" Bluth, as well as wife to
George Sr. Her grandchildren are
George Michael Bluth,
Maeby Fünke, and
Steve Holt (Gob's son) and the former two affectionately call her "Gangie" . She carries on an affair with George Sr.'s identical twin brother
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
.
Lucille is accustomed to an opulent and decadent lifestyle, which she funds with misappropriated
Bluth Company money. She treats herself to repeated spa treatments and face lifts, and is known to
abuse alcohol and prescription drugs. She is condescending and verbally abusive towards her long-suffering housekeepers, and she has never made eye contact with a waiter. Lucille is extremely manipulative, narcissistic, amoral, domineering, and emotionally abusive to her children—some more than others. She furtively wrests control of the Bluth Company board from Michael. She has a tight emotional grip on her youngest son
Buster, who, as a result of his mother's dominance and sheltering, is unstable, socially inept, and prone to panic attacks. She frequently insinuates that her daughter Lindsay is fat and lazy, and makes no attempt to hide her dislike for Gob. She repeatedly lies to her children to keep them fighting amongst themselves, fearing they will turn on her if they are getting along. In the finale, George Sr. reveals that she is the mastermind behind the Bluth Company's illegal actions.
At the end of season 3, Lucille makes a run from the
SEC on board the ''
Queen Mary'', after Annyong turns in evidence against her. The ship consequently capsizes and she is arrested in season 4. Due to negligence or sudden excuses, none of the rest of Lucille's family ends up attending her trial. She is sent to a country-club-like prison for women, where her prison identification number is "07734" (which upside down reads "hELLo", a reference to Annyong's real name).
Narrator
The Narrator (voiced by executive producer
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 ...
, who went uncredited in the role for the first three seasons) narrates much of the Bluth family's lives, and often interjects quick explanatory (and sometimes humorous) comments before, after, or while characters speak. He frequently brings up past footage to illustrate his points, and along with the cameramen can be excluded from the events of the story at times, in the style of a documentary narrator. The Narrator's personal feelings often inform his narration, for example in the episode "
Spring Breakout", the narrator repeatedly criticizes the narrator of the television show ''Scandalmakers'' for having no talent and paying no heed to facts. Likewise, Howard's own career is occasionally referenced. In the season 1 episode "
Public Relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
", the publicist Jessie insultingly calls George Michael "Opie" (Howard's character on ''
The Andy Griffith Show
''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color.
The ...
'') to which the Narrator responds "Jessie had gone too far, and had best watch her mouth." In the season 3 episode "
S.O.B.s", he begs the audience to "please tell your friends about this show" after George says that begging is "sometimes… the only way to stay in the game." The narrator has implied that he knows Maeby from her time as a studio executive. In season 4, Maeby receives a lifetime achievement award at a ceremony called "The Opie Awards", on which the narrator comments that "it's nice to have an award named after you".
Secondary characters
Ann Veal
Ann Paul Veal
[
] (primarily played by
Mae Whitman
Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She began acting in commercials as a child, making her film debut at the age of six in the romantic drama '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994). She achieved recognition as ...
) was the on-again/off-again girlfriend of
George-Michael Bluth
''Arrested Development'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the Fox network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Created by Mitchell Hurwit ...
, even though their relationship was little more than his means of distracting himself from Maeby. Her first appearance was in the episode "
Let 'Em Eat Cake", where she was played by
Alessandra Torresani
Alessandra Olivia Toreson (born May 29, 1987), known professionally as Alessandra Torresani and prior to 2007, Alessandra Toreson, is an American actress. She is best known for playing Zoe Graystone in the science fiction television series ''Capr ...
.
In every subsequent appearance, she was portrayed by
Mae Whitman
Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She began acting in commercials as a child, making her film debut at the age of six in the romantic drama '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994). She achieved recognition as ...
.
She comes from an extremely religious family, and her father (played by
Alan Tudyk
Alan Wray Tudyk ( ;; born March 16, 1971) is an American actor. His film work includes roles in '' 28 Days'' with Sandra Bullock (2000), ''A Knight's Tale'' with Heath Ledger (2001), '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'' with Vince Vaughn (2004 ...
) is a pastor.
In "
Meat the Veals", Ann's mother (played by
Ione Skye) kisses Michael, which she believes to be making love to him. The kiss leads to a brawl between Michael and her husband at the end of the episode.
With the exception of George-Michael, the Bluths all struggle to remember Ann's name. In the high school yearbook, she is identified as "Not Pictured" under her photograph, although they did print a retraction in the spring supplement.
Michael disapproves of his son's relationship with Ann, believing his son to be setting his dating standards too low, and refers to her variously (and always accidentally) as "Bland", "Egg", "Annabel", "Yam", "Ham", "Plant", "Plain", and "Ann Hog". He once abandons her in Mexico accidentally.
Maeby takes pleasure in referring to Ann as "Bland". George-Michael tells Maeby that Ann is "not bland" when forced to defend his love interest.
Ann is attracted to George-Michael's
Star Wars kid-like
lightsaber
A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout the '' Star Wars'' franchise. A typical lightsaber is depicted as a luminescent plasma blade about in length emitted from a metal hilt around in length. First introduced in the o ...
demonstration,
which leads to their reconciliation after a breakup midway through the second season. George-Michael wanted to get pre-engaged to Ann at the end of the second season, lost his resolve at the last moment, and was then asked by Ann to teach her his secular ways.
Ann's strict conservatism serves as a foil for Maeby's commitment to rebellion. Ann leads the protest at Maeby's premiere of the English remake of ''Dangerous Cousins'', originally a French movie about a sexual relationship between two cousins.
Ann moves on from George-Michael after coming in third place in an "Inner Beauty"
pageant.
Gob, who admits a penchant for third-place pageant winners, later reveals that he is dating a Christian girl, who eventually turns out to be Ann.
In season 4, Ann and Gob get engaged after he takes her virginity, but she decides to break up with him after he botches a magic trick that ruins their wedding. Shortly after, Tony Wonder sleeps with and impregnates Ann when she is vulnerable. Several years later, after she has her baby, Ann tricks Wonder into sleeping with Gob to get revenge on both of them.
Appears In:
* Played by ''Alessandra Torresani'' – "
Let 'Em Eat Cake"
* Played by ''Mae Whitman'' – "
The One Where They Build a House", "
¡Amigos!
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Good Grief", "
Afternoon Delight", "
Switch Hitter", "
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
", "
Out on a Limb", "
The Immaculate Election", "
Meat the Veals", "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
", "
Notapusy", "
Development Arrested
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "Colony Collapse", "A New Attitude", "
Señoritis"
Annyong Bluth
Hel-loh "Annyong" Bluth (
Justin Lee) is the adopted
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
n son of
Lucille and
George Sr.
Lucille adopts Annyong midway through the first season in order to teach Buster a lesson. Apparently knowing no English, the youth greets his adoptive family by saying "
annyong" (안녕), the
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
word for "hello." When they repeat the word, so does he. This causes Lucille to assume his name is "Annyong". Annyong is often neglected and finds himself in conflict with
Buster. He also develops a crush on
Maeby in the season one finale after she kisses him to make
George Michael jealous. He is apparently sent to the Milford School (a school where students' silence is encouraged) by Lucille, who is attempting to teach him a lesson that she does not even remember. She never hears from him at the school and, apparently, she promptly forgets his existence altogether. Annyong returns only much later in the series; he is found to be hiding in the walls of Lucille's apartment with mysteriously obtained surveillance equipment. In the third-season finale it is revealed that Hel-loh (meaning "One Day" in Korean, finally revealing his name after his usual greeting of "Annyong", prompting further ironic confusion among the Bluths) orchestrated the second
SEC raid on the Bluth Company. He explains that his grandfather "one day" promised vengeance upon the Bluths, revealing that his grandfather originated the banana stand idea which the Bluths stole (thus launching the Bluth corporate empire while leaving the grandfather penniless) before Lucille quietly arranged the grandfather's deportation. Now Annyong has come to the United States, patiently waiting to avenge his grandfather by financially ruining the Bluths: sneaking his way into their family and reporting their corporate misdoings to the SEC. This act of revenge at the end of season 3 causes Lucille to attempt to flee the SEC aboard the ''Queen Mary''. She is imprisoned for this in season 4, during which Annyong makes only one brief cameo appearance, spitefully trying to charge an expensive food item to the Bluth account, only for it to be declined to his horror.
His actual name, "
하루", means "a single day" in Korean, but is more accurately
romanized as ''haru'' or ''halu'' as opposed to "hel-loh."
:Appears in: "
Shock and Aww", "
Staff Infection", "
Justice Is Blind", "
Missing Kitty
The first season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first season ...
", "
Best Man for the GOB", "
Not Without My Daughter", "
Let 'Em Eat Cake", "
The One Where Michael Leaves
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
¡Amigos!
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Mr. F
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 min ...
", "
Development Arrested
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "Red Hairing"
Barry Zuckerkorn
Barry Zuckerkorn is the sluggish and bumbling
attorney for the Bluth family. He is played by
Henry Winkler, with
Max Winkler
Max Winkler (7 September 1875 – 12 October 1961) was a politician and senior political appointee in the local government of West Prussia, the national government of the German Empire, the Nazi government of the German Reich, and the post-war go ...
playing the younger Zuckerkorn in flashbacks.
Zuckerkorn represents
George Sr., the family
patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
, who has been arrested and charged with defrauding investors, and "light treason" (George Bluth Sr., had built homes in Iraq with Saddam Hussein). Zuckerkorn often appears languid and distracted in his handling of the case. Unfortunately for the Bluth family, he does not seem particularly adept in the courtroom.
He is invariably ill-prepared, which he usually blames on long meetings the night before. In fact, most of his nights are spent hanging out at
rest stop
A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway serv ...
s, a behavior that is frequently mentioned and accompanied by a fast cut to an establishing shot of a dark, shady rest-stop facility. In addition, he had not caught up with the status of George, Sr.'s case and comments that he went on a date with "a woman who works two jobs", cutting to images of his mugshots (implying he attempted to hook up with a prostitute that was actually an undercover cop).
His sexual leanings are ambiguous although it appears that he may prefer the company of male transvestite prostitutes; it is possible that he is outwardly
homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
(often making mildly negative references and comments about "the homosexuals" and then regretting his comments) while secretly homosexual. Like
Tobias Fünke, Barry makes many colorful references that seem to allude to his exclusive attraction to men. They aren't explicit enough, however, to be conclusive. He has been with the Bluths for a long time and was kept only because
Lucille considers him to be "part of the family." His reputation is stronger with the elder Bluths than with the children.
Despite his parents' dependence on Barry, Michael Bluth fired him on the first episode of the third season, which ended his law career (as the Bluth family was his only client). Since then, he has been acting as a transvestite prostitute, and Lindsay seeing her husband Tobias retaining Barry's "services" has prompted her to seek a divorce. Zuckerkorn was replaced as the Bluths' attorney by Bob Loblaw, but returned to represent them following the events of "
Development Arrested
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
".
:Appears in: "
In God We Trust", "
Beef Consommé", "
Altar Egos", "
Justice Is Blind", "
Not Without My Daughter", "
Let 'Em Eat Cake", "
The One Where Michael Leaves
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Good Grief", "
Sad Sack
''Sad Sack'' is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, ''Sad Sack'' depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and ...
", "
Queen for a Day
''Queen for a Day'' is an American radio and television game show that helped to usher in American listeners' and viewers' fascination with big-prize giveaway shows. ''Queen for a Day'' originated on the Mutual Radio Network on April 30, 1945, i ...
", "
Out on a Limb", "
Hand to God", "
Motherboy XXX
"Motherboy XXX" is the 13th episode of the second season of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 13, 2005. The episode, directed by Joe Russo, was written ...
", "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
", "
The Cabin Show"
Kitty Sanchez
Kitty Sanchez (
Judy Greer
Judith Therese Evans (born July 20, 1975), known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress, who has appeared in a wide variety of films. She first rose to prominence in a variety of suppor ...
) is
George Bluth Sr.'s fiercely loyal and independent assistant. She has
herpes
Herpes simplex is a viral infection caused by the herpes simplex virus. Infections are categorized based on the part of the body infected.
Oral herpes involves the face or mouth. It may result in small blisters in groups often called cold ...
, as Gob reveals in "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
".
Kitty maintained a long-term affair with George Sr. and a fevered yet brief liaison with
Gob, despite the fact he is disgusted by her. After George Sr. was imprisoned, Kitty stayed on to work for
Michael.
Despite her intense loyalty to George Sr., she did not demonstrate the same toward Michael. Michael finally got fed up and fired her, but Kitty and Michael's father both insisted he didn't have that power, the latter of whom insisting, upon Michael's observation on her sanity, that, "You don't fire crazy." Michael attempted to rehire Kitty, but her obstinacy forced him to immediately fire her again. Kitty subsequently vanished with potentially damaging information concerning her sexual history with her boss. In actuality, she did not disappear, but was working with the police in an effort to gain control of the Bluth company. After arranging a meeting with Michael, she inadvertently admitted that she had proof that George Sr. had built homes overseas without paying taxes. Michael downplayed the importance of the revelation and Kitty dropped out of sight.
Kitty re-emerged in "
Let 'Em Eat Cake" to rescue George Sr. from the hospital. They escaped to Mexico together but were separated again when he was pronounced dead. Kitty caught up with him in "
Spring Breakout" and blackmailed him into staying with her, and giving her the son he had promised her (prompting George Sr. to comment, "Never promise crazy a baby"). Michael and Gob managed to rescue their father while Lucille had a showdown with her rival. The Bluth matriarch put her years of alcohol abuse to good use by besting Kitty in a drinking contest. Seemingly defeated, the hung over mistress returned to her hotel room to discover the Bluths had inadvertently left behind the ransom she'd been asking for:
"250cc's of George Sr." in a cooler.
Kitty returned later, claiming she had reformed, gotten into
AA, and even has a famous sponsor. She won't say who it is, but she drops some pretty obvious hints of it being an ex-''
Night Court
''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan municipal court presided over by a young, unorthodox judge, Harold "Harry" T. Stone (portray ...
'' star; ("It's not
Bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions,
includin ...
. It's not
Harry Anderson
Harry Laverne Anderson (October 14, 1952 – April 16, 2018) was an American actor, comedian and magician. He is best known for his role of Judge Harry Stone on the 1984–1992 television series '' Night Court''. He later starred in the ...
. And he's white."), a reference to actor
John Larroquette
John Bernard Larroquette (; born November 25, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the NBC military drama series '' Baa Baa Black Sheep'' (1976–1978), the NBC sitcom '' Night Court'' (1984–1992; for which he rec ...
as show creator Mitchell Hurwitz was once a writer for ''
The John Larroquette Show
''The John Larroquette Show'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from September 2, 1993, until October 30, 1996. Created by Don Reo, the show was a star vehicle for John Larroquette following his run as Dan Fielding on '' ...
'', and Larroquette himself is a recovering alcoholic. At the end of Season 2 she and Tobias, the state of his marriage still up in the air, had jetted off to
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
so he could pursue a plum spot in the
Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...
. As we learn in season 3, the part has already been taken by George Sr., who then proceeds to steal Kitty from his son-in-law as well. A final reference to Kitty is made when Tobias masquerades as her in an effort to win back Lindsay's affection.
Kitty has the habit of attempting to bribe people with sexual appeal by baring her breasts, usually with the comment, "Take a good look, 'cuz it's the last time you're gonna see these" or "say goodbye to these, Michael." Michael's reaction tends to be one of vague horror, and based on his claim to have seen "seven nipples" in one day after witnessing Gob and Kitty exposing their chests, Kitty may have had botched plastic surgery.
In season 4, Kitty works for
Imagine Entertainment
Imagine Entertainment (formerly Imagine Films Entertainment), also known simply as Imagine, is an American film and television production company founded in November 1985 by producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard.
Background
Brian Graz ...
, where she continues to undermine Michael. She had previously sabotaged Maeby's career in the film business.
:Appears in: "
Charity Drive", "
Visiting Ours", "
Missing Kitty
The first season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first season ...
", "
Not Without My Daughter", "
Let 'Em Eat Cake", "
The One Where They Build a House", "
¡Amigos!
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Spring Breakout", "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
", "
The Cabin Show"
Lucille Austero
Lucille Austero (
Liza Minnelli), often referred by members of the Bluth family as "Lucille Two", is the friend, neighbor, and chief social rival of Lucille Bluth.
Lucille Austero lives in the apartment next to Lucille and Buster Bluth in the Balboa Towers. In season 1, she and Buster end up dating after an incident at a country club auction when Buster bids on the wrong Lucille. Their relationship is looked down upon by the other Bluths. Her chronic case of
vertigo
Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...
often causes some difficulty for the klutzy Buster.
In season 2, she becomes the majority shareholder of the Bluth company after the family members sell their shares. To ensure the company's safety, Gob romances Lucille, who in turn names Gob the president of the Bluth Company in place of Michael. Although continuously stating that he is disgusted by her, it is seen in various clips that he is in fact infatuated with Lucille Two. Buster at the time is dating Starla, the Bluth Company receptionist. After learning his older brother is dating his ex-girlfriend, Buster leaves Starla to pursue Lucille. Eventually, Lucille leaves both of them for Stan Sitwell.
By Season 4, Lucille Two has come into control of the Bluth Company (now the Austero Bluth Company) after the entire family sells their stocks, and the season ends with Lucille Two mysteriously going missing, leaving only a bloody scene during the Cinco de Cuatro festivities. Buster is arrested for her (suspected) murder. Throughout the season, she is shown to aggravate the majority of the Bluth family with her political and business plans, making the circumstances of her disappearance ambiguous.
In the last episode of Season 5, a cement wall used by GOB for a magic trick is broken open where Buster had placed a mannequin. When the wall is broken open, Lucille Austero's body falls out while the entire Bluth family looks at Buster who finally confesses that he did it; He murdered Lucille Austero and says that she reminds him of his own mother.
:Appears in: "
Key Decisions", "
Charity Drive", "
My Mother, The Car
The first season of the television comedy series '' Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first seaso ...
", "
In God We Trust", "
Storming the Castle", "
Pier Pressure", "
Marta Complex", "
Queen for a Day
''Queen for a Day'' is an American radio and television game show that helped to usher in American listeners' and viewers' fascination with big-prize giveaway shows. ''Queen for a Day'' originated on the Mutual Radio Network on April 30, 1945, i ...
", "
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
", "
Ready, Aim, Marry Me
The second season of the television comedy series '' Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Flight of the Phoenix", "
The B. Team", "
A New Start", "
Double Crossers", "
Red Hairing
The fourth season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' premiered on Netflix on May 26, 2013 and consists of 15 episodes. It serves as a revival to the series after it was canceled by Fox in 2006.
The storyline centers on the ...
", "
Smashed", "
Queen B.", "
A New Attitude", "
Señoritis", "
Blockheads"
Lupe
Lupe (BW Gonzalez) is
Lucille Bluth's Hispanic housekeeper. Lucille is frequently abusive towards her. Lupe, and at one time the rest of her family, has been tricked into working for other members of the Bluth family (specifically Lindsay) on a number of occasions. In the second season, Lucille fires Lupe when she catches her in bed with
Buster (whom Lupe refers to as "retardo" in "
¡Amigos!
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
"), comforting him about the loss of his hand. Lupe is replaced by a robotic vacuum cleaner (specifically a
Roomba), which is also caught in bed with Buster.
Lupe returns as the family housekeeper without explanation in season 3, and appears very briefly as one of the women posing as Lucille and Lindsay in rehab.
Lupe is the sister of Luz (played by
Lillian Hurst), Lucille's original maid who was fired for supposedly taking a day off to take her daughter to the hospital.
In the season 3 episode "
For British Eyes Only" when Tobias reveals he had 4,000 hair plugs inserted in his head, Lupe refers to Tobias as "Mr. Gay".
:Appears in: "
Charity Drive", "
In God We Trust", "
Public Relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
", "
Marta Complex", "
Staff Infection", "
Missing Kitty
The first season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first season ...
", "
Best Man for the GOB", "
¡Amigos!
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
The Immaculate Election", "
For British Eyes Only", "
Exit Strategy
An exit strategy is a means of leaving one's current situation, either after a predetermined objective has been achieved, or as a strategy to mitigate failure. An organisation or individual without an exit strategy may be in a quagmire. At worst ...
"
Oscar Bluth
Oscar George Bluth (
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 ...
) is
George Sr.'s
identical twin
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...
.
Oscar can usually be distinguished from the balding George by his flowing "lion's mane" hair, apparently due to lack of stress in his life. He is a frequent user of
marijuana. He served as a "croc spotter" on a
swift boat in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
(yelling out "Croc!" whenever he saw a
crocodile), and once wrote a song for
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...
, "All You Need Are Smiles", that made
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
call him "the shallowest man in the world." In season 2 it is revealed that he is Buster's father, which he makes frequent and heavy-handed references to, but Buster only realizes the truth through an unintentional turn of phrase. Oscar resides most often in a trailer outside
Camp Pendleton
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by O ...
. He owns about of lemon groves and sells lemonade to the troops when their maneuvers pass by. He sells the land to Michael, who is unaware that the government has an
easement
An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a propert ...
on it so they can drive their
tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...
s through it. Lucille takes advantage of Oscar's feelings for her and convinces him to buy the land back.
According to
Michael, Oscar has lived on handouts all his life. According to his brother, he has never had to work for a living, leading to his full head of shoulder-length hair that Lucille finds irresistible. Oscar's persistence with Lucille—whom he met when she was working a
USO
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
tour—leads to a rekindling of their once torrid romance. This disturbs Buster, who discovers the adulterous pair ''
in flagrante delicto
''In flagrante delicto'' (Latin for "in blazing offence") or sometimes simply ''in flagrante'' ("in blazing") is a legal term used to indicate that a criminal has been caught in the act of committing an offence (compare ). The colloquial "caught ...
'' multiple times. After George Sr. escapes confinement, Oscar is arrested because police assume he is George. The police also impound Oscar's trailer, leaving him even more indigent than usual. Lucille allows him to live with her and Buster. Oscar's presence allows Buster to develop the many talents he'd discovered with Lucille. He lovingly brushes Oscar's hair, a ritual once reserved for Lucille. In return, Buster is treated to several uncomfortable silences upon witnessing Oscar's penchant for living loose and literally, "letting it all hang out." Oscar's shameless
exhibitionism is a product of the proximity he shares with his dream woman. Once confined to a single residence, the illicit pair revive the past.
In the second-season finale, to clear up his legal difficulties and punish his brother for cuckolding him, George Sr. shaves Oscar's head and turns him in. The stress of being imprisoned and mistaken for George Sr. causes Oscar's hair to not grow back. This, paired with the fact that his fingerprints have been burned off by the family Cornballer, prevents him from establishing his identity. To convince the world of his true identity, Oscar sets up www.imoscar.com, a blog of sorts that details his life in prison while continually asserting that he is Oscar. A real-life version of the site was maintained by Fox Broadcasting until mid-2006.
In the third season, Oscar manages to get out of prison when George Sr. is placed under house arrest and leaves town. He returns occasionally, but these visits are usually ended when George Sr. knocks him out and switches places so he can escape again. In the series finale, George invites Oscar to the Bluth Company function to unwittingly take his place, a fact Oscar learns as soon as Lucille refers to him as George ("Oh God Oscar! When are you going to learn there's no such thing as free shrimp!") Oscar again plays a larger role in the fourth (revival) season, where he and his brother continually switch identities to defraud wealthy CEOs looking for spiritual enlightenment in the desert between California and Mexico.
:Appears in: "
Whistler's Mother
''Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1'', best known under its colloquial name ''Whistler's Mother'' or ''Portrait of Artist's Mother'', is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler in 1871. ...
", "
Not Without My Daughter", "
The One Where Michael Leaves
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
The One Where They Build a House", "
¡Amigos!
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Good Grief", "
Sad Sack
''Sad Sack'' is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, ''Sad Sack'' depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and ...
", "
Afternoon Delight", "
Switch Hitter", "
Queen for a Day
''Queen for a Day'' is an American radio and television game show that helped to usher in American listeners' and viewers' fascination with big-prize giveaway shows. ''Queen for a Day'' originated on the Mutual Radio Network on April 30, 1945, i ...
", "
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
", "
Out on a Limb", "
Hand to God", "
Sword of Destiny", "
Meat the Veals", "
Spring Breakout", "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
", "
The Cabin Show", "
Prison Break-In", "
Development Arrested
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
"
Steve Holt
Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade) is a senior (taking the year for the third time) and football star at the high school George Michael and Maeby attend, who often shouts his name, "Steve Holt!", while pumping his fists in the air.
Described as a "moron jock" by
George Michael and "basically a young
Gob" by
Michael, Steve Holt portrays
Beatrice when
Tobias
Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible ...
bungles the school's production of ''
Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
'', briefly dates
Lindsay (after Maeby convinces him that Lindsay is
transsexual
Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignmen ...
), and is student body president for four years (he declines a fifth term in order to concentrate on finding his real father). His campaign posters often read "Volt for Steve Holt." The crowd at his re-election rally can be heard chanting "Four more years."
In the season 2 episode "
The Immaculate Election", it is revealed that Steve Holt is the son of Gob Bluth and Eve Holt (Charleigh Harmon Stelly), the product of one of Gob's many one-night stands in high school. Before realizing that she is supposedly a blood-relation, Steve has a brief relationship with his cousin, Maeby, which results in his being given a
roofie to avoid any kind of intimacy. After learning of his parentage, he bonds with both his father and "Uncle Mike". He has worked as a gift-basket delivery boy, boil-in-bag meal delivery boy, Bluth Banana Stand employee, and cameraman for his father's magic act.
In season 4, Steve Holt is slightly overweight and balding, and works in pest control. He wishes to reconnect with his father and run a father-son business, but he is again left alone.
:Appears in: "
Bringing Up Buster", "
Shock And Aww", "
Sad Sack
''Sad Sack'' is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, ''Sad Sack'' depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and ...
", "
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
", "
The Immaculate Election", "
The Cabin Show", "
For British Eyes Only", "
Forget-Me-Now
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "
Notapusy", "
Making a Stand
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
"
Tony Wonder
Tony Wonder (
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known ...
) is a professional magician who commonly works at the Gothic Castle and is known for baking himself into a loaf of bread and emerging. Many of his tricks are direct mocking references to
David Blaine
David Blaine (born April 4, 1973) is an American illusionist, endurance artist, and extreme performer. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance and has set and broken several world records.
Early life
Blaine was born and r ...
. He has a tendency to make dramatic entrances when the word "wonder" is spoken, and the narrator mentions this makes it difficult for him to hide during a conversation when "wonder" is spoken.
Gob idolizes Wonder, but he believes that he came up with the idea for being baked into food first (he had the idea of being boiled into a chowder ten months earlier). As a result, Gob (a pitiful magician in comparison) believes Tony Wonder to be his greatest rival. Tony Wonder has a "W" for a goatee, and seems to specialize in illusions featuring food. He is also producing a DVD, which he dubbed "Use Your Allusion 2" after discovering his preferred title, ''
Use Your Illusion'', was unavailable due to copyright issues. Gob claims in season 3 that Tony Wonder lost a testicle to a live dove in his pants.
Tony Wonder returns in the season 4 series revival, in which he pretends to be a no-longer-closeted gay man, in order to seduce Gob for information-gathering purposes. Gob in turn attempts to seduce Tony for similarly deceptive reasons. Instead, the two begin to actually feel a mutually romantic connection and even have sex, though they both wear ridiculous masks.
:Appears in: "
Good Grief" (photo only), "Sword of Destiny", "
S.O.B.s", Colony Collapse, A New Attitude, Blockheads (voice), Emotional Baggage, Premature Independence, The Fallout.
Other recurring characters
Throughout the series
Bob Loblaw
Bob Loblaw (played by
Scott Baio
Scott Vincent James Baio (; born September 22, 1960) is an American actor. He is known for playing Chachi Arcola on the sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1977–1984) and its spin-off '' Joanie Loves Chachi'' (1982–1983), the title character on ...
) is the new family attorney, replacing
Barry Zuckerkorn
''Arrested Development'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the Fox network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Created by Mitchell Hurwit ...
.
Bob Loblaw first appears in the third episode of Season 3, claiming this is not the first time he's been brought in to replace Barry, and that he can do anything Barry can do, plus skew younger, alluding to Baio's experience with
Henry Winkler (Zuckerkorn) on the 1970s sitcom ''
Happy Days
''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...
''.
Contrasting Zuckerkorn's incompetence, Loblaw is a no-nonsense attorney who is always in the company of his
stenographer, and frequently overbills.
He advertises his services with slogans such as "''Why should you go to jail for a crime someone else noticed?"'' and "''You don't need double talk; you need Bob Loblaw''." As is evidenced by this, his name is meant to sound like "''
blah-blah-blah''". Underneath his commercial advertisement is the phrase "Bob Loblaw No Habla Español".
Adding to the tongue twister-like aspect of the character's name, the third-season episode "
S.O.B.s" includes a newspaper headline that reads "Bob Loblaw Lobs Law Bomb" and later in the season "Bob Loblaw Launches Law Blog" (viz. ''The Bob Loblaw Law Blog'').
He has a daughter named Hope.
:Appears in: "
Forget-Me-Now
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "
Notapusy", "
Mr. F
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 min ...
", "
Making a Stand
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
"
Carl Weathers
Actor
Carl Weathers
Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is an American actor and former professional football player. He is known for his roles as boxer Apollo Creed in the first four ''Rocky'' films (1976–85), George Dillon in '' Predator'' (1987), Action Ja ...
portrays himself as a thrifty, mooching Hollywood movie star whom
Tobias
Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible ...
hires to teach him his craft.
Tobias meets Carl Weathers on an air porter destined for
Los Angeles International Airport. Tobias once traveled to San Francisco to attend Carl Weathers' stage-fighting workshop. The actor failed to show because, as he informed Tobias, he was bumped from the flight. However, he discovered that they pay $300 to people who are inconvenienced in this manner. Carl Weathers called this "a crazy loophole in the system that the wrong guy discovered." Ever since then, Carl Weathers has been getting himself deliberately bumped from flights and subsequently cashing in.
Carl Weathers does not enjoy paying very much for anything. He is obsessed with thrift, exemplified by his claims that he acquires all of his cars from
police auction
A police auction is an auction of goods which have been confiscated by the police and cannot or may not be returned to their original owners. They may also contain surplus and retired police equipment, such as used police cars.
Police auctions m ...
s and his seeming obsession with "getting a stew going" using leftover pieces of food. He takes Tobias on as a client and is thereby introduced to the Bluth experience.
Lucille Bluth uses Carl Weathers to get back at her youngest son,
Buster, who has become involved romantically with her chief rival,
Lucille Austero. She simply introduces Carl Weathers to Lucille Two and suggests that they should have dinner together with Buster. Buster, however, reminds his mother that he has class that day. Lucille suggests that Carl Weathers and Lucille Two would just have to dine alone, in that case. When Buster finally decides to move in with Lucille II, he discovers her and Carl Weathers "getting a stew going" and is greatly disturbed.
In the episode "
Motherboy XXX
"Motherboy XXX" is the 13th episode of the second season of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 13, 2005. The episode, directed by Joe Russo, was written ...
", Weathers meets with Tobias at
Burger King, and explains he is directing an episode of ''Scandalmakers'' and needs Tobias to sign over the rights for the story of his family. The whole scene satirizes product placement, as Burger King is a major sponsor of both the real ''Arrested Development'' and the fictitious ''Scandalmakers''. Weathers joyfully remarks that all soft drink refills at
Burger King are totally free.
At one point, Weathers appears dressed to play the role of ICE in the ''Scandalmakers'' documentary.
Years later, Michael enlists Weathers to appear as himself in a movie to be based on Michael's life.
:Appears in: "
Public Relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
", "
Marta Complex", "
Motherboy XXX
"Motherboy XXX" is the 13th episode of the second season of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 13, 2005. The episode, directed by Joe Russo, was written ...
", "
The B. Team"
Doctor Fishman
Doctor Fishman (also called Doctor "Wordsmith" and the Literal Doctor; played by
Ian Roberts) is a doctor who has a tendency to be too literal in his pronouncements. He has, for example, said that Buster would be "all right", when he lost his left hand. Also, that "it looks like he's dead", when he in fact means that Tobias (covered at the time in blue paint) literally looks as if he is dead, but is in fact alive, and that it "looked like they'd lost" George Sr. when he'd actually escaped through the window. His frequent misleading statements anger the Bluth family after several visits, and Lucille claims in season 4 that this tendency has caused him to constantly move hospitals.
:Appears in: "
Let 'Em Eat Cake", "
The One Where Michael Leaves
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Hand to God", "
Sword of Destiny"
Officers Taylor and Carter
Officers Taylor (
Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston (born October 22, 1968) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work as a writer and cast member on ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'' and for his roles on ''The Sarah Silverman Program, Arrested Development,'' and ...
) and David Carter (
Jerry Minor
Jerome Charles Minor Jr. (born October 4, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer known for his comedic roles in numerous television programs such as ''Mr. Show'', ''Saturday Night Live'', ''Trigger Happy TV#US version, Trigger Happy TV'' ...
), are two police officers who frequently appear, memorably at George Bluth's hearings, and at the Bluth Company in search of Kitty Sanchez after her disappearance. They, like Michael Bluth, practice bring-your-daughter-to-work day, mentioning their daughters as named Tammy and Monica who are unseen, having apparently run off (demonstrating their lack of good attention, implying their incompetence in their search mission for Kitty). They are revealed to be a gay couple in the episode "
Hand to God", in which lawyer Maggie Lizer pretends to be pregnant, having hired her to have their baby. The baby is in fact carried by Maggie's pregnant client, who gives birth to the child later in the episode.
:Appears in: "
The One Where Michael Leaves
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Not Without My Daughter", "
Missing Kitty
The first season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first season ...
", "
Out on a Limb", "
Hand to God"
J. Walter Weatherman
J. Walter Weatherman (
Steve Ryan) is a one-armed man used by George Bluth to frighten his children into good behavior.
Weatherman is a former employee of George Sr. who lost one arm in a Bluth Company construction accident. George Sr. recruited Weatherman repeatedly to fake accidents in which he loses his "arm" (a fake arm and blood) due to misbehavior from the young Bluth children. The lesson ends with J. Walter turning to the children and saying "and that's why you ...", finishing the sentence with whatever action George Sr. is trying to promote. Examples include: leaving notes and not yelling. When Michael asks his father put him in touch with Weatherman to teach George Michael a lesson, George Sr. tells him that he "killed him when he left the door open with the air conditioner on." (a reference to an unseen 'lesson') This is shown to be untrue when George Sr. hires Weatherman back to teach Michael a lesson about teaching lessons to his son. Buster later uses the same trick on both Michael and George Sr. as well as Gob, using his fake hand, to teach them a lesson about not using amputees to teach lessons.
:Appears in: "
Pier Pressure", "
Motherboy XXX
"Motherboy XXX" is the 13th episode of the second season of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 13, 2005. The episode, directed by Joe Russo, was written ...
" (archived), "
Making a Stand
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
"
John Beard
John Beard (himself) is the news anchor for the fictional Fox 6 news station, which often covers the Bluth family's problems on the news, and in one case ("
Missing Kitty
The first season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first season ...
") almost became "part of the story". His announcements of news stories often end with "what that means for your weekend", regardless of whether the story would actually affect the general public's weekend. Beard was news anchor at
KTTV
KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...
, the real-life Fox affiliate for Los Angeles, at the time the show was on Fox; during the first season on Netflix, he was working at
WGRZ
WGRZ (channel 2) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill ...
(an
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
affiliate) in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
and would commute between Buffalo and Los Angeles for filming.
:Appears in: "
Pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
", "
Extended Pilot", "
Top Banana", "
Key Decisions", "
Public Relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
", "
Missing Kitty
The first season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first season ...
", "
Let 'Em Eat Cake", "
The One Where Michael Leaves
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
The One Where They Build a House", "
Sad Sack
''Sad Sack'' is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, ''Sad Sack'' depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and ...
", "
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
", "
Sword of Destiny", "
The Cabin Show", "
For British Eyes Only", "
Mr. F
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 min ...
", "
S.O.B.s"
Mort Meyers
Mort Meyers (
Jeff Garlin
Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Murray Goldberg, patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom '' The Goldbergs'', and Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom ''Curb Your ...
) is a studio executive who works with
Maeby. Although he has a wife, Mort often hits on Maeby, believing that she is older than she really is.
:Appears in: "
Switch Hitter", "
Queen for a Day
''Queen for a Day'' is an American radio and television game show that helped to usher in American listeners' and viewers' fascination with big-prize giveaway shows. ''Queen for a Day'' originated on the Mutual Radio Network on April 30, 1945, i ...
", "
Sword of Destiny", "
Spring Breakout", "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
", "
Mr. F
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 min ...
", "
Making a Stand
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "
Development Arrested
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
"
Stan Sitwell
Stan Sitwell (
Ed Begley, Jr.) is a real estate tycoon who runs the company Sitwell Enterprises, which competes with the Bluth Company.
He has a disease that prevents him from growing hair on his body,
alopecia universalis
__NOTOC__
Alopecia universalis (AU), also known as alopecia areata universalis, is a medical condition involving the loss of all body hair, including eyebrows, eyelashes, chest hair, armpit hair, and pubic hair. It is the most severe form of alop ...
. Lucille incorrectly refers to him as an
alpaca
The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can success ...
, which turns out to be partially correct when he acknowledges his wig is alpaca hair. Stan Sitwell begins dating
Lucille Austero. His outlandish wigs and fake facial hair are a bit of an inside joke, since in real life Ed Begley Jr. is known for his mane of thick blonde hair. Because of his condition he can't actually drive the Corvette that
Michael Bluth
Nichael "Michael" Bluth is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development'', created by Mitchell Hurwitz, and portrayed by Jason Bateman. Michael serves as the series straight man, and leads h ...
gave him in return of making a bid on his daughter Sally Sitwell at the
Country Club
A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offe ...
auction because it is a convertible, which causes him to lose his wig and fake eyebrows. When Stan Sitwell fires Gob Bluth from his company, Gob gets revenge on Sitwell by stealing his fake dressy eyebrows. He runs his business in a very straight forward, professional manner in contrast to the lying and manipulation of the Bluths. He is also a generous philanthropist and contributes to numerous charities, contrary to the Bluths as well.
:Appears in: "
Switch Hitter", "
Queen for a Day
''Queen for a Day'' is an American radio and television game show that helped to usher in American listeners' and viewers' fascination with big-prize giveaway shows. ''Queen for a Day'' originated on the Mutual Radio Network on April 30, 1945, i ...
", "
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
", "
Ready, Aim, Marry Me
The second season of the television comedy series '' Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Development Arrested
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
"
Starla
Starla (
Mo Collins
Maureen Ann Collins (born July 7, 1965) is an American actress and comedian who was a member of the ensemble on FOX's sketch comedy series '' Mad TV''. Collins became well known for several characters during her tenure on the show.
She was ...
) is the Bluth company secretary that
Gob hires as his "business model" in season two after seeing her at a boat show. Starla often proves to be quite incompetent as a secretary, and claims that she had an affair with producer
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
, a claim backed up with the display of several of his gold records along the walls of Starla's house but disputed by spokespersons for Mr. Jones. On trying to gain entrance to his grounds, she is supposedly attacked by guard dogs, and is subsequently treated for rabies. Near the end of Season 2, Buster and Starla have a brief relationship, which abruptly ends when Buster misses his old flame Lucille Austero.
:Appears in: "
The One Where They Build a House", "
¡Amigos!
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Switch Hitter", "
Queen for a Day
''Queen for a Day'' is an American radio and television game show that helped to usher in American listeners' and viewers' fascination with big-prize giveaway shows. ''Queen for a Day'' originated on the Mutual Radio Network on April 30, 1945, i ...
", "
Ready, Aim, Marry Me
The second season of the television comedy series '' Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Sword of Destiny"
Stefan Gentles
Stefan Gentles (
James Lipton
Louis James Lipton (September 19, 1926 – March 2, 2020) was an American writer, lyricist, actor, and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City. He was the executive producer, writer, and host of the B ...
) takes over as the prison warden where George is being detained after the previous warden, James Buck, leaves. He is less strict (though one of his favorite punishments involve beating people with a pillowcase full of batteries), and is a lover of the arts.
Gentles allows Tobias to research his role as Frightened Inmate Number 2 and enthusiastically encourages it. Gentles suggested that shadowing feared prisoner White Power Bill would help Tobias find the inspiration for the role. The warden's enthusiasm for acting is a
metafictional joke, since the actor James Lipton is famous as the host of the real-world television series ''
Inside the Actors Studio
''Inside the Actors Studio'' is an American talk show that airs on Ovation. The series premiered in 1994 on Bravo where it aired for 22 seasons and was hosted by James Lipton from its premiere until 2018. It is taped at the Michael Schimmel C ...
''.
Gentles writes a screenplay called ''The New Warden'', which is rejected by everyone including Maeby while she works as a film executive. With some editing by Lucille Bluth, he is able to get an elementary school to perform the adult-themed story as a school play.
:Appears in: "
Staff Infection", "
Altar Egos", "
Missing Kitty
The first season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first season ...
", "
Prison Break-In", "The B. Team"
Tom Saunders
Tom Saunders (Tom Saunders) is an employee of the
Bluth Company. His sad-sack personality and downtrodden looks are frequently the butt of jokes. In season 4, Tom is revealed to be one of the many registered sex offenders living in Sudden Valley.
:Appears in: "
Afternoon Delight", "
The Cabin Show", "
Making a Stand
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "
Family Ties
''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States ...
"
Trisha Thoon
Trisha Thoon (
Stacey Grenrock-Woods) is the field reporter for Fox 6 news throughout season one. She often covers stories pertaining to the Bluth family.
:Appears in: "
Pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
", "
Key Decisions", "
Public Relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
", "
Let 'Em Eat Cake", "
Extended Pilot"
Wayne Jarvis
Wayne Jarvis (
John Michael Higgins
John Michael Higgins (born February 12, 1963) is an American actor and comedian whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's '' The Late Shift'', and a starring role in the American vers ...
) is a lawyer who can describe himself in one word: "professional". Michael tries to hire Wayne to replace Barry Zuckerkorn but Wayne refuses once Michael and Lindsay try to use him to get back at their mother. Later Wayne becomes the prosecutor of the Bluth Company; when confronted with an accusation of a conflict of interest he replies, "It's called the
PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...
, read it." Wayne Jarvis is "almost always" serious, a fact that caused him to once be called "the worst audience participant
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...
ever had" because he "did not find their buffoonery amusing".
:Appears in: "
In God We Trust", "
Sad Sack
''Sad Sack'' is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, ''Sad Sack'' depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and ...
", "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
", "
Fakin' It", "
Exit Strategy
An exit strategy is a means of leaving one's current situation, either after a predetermined objective has been achieved, or as a strategy to mitigate failure. An organisation or individual without an exit strategy may be in a quagmire. At worst ...
"
Wife of Gob
Wife of Gob (
Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy tro ...
) is a certified
seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...
salesperson who married
Gob as part of an evening of escalating dares (meant to be a one-night stand). He never learned her name, which was a running joke. She is portrayed by
Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy tro ...
, who was, at the time, married in real life to Will Arnett, who plays Gob. Ironically, they would later divorce. Poehler's real name is used in a scene where Gob talks about the fact that he doesn't know her name and, when he learns it, he will mock it: "Bad example, if her name is Amy, I'll call her Blamey." He guesses her name as "Crindy" and "Saul Zentsman" (the latter turning out to be her lawyer), and when he meets her again misreads the "U.S. Army" label on her uniform as being her name, calling her "Usarmy". She sells trained
seals (selling sick ones to third-world countries) and convinces Gob to wear bright, colorful sweaters. Possibly the only fan of ''
Dr. Fünke's 100% Natural Good-Time Family Band Solution'', she saw their show in the late '90s and was comforted by the fact that they sang about every side effect she was going through. When she realizes she is in love with
Tobias
Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible ...
, she decides to end her marriage to Gob to join the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
to make use of her propensity for daring behavior. She frequently takes photos while smoking and pointing at crotches, a clear parody of
Lynndie England
Lynndie Rana England (born November 8, 1982) is a former United States Army Reserve soldier who was prosecuted for mistreating detainees during the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse that occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad during the ...
, a central figure in the
Abu Ghraib prison scandal. She is seen in season one and does not appear again until the 13th episode of season two in her final appearance. In this appearance, she returns to break up with Gob and to reclaim the seals that she "gave" to him while in the army but is told that he does not have them because he set them free. One of the loose seals recently bit off Buster's left hand. She and Gob finally consummate their marriage just minutes before signing the divorce papers.
:Appears in: "
Altar Egos", "
Justice Is Blind", "
Best Man for the GOB", "
Whistler's Mother
''Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1'', best known under its colloquial name ''Whistler's Mother'' or ''Portrait of Artist's Mother'', is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler in 1871. ...
", "
Motherboy XXX
"Motherboy XXX" is the 13th episode of the second season of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 13, 2005. The episode, directed by Joe Russo, was written ...
"
Sally Sitwell
Sally Sitwell (
Christine Taylor
Christine Joan Taylor Stiller (born July 30, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for playing Marcia Brady in ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' and ''A Very Brady Sequel'', as well as roles in films like '' The Craft'', '' The Wedding Singer'', '' ...
) is Stan Sitwell's daughter and Michael's childhood sweetheart. In adulthood, she is briefly
Michael's girlfriend. Sally and Lindsay were always competitive rivals, as they ran against each other for student body president in high school, and in adulthood Sally was campaign manager for Lucille Austero's run for Congress, while Lindsay worked for her opponent Herbert Love. (Season 4 ends with Lindsay and Sally taking over as the candidates after their employers' incapacitation and disappearance, respectively, mirroring their high school rivalry.) Also in season 4, Sally is in a relationship with Tony Wonder (Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller are married in real life). It is also revealed that she suffers from alopecia, like her father.
:Appears in: "
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
", "
Out on a Limb", "
Flight of the Phoenix'', "A New Attitude"
Gene Parmesan
Gene Parmesan (
Martin Mull
Martin Eugene Mull (born August 18, 1943) is an American actor, comedian and musician who has appeared in many television and film roles. He is also a painter and recording artist. As an actor, he first became known in his role on '' Mary Hartman ...
) is a mediocre private detective occasionally hired by Lucille Bluth. Despite his professional incompetence, he is shown to be a master of quick-change. She hires him to find George Sr. in the second-season episode, "¡Amigos!". Parmesan always reports to Lucille by approaching her in a disguise and then dramatically revealing himself; Lucille screams in delight every time, and never recognizes him. He is highly regarded as one of the best detectives by Lucille but is said in the narration, however, to be "far from the best".
The episode "Out on a Limb" has Michael talking briefly to Gene on his cellphone, having hired him to investigate Maggie.
Appears In: "
¡Amigos!
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "Queen B.", "A New Attitude", "Off the Hook"
In a story arc
Rebel Alley
Rebel Alley (
Isla Fisher
Isla Lang Fisher (; born 3 February 1976) is an Australian actress and author. Born to Scottish parents in Oman, she moved to Australia at age six where she began appearing in television commercials. Fisher came to prominence for her portrayal ...
) is the illegitimate daughter of
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 ...
, introduced in the fourth season. She is an actress whose work consists primarily of
Public Service Announcements
A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...
, directed by her father, advising against her own misdeeds (shoplifting, texting while driving, etc.); however, she has also worked with
Terrence Malick
Terrence Frederick Malick (born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. His films include '' Days of Heaven'' (1978), '' The Thin Red Line'' (1998), for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenp ...
and
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
as well as the American remake of ''Dangerous Cousins''. Michael is attracted to Rebel due to her resemblance to his deceased wife Tracey. Despite not knowing her name, after meeting her Michael tries to impress her by bragging that he is a producer. Michael also mistakenly believes her to be the girlfriend rather than daughter of Ron Howard, and only realises the truth when he reveals his feelings for her in front of Ron and Tobias. Meanwhile, Rebel takes interest in George-Michael, intrigued by his Fakeblock software, unaware that he is Michael's son (he goes by the name "George Maharis"). Rebel spends the night with George-Michael when he invites her to his dorm and continues to lie about his fake software. In his own pursuit of Rebel, Michael learns that he and his son are seeing the same woman. When he thinks that they had broken up he runs into George-Michael on his way to see Rebel and they are forced to be honest with each other. She has a son named Lem Depardieu, who lives in France and only stays with her during French pilot season.
:Appears in: "
Borderline Personalities
The fourth season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' premiered on Netflix on May 26, 2013 and consists of 15 episodes. It serves as a revival to the series after it was canceled by Fox in 2006.
The storyline centers on the ...
", "
The B. Team", "
Double Crossers", "
Colony Collapse", "
Red Hairing
The fourth season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' premiered on Netflix on May 26, 2013 and consists of 15 episodes. It serves as a revival to the series after it was canceled by Fox in 2006.
The storyline centers on the ...
", "
Smashed", "
A New Attitude", "
Señoritis", "
It Gets Better
It or IT may refer to:
* It (pronoun), in English
* Information technology
Arts and media Film and television
* ''It'' (1927 film), a film starring Clara Bow
* '' It! The Terror from Beyond Space'', a 1958 science fiction film
* ''It!'' (1967 ...
"
Adelaide
Adelaide (Bronwen Masters) falls in love with
Buster Bluth
'' Arrested Development'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the Fox network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Created by Mitchell Hurwit ...
for his "limp form", while he is pretending to be in a coma in season 3. She has an Australian accent and has fallen in love with other male coma and paralyzed patients in the past. Adelaide appears in the earlier Season 3 episode "
Notapusy" where she and
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 ...
are shown in a scene from the 1941 fake British wartime film "A Thoroughly Polite Dustup". The film is used to explain that, in Britain, calling someone a "Pussy" used to be a term of endearment, and therefore once differed in context to its American use as an insult. The word "Fag" is also used in the film short, which means "cigarette" in the UK. This film is also later parodied in the episode "
Exit Strategy
An exit strategy is a means of leaving one's current situation, either after a predetermined objective has been achieved, or as a strategy to mitigate failure. An organisation or individual without an exit strategy may be in a quagmire. At worst ...
" with both actors playing the main characters, Nurse Adelaide and Buster Bluth.
:Appears in: "
Notapusy" (as 1941 wartime Nurse), "
Fakin' It", "
Family Ties
''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States ...
", "
Exit Strategy
An exit strategy is a means of leaving one's current situation, either after a predetermined objective has been achieved, or as a strategy to mitigate failure. An organisation or individual without an exit strategy may be in a quagmire. At worst ...
"
Larry Middleman
Larry Middleman (
Bob Einstein
Stewart Robert Einstein (November 20, 1942 – January 2, 2019) was an American actor, comedy writer, and producer. He created and performed the satirical stuntman character Super Dave Osborne, and was also known for his roles as Marty Funkh ...
) is a professional surrogate, hired by George Sr. to act as his eyes and ears so that he can continue influencing the family's dealings while under house arrest. "The Surrogate", as Larry is called, is always on the job, wearing a suit and tie at all times, with a baseball cap displaying the word "Surrogate". The cap carries a small camera and microphone, which transmit audio and video feeds in real-time to George Sr's computer and/or television. George Sr. has a voice feed back to the surrogate, so that he can tell Larry what to do, what to say on his behalf, where to go, etc. At one point, he also misinterprets George Sr.'s sarcasm as a compliment ("Another brilliant idea, Einstein").
Larry is a consummate professional, never allowing his own persona to come through except on rare occasions, such as when he sometimes inserts self-promoting comments ("He's worth every penny") among George Sr.'s actual words, and another occasion where he hit GOB for insulting him. Larry does occasionally misinterpret George Sr.'s instructions, usually with amusing consequences, and is challenged when Buster takes control of the microphone in an attempt to reconnect with Gob.
Larry appeared at the beginning of season three in the episode, "
Forget-Me-Now
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
" and stayed on for several episodes before being fired remotely in front of a mirror by George Sr. after a very poor judgement call regarding what was meant to have been a
sotto voce comment, or perhaps unspoken altogether. He reappeared in "
S.O.B.s" as a surrogate for a business associate of George Sr.
:Appears in: "
Forget-Me-Now
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "
Notapusy", "
Mr. F
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 min ...
", "
The Ocean Walker", "
S.O.B.s"
Maggie Lizer
Maggie Lizer (
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1982–1985), ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), ''The New Adventures ...
), an attorney who pretends to be blind, is considered to be the most feared prosecuting attorney in all of Orange County, not because she is a particularly skilled prosecutor, but because her faked disability often won the sympathy of both the judge and defendant.
Maggie makes her first appearance in "
Altar Egos", which aired on March 17, 2004.
Michael Bluth meets Maggie in a bar. When she introduces herself, she says her name is Maggie Lizer, as in "Maggie ''lies her'' ass off". After she mistakes Michael for an attorney, he awkwardly claims that his name is Chareth Cutestory and that he practices
maritime law, a reference to a role as a lawyer that Michael held in a school musical, ''The Trial of
Captain Hook
Captain James Hook is a fictional character and the main antagonist of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play ''Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' and its various adaptations, in which he is Peter Pan's archenemy. The character is a pirate capta ...
''. Maggie and Michael return to her home after drinking at the bar. He spends the night and wakes up perplexed as how to proceed. When he realizes she is blind, Michael decides to continue seeing her out of guilt.
Maggie is prosecuting the government's case against the Bluths; Maggie knew who Michael was but chose not to reveal this. Instead she gave him what she described as "a summary of everything the government has against the Bluths so far", which was actually a wish list, in an attempt to manipulate him. Michael continues seeing her despite the conflict of interest. When her
guide dog
Guide dogs (colloquially known in the US as seeing-eye dogs) are assistance dogs trained to lead blind or visually impaired people around obstacles. Although dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are red–green colour blin ...
, Justice, is revealed to be actually blind, Michael realizes that she is not blind, but had been faking the condition to pass her law school exams and gain sympathy during trials. As a result of the deception, Maggie is taken off the case.
Maggie returns for two episodes in season 2, eight-and-a-half months pregnant—eight-and-a-half months after her relationship with Michael. She later admits the child is not Michael's, having volunteered to be a surrogate for two homosexual police officers—though this also turns out to be a deception, as she "outsourced" the pregnancy to a client who was suing a restaurant for making her fat. Realizing that the two of them cannot be in a relationship as they crave complications in their lives, they decide to part ways after a final fling. Ironically, a throwaway gag at the end of the episode reveals Maggie became pregnant as a result.
:Appears in: "
Altar Egos", "
Justice Is Blind", "
Out on a Limb", "
Hand to God"
Marta Estrella
Marta Estrella is the
Colombian soap opera star of ''El Amor Prohibido'' that
Gob dates in season one. In her first two appearances, Marta was played by
Leonor Varela
Leonor Magdalena Varela Palma (; born 29 December 1972) is a Chilean actress. She played the title role in the 1999 television film '' Cleopatra'', and vampire princess Nyssa Damaskinos in the 2002 Marvel Comics film ''Blade II''.
Early life ...
. She was played by
Patricia Velásquez
Patricia Carola Velásquez Semprún (born 31 January 1971) is a Venezuelan actress and model. As an actress, she is known for her portrayal of Anck-su-namun in the 1999 film ''The Mummy'' and its 2001 sequel ''The Mummy Returns''.
Early life
Ve ...
for all following episodes with one minor exception: during a flashback in the episode "Forget-Me-Now" of Michael's past experiences with women, she is played by a third actress. She has two sons: Amable (played by Oliver Patrick Sandino) and Cortesio (played by Casey Sandino). Marta is attractive, moral, and holds family to be very important. Although Marta was dating Gob, she and
Michael Bluth
Nichael "Michael" Bluth is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development'', created by Mitchell Hurwitz, and portrayed by Jason Bateman. Michael serves as the series straight man, and leads h ...
soon develop feelings for each other. Marta eventually chooses Michael over Gob, but she ends up leaving both of them after she catches them fighting over her.
:Appears in:
*''
Leonor Varela
Leonor Magdalena Varela Palma (; born 29 December 1972) is a Chilean actress. She played the title role in the 1999 television film '' Cleopatra'', and vampire princess Nyssa Damaskinos in the 2002 Marvel Comics film ''Blade II''.
Early life ...
'' – "
Bringing Up Buster", "
Key Decisions"
*''
Patricia Velásquez
Patricia Carola Velásquez Semprún (born 31 January 1971) is a Venezuelan actress and model. As an actress, she is known for her portrayal of Anck-su-namun in the 1999 film ''The Mummy'' and its 2001 sequel ''The Mummy Returns''.
Early life
Ve ...
'' – "
In God We Trust", "
My Mother, The Car
The first season of the television comedy series '' Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first seaso ...
", "
Storming the Castle", "
Marta Complex", "
Beef Consommé"
*''Uncredited Actress'', "
Forget Me Now"
Rita Leeds
Rita Leeds (
Charlize Theron) is an English woman to whom
Michael Bluth
Nichael "Michael" Bluth is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development'', created by Mitchell Hurwitz, and portrayed by Jason Bateman. Michael serves as the series straight man, and leads h ...
was attracted and briefly engaged.
Rita first appeared in the second episode of Season 3, "
For British Eyes Only".
Rita is later revealed to be a wealthy heiress and owner of all Wee-Britain (and the Wee-Britain in Cleveland)—a fictional town that runs on
GMT
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...
time and where one drives on the left.
There are a number of somewhat subtle indications that she may have a mental or learning disability throughout episodes 2, 3 and 4 of season 3; however, Michael either misinterprets this as charming eccentricity (attributing certain behavior to her being British) or does not seem to have noticed. Some of these indications include the fact she spends her days at "Slow Brook", a private school, in "
Notapusy" she is seen casually walking out of a men's bathroom, and also carries around various stuffed animal-shaped backpacks, including a duck and a seal. In "
Forget-Me-Now
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
" Rita is drugged by Gob and left on a bus bench. The bench had an advert for Wee Britain, and the letters covered up by Rita's body leaves the clue that she has a "Wee Brain".
Rita is heavily involved in the "Mr. F" plot arc, wherein the family hears through their new lawyer,
Bob Loblaw, that the CIA have a mole inside the Bluth family feeding them information whom they call "Mr. F." Rita wears a bracelet that says "MR F", and unintentionally implies to Michael that Mr. F is her uncle Trevor, who Michael believes is stalking him. At the conclusion of "
Mr. F
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 min ...
", it is revealed that Mr. F was actually a blunderous Tobias and that "MR F" is in fact an abbreviation for Mentally Retarded Female, confirming that Rita was mentally handicapped. She also was given a proposal of marriage by Michael Bluth.
In "
The Ocean Walker", Michael, upon discovering Rita's mental handicap, ends his relationship with her. In the same episode, Trevor tells Rita, "It's not your fault your parents were cousins, but here we are. I've been charged with taking care of you, and I’m bloody well gonna do it."; a tongue-in-cheek reference to George Michael and Maeby's relationship.
It is later revealed that Rita finds a job at a competing movie studio from Maeby's, producing a project called "The Ocean Walker", although the film's development status is arrested. The project name is a result of Rita's belief that people can walk (presumably from America) to England. In one episode, Rita walks across a pool, not knowing that Gob rigged the pool with clear platforms for one of his illusions.
She was last seen in the series finale on the cover of a newspaper.
:Appears in: "
For British Eyes Only", "
Forget-Me-Now
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "
Notapusy", "
Mr. F
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 min ...
", "
The Ocean Walker"
Uncle Trevor
Trevor Leeds (
Dave Thomas) is an English man and the uncle of Rita Leeds. He helped raise Rita, whose parents were cousins, which he implied might be a cause for her intellectual disability.
Uncle Trevor first appeared in the second episode of Season 3, "
For British Eyes Only", in which he is first seen not letting Michael access legal files which are "for British eyes only". After Michael meets Rita, he is seen swerving his
Austin-Healey
Austin-Healey was a British sports car maker established in 1952 through a joint venture between the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Donald Healey Motor Company (Healey), a renowned automotive engineering and des ...
into the Bluth's staircar, threatening Michael with regard to his prior interaction with Rita. Michael misinterprets the threat, thinking it has to do with the search for information regarding his father, and that Trevor has been stalking him.
He is last seen in "
The Ocean Walker", the sixth episode of Season 3. In this episode, after learning of Rita's intention to attend a "sleepover" with Michael, he visits the Bluth residence and informs them of Rita's "millions" and her ownership of Wee Britain. He later leaves for England with Rita at the end of the episode.
He also appears to be a fan of
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
, having apparently collected cricket magazines and even being in possession of a
cricket bat, which was also seen in the cover of his secret magazine, ''Bumpaddle''.
:Appears in: "
For British Eyes Only", "
Forget-Me-Now
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "
Notapusy", "
Mr. F
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 min ...
", "
The Ocean Walker"
White Power Bill
White Power Bill (David Reynolds) is a massive, bald,
white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
inmate with
George Bluth Sr. at the
Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
Prison.
White Power Bill is incensed when confronted with George's jailhouse conversion to Judaism. He is particularly upset at George's gesture of giving Little Justice, an inmate of the prison, a
kippah for protection and giving him the new name, ''David Ben-Avram''. He responds by hitting Little Justice with a pipe, knocking off his kippa. George diplomatically states that ."..both of our religions have a lot to offer. There's the
Jewish notion of
heaven, and that it can be obtained here on earth, and there is your belief in the cleansing power of the pipe."
When
Gob incarcerates himself in Orange County Prison (to break out as his greatest trick) he performs an "illusion" on Bill and pulls a quarter out of Bill's ear, thus giving him his new nickname: "Dirty Ears" Bill. Bill becomes furious and later stabs Gob (right after he is finally able to have a game of catch with his father in a prison yard), yelling "White Power", which gets the necessary response of, "...but...''I'm'' white..." from Gob.
Upon meeting
Tobias
Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible ...
, Bill refers to him as a "little
kike
The word ''kike'' () is an ethnic slur for a Jew.
Etymology
The earliest recorded use of the word dates to the 1880s. ." Tobias, oblivious ("It's been quite a while since anyone called me a tyke!"), is at the prison researching the role of "Frightened Inmate #2" in a prison drama. He leads Bill in a counseling session which unintentionally culminates in Bill's suicide after Tobias suggests that Bill's inner rage stems from a hatred of himself ("You hate White Power Bill"); Bill jumps from the cell-block landing, saying "I hate White Power Bill..." and dies.
:Appears in: "
Key Decisions", "
Staff Infection", "
Missing Kitty
The first season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 2, 2003 and June 6, 2004, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first season ...
"
Argyle Austero
Argyle Austero (
Tommy Tune
Thomas James Tune (born February 28, 1939) is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won ten Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and a star on the Hollywood Wal ...
) is the flamboyant brother of "Lucille Two" Austero and runs her rehab clinic, Austerity, where he is introduced to Tobias. Tobias, after initially refusing her offer, had decided it would be best to go on a work release program than stay in prison for a sex offense. Tobias convinces Argyle to make a Musical of the Fantastic 4 (written and directed by Tobias) in order to be with his girlfriend DeBrie who had recently joined the rehab group. Argyle was unable to resist the idea of producing a musical and in order to pay for it is he helps his sister by threatening Michael to pay his debt of $700,000. Ultimately, Argyle is forced to step in for DeBrie as the Invisible Girl and performed the musical with Tobias on Cinco de Quatro. In Season 5, Argyle appears as the leader of the "Gay Mafia", and threatens Gob for pretending to be gay, and hints that they killed Tony Wonder for doing the same.
:Appears in: "
Smashed"
Marky Bark
Marky Bark (
Chris Diamantopoulos
Chris Diamantopoulos (born May 9, 1975) is a Canadian actor. He played Russ Hanneman in the HBO series '' Silicon Valley'' and starred in the film '' The Three Stooges'', and the TV series ''Good Girls Revolt''. He currently voices Mickey Mouse ...
), introduced in season 4, is an environmental/political activist Lindsay meets when accompanying Tobias to a methadone clinic he thinks is an acting class. Falling in love with his ideals, Lindsay runs away with him, learning later that he suffers from "
face blindness", causing him to be unable to remember what Lindsay looks like, and that he runs an ostrich farm with his mother (
Debra Mooney
Debra Mooney (born August 28, 1947) is an American character actress, best known for her role as Edna Harper on The WB drama series ''Everwood'' (2002–06). Mooney is also known for her recurring roles in ''Scandal'', ''Grey's Anatomy'' and '' ...
), a lifestyle Lindsay has trouble getting used to. Marky's goal is to bring down right-wing politician Herbert Love. He first creates a blue "glitter bomb" that he intends to go off at a political fundraiser; unfortunately, Lindsay fails to help him get out of the podium he's hiding in, resulting in the bomb going off on him and covering him in blue glitter, after which he is arrested. After he is released from jail, he plans to make an actual bomb to explode near Love at Cinco de Cuatro; however, he plants it in Lindsay's suitcase, and since Lindsay and Tobias have matching luggage, he takes the wrong suitcase and the bomb explodes on the boat he and Tobias are on.
He is the son of environmental activist Johnny Bark (
Clint Howard
Clinton Engle Howard (born April 20, 1959) is an American actor. He is the second son born to American actors Rance and Jean Howard, and younger brother of actor and director Ron Howard. His 200-plus acting credits include feature films such as ...
).
DeBrie Bardeaux
DeBrie Bardeaux (
Maria Bamford
Maria Bamford (born September 3, 1970) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Her work has drawn critical acclaim and controversy because her humor often uses self-deprecating and dark topics, including her dysfunctional family, depressio ...
), introduced in season 4, is a recovering drug addict Tobias meets and falls in love with at a methodone clinic he thinks is an acting class. She is a former actress who played
Sue Storm in an ultra-low-budget movie adaptation of the
Fantastic Four, and Tobias tries to convince her to get back into acting. However, after no success at this, she leaves him and relapses. They meet again at the Austerity rehab center, where Tobias is a court-appointed counselor. Tobias tries to cast her as Sue Storm in his musical adaptation of Fantastic Four, to be staged at Cinco de Cuatro, but her stage fright (and the drugs she sees floating in the harbor the night of the show) lead to her not participating in the end.
Herbert Love
Herbert Love (
Terry Crews
Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, television host, and former American footballer. He played Julius Rock in the UPN/ CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris'', which aired from 2005 to 2009, and portrayed Terry Jeffords ...
), introduced in season 4, is a conservative candidate for the House of Representatives who is running against Lucille Austero. He is a parody of
2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential candidate Herman Cain.
Ron Howard
In addition to voicing
The Narrator,
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 ...
has appeared on the show as himself several times. Howard is among the individuals in Maeby's contact list to whom George Michael sends an invitation to her birthday. In his first on-screen appearance at the end of the final episode of season 3, Howard informs Maeby, with a hint of irony, that her life story would be better off being made into a movie as opposed to a TV series. Howard has a more substantial role in season four, in which he hires Michael to help produce a fictional movie based on the Bluths' story.
Dr. Norman, China Garden and Heartfire
Dr. Norman, China Garden and Heartfire, introduced in season 4, are friends of Oscar Bluth's who live with him on a commune at the U.S./Mexico border. George Sr. meets them while running his "sweat and squeeze" scam with Oscar.
Dr. Norman (
John Slattery
John M. Slattery Jr. (born August 13, 1962) is an American actor and director widely known for his role as Roger Sterling Jr. in the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–15), for which he was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award fo ...
) is a disgraced
anesthesiologist
Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine ...
who often gives advice under the influence of ether. Trying to help George Sr. with his impotence, he advises him to get on an MRI machine and "ride it to climax", which George interprets to mean masturbate. Norman later denies ever giving such advice, saying it's something he'd say "with my thinking cap on."
China Garden (
Karen Maruyama
Karen Maruyama (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress and comedian.
Career
Maruyama has appeared on television in supporting roles in a number of sitcoms, including recurring characters on ''The Jamie Foxx Show'', ''Strip Mall'', ''Suddenly ...
) is Dr. Norman's girlfriend, whom he met via a prison pen-pal program. She is loud and has a heavy accent. Her mother, Olive Garden, is in prison with Lucille.
Heartfire (
Mary Lynn Rajskub) is a mute spiritualist who communicates telepathically through her thoughts, though no one ever interprets her thoughts correctly or hears her. Her thoughts are seen as floating subtitles.
Fictional characters within ''Arrested Development''
Franklin Delano Bluth
Franklin Delano Bluth is
Gob's black puppet.
The character is first introduced in the season 2 episode "
Meat the Veals", in a flashback to a Bluth family gathering years before. In an effort to hip-up his act, Gob briefly introduced the
puppet in a poorly executed
ventriloquist
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...
act (Gob's mouth moves every time Franklin speaks, even when Gob abandons actual ventriloquism in favor of an audio recorder hidden in Franklin's mouth). Franklin is a fiery-tempered, adulterous, obscenity-spewing, street-wise puppet.
Gob discarded Franklin up in the attic, most likely due to the severe beating Gob received in a night club in Torrance after performing a show with Franklin. During "
Meat the Veals", Gob digs up his old friend and uses Franklin in a kidnapping plot with George Sr. Gob soaks Franklin's lips with ether, so that a kiss will incapacitate his mother, and any witnesses (in this case, Buster). Franklin is again soaked in ether two episodes later in "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
" in order to incapacitate George Sr. It's also revealed in "
Meat the Veals" that whoever is in possession of Franklin begins speaking like him (cf. when George Sr. finds Franklin in the attic, he blurts, "Hey, man, you're gonna get your sorry white ass thrown in jail!" and "Get your loser hand out of my ass!" when Gob finds Franklin, and when Buster uses Franklin as a hook replacement and Lucille tells him he can't take Franklin to the country club). This phenomenon appears to be involuntary, and surprises the person holding Franklin as much as those around them, evidenced by the quizzical stare which Buster directs at the puppet following the aforementioned outburst by the usually reserved Buster.
Then Gob records a music CD with Franklin called "Franklin Comes Alive", a spoof of ''
Frampton Comes Alive'' by
Peter Frampton. Gob hoped that the CD would "break down racial barriers and maybe be a crossover hit." The song tracks include "It Ain't Easy Bein' White" and Gob's cover of
Bryan Adams
Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...
' song "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" which Gob performed especially for Michael. Unfortunately Franklin's musical career is cut short during "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
" when a laundry accident results in Franklin getting bleached. Franklin says, in what is now a stiff, slightly British accent, "You've ruined the act, Gob", and as Gob later tells Michael, Franklin has become "all puckered and white."
Franklin returns in some season 3 episodes, most prominently in "
Fakin' It", after he is re-dyed and rested; as a publicity stunt, Gob manages to get Franklin on the witness list for George Sr.'s trial. (A deleted scene reveals that Gob legally adopted Franklin as his son to achieve this.) Gob also finds a way to give Franklin a voice without moving his lips by using voice promos from a magazine advertisement for ''Mock Trial with Judge Reinhold, J. Reinhold''. At the end of the episode, Franklin's dramatic testimonial on the witness stand effectively ends the prosecution's case against the Bluths. Franklin also appears in the next episode "
Family Ties
''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States ...
" as "Frank", a pimp for whom Nellie works.
Franklin is a portrayal of the 1950s–1980s stereotype of blacks. As part of the political satire, Franklin also wears a "George Bush doesn't care about black puppets" T-shirt in "
Fakin' It", a reference to Kanye West's "George Bush doesn't care about black people" remark. No matter who is controlling him, Franklin often curses and uses racial slurs to describe others in the Bluth Family.
The name Franklin Delano Bluth borrows from the 32nd President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but the reason for this is that in the 1970s ''Sesame Street'' introduced what some claimed to be an "insultingly stereotypical African-American" puppet named Roosevelt Franklin (though the puppet's actual intended ethnicity was ambiguous and its 'skin' was purple); the character was eventually dropped from the show's line-up. Franklin could also be another tribute to the ''Peanuts'' cartoons, as this show also featured an African-American character named Franklin (Peanuts), Franklin. It is also probable Franklin is inspired at least in some way by Chuck's dummy Bob on the television show ''Soap (TV series), Soap'' shown on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1977 to 1981.
The running gag with Franklin is that despite being a mere puppet, he is actually treated as a real person. This can be seen in "
Meat the Veals", where the Security Guard treats him with respect, George Sr. attacks him for kissing Lucille, and the police regarded him as threat despite being immobile at the vehicle in the same episode.
:Appears in: "
Meat the Veals", "
Spring Breakout", "
Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
", "
Forget-Me-Now
The third season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third ...
", "
Prison Break-In", "
Fakin' It", "
Family Ties
''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States ...
"
Mr. Bananagrabber
Mr. Bananagrabber is a McDonaldland#Characters, Hamburglar-inspired character invented by #Gob, Gob.
Mr. Bananagrabber was conceived by Gob after his brother,
Michael Bluth
Nichael "Michael" Bluth is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development'', created by Mitchell Hurwitz, and portrayed by Jason Bateman. Michael serves as the series straight man, and leads h ...
, told him that he could not have a free Bluth Banana. Dejected, Gob decides to get a candy apple at one of the other shops on the boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk. When Gob bites into the candy apple, it breaks his tooth and Gob develops a whistle anytime he says a word with an "voiceless alveolar fricative, s" in it (a key characteristic of Bananagrabber). Gob and Michael then meet again, and Michael says Gob can have a free Bluth Banana and in exchange, Gob gives Michael the animation rights to Mr. Bananagrabber (Michael makes Mr. Banana Grabber look a lot like Gob from his hair, to his missing-tooth whistle, to his Segway. When Gob sees the commercial, he says "I never should have given up animation rights.").
Mr. Bananagrabber appeared on the episode of ''Sit Down, Shut Up!'' in a nightmare/flashback sequence.
Michael Bluth
Nichael "Michael" Bluth is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television sitcom ''Arrested Development'', created by Mitchell Hurwitz, and portrayed by Jason Bateman. Michael serves as the series straight man, and leads h ...
discussing the Mr. Bananagrabber character: "I guess it would just be a guy who, you know, grabs bananas and runs. Or a banana that grabs things. I don't know. Why would a banana grab another banana? I mean those are the kind of questions I don't want to answer."
Mr. Bananagrabber's first appearance was in "
Charity Drive". At the end of the episode, we see the first incarnation of Mr. Bananagrabber as an animated character. The short animation clip scene was designed and animated by Evan Spiridellis, one half of the animation duo JibJab.
Mr. Bananagrabber also appears briefly in the episodes "
Whistler's Mother
''Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1'', best known under its colloquial name ''Whistler's Mother'' or ''Portrait of Artist's Mother'', is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler in 1871. ...
", "
The Immaculate Election" and "
Spring Breakout", as well as a brief cameo in the main titles of the "Scandalmakers" program, as seen in season 2. Although images do not exist, a Mrs. and Baby-Bananagrabber are mentioned by Gob.
Like
Gob, Mr. Bananagrabber rides around on a Segway PT, Segway human transporter, which is referred to as "Gob's scooter" on the show.
:Appears in: "
Charity Drive", "
Whistler's Mother
''Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1'', best known under its colloquial name ''Whistler's Mother'' or ''Portrait of Artist's Mother'', is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler in 1871. ...
", "
The Immaculate Election", "
Spring Breakout"
Mrs. Featherbottom
Phylidia Featherbottom is an alter-ego of
Tobias Fünke, dressed in drag (clothing), drag and speaking in falsetto with an English English, English accent.
Tobias, having moved out of the model home due to his marital problems with Lindsay, returns disguised (poorly) as a British nanny to spend time with his daughter and prove to his wife that he has what it takes to become an actor. The disguise fools no one, and the performance is comically unrealistic, but the Bluths play along with the charade because Mrs. Featherbottom is an excellent cleaner, working for free.
Narration explains that the idea behind Mrs. Featherbottom is lifted directly from the film ''
Mrs. Doubtfire
''Mrs. Doubtfire'' is a 1993 American comedy-drama film directed by Chris Columbus. It was written for the screen by Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon, based on the 1987 novel ''Alias Madame Doubtfire'' by Anne Fine. Robin Williams, who also s ...
'', with elements of ''Mary Poppins (character), Mary Poppins''. She comes from the fictional Blackstool (a play on the English town Blackpool, Lancashire) and has previously worked for "the Roger Moores". Mrs. Featherbottom's faux-British speech combines with Tobias’ penchant for homosexual innuendo: "Who'd like a banger in the mouth?"
Mrs. Featherbottom is introduced in "
The Immaculate Election" and is seen additionally working for Lucille at her home at the end of this episode. At the beginning of "
Sword of Destiny", Tobias's "desire to be discovered as himself was becoming bothersome", and he was pretending to be Mrs. Featherbottom while unshaven and without makeup. However, Lindsay is still reluctant to expose him, because Mrs Featherbottom "is the only one who can hand-wash [her] delicates". In "
Meat the Veals", Mrs. Featherbottom injures her ankle by "attempting an entrance that he hoped would enchant his daughter", jumping from the halfway down the staircase to the ground floor with an umbrella in his hand, collapsing and destroying the coffee table. Mrs. Featherbottom loses her wig and is finally exposed at the conclusion of "Meat the Veals", to no one's surprise.
The name 'Featherbottom' is also used by Maeby and Lindsay in season 4.
:Appears in: "
The Immaculate Election", "
Sword of Destiny", "
Meat the Veals"
Surely Fünke/Woolfbeak
Surely Fünke is
Maeby Fünke's imaginary twin and second identity that she uses to raise sympathy from the public and thus swindle money from them at fraudulent fundraising events.
In Maeby's many schemes she often uses the alter-ego, Surely (the word being an antonym of ''maybe''), to fool schoolmates and the community, in an attempt to make money from fundraisers for Surely, who Maeby presents as an ill wheelchair user, suffering from the imaginary rare, debilitating illness, "B.S." Posters are seen at the school in episode "
Shock and Aww", but it isn't until several episodes later that Maeby's grift is revealed. In "
Altar Egos", George Michael attends the fundraiser for Surely Fünke, where he discovers that Maeby has been posing as the fictional dying girl. Maeby says she plans to kill Surely to give the students something to be sad about at the end of the year.
In "
Notapusy", Maeby pretends to be Surely Woolfbeak and enters an inner beauty pageant to prove there really is no such thing as a true inner beauty pageant. Surely Woolfbeak was essentially the same as Surely Fünke (who was apparently "killed off" two seasons earlier, as per Maeby's plan). The only real difference between them was that as Woolfbeak, Maeby wore the ugly prosthetic nose worn by Nicole Kidman in "The Hours" that actor Jamie Kennedy had purchased for her at an auction, in hopes that she would use him in a remake of a film she was producing.
Brief characters
These are more or less minor characters, appearing usually for only one episode or so.
Cindi Lightballoon
Cindi Lightballoon (Jane Lynch) is an undercover agent working for the federal government to uncover George's secret dealings. Posing as a fan of his Torah videos (which she actually is), she eventually falls in love with George, who only enjoys tweaking her nipples.
:Appears in: "
Shock and Aww", "
Altar Egos", "
Justice Is Blind"
Ice
Ice (Malik Yoba) is a bounty hunter and professional caterer.
Ice is initially employed by Gob to follow Michael, although a recurring joke is that Gob views Ice as his friend. (Michael later pays Ice to spend the weekend with Gob).
Ice commits a series of blunders and is easily persuaded by money. He first follows Michael to Mexico while under the employment of Gob, and then is hired by Michael to find George Sr. Ice is given a blueprint with a picture of George Sr. on it, but is confused and tackles Tobias because he is wearing blue paint, and thus resembles the blue tint of the picture. ICE then returns to tracking Michael until Michael finally pays him to spend time with Gob and resume the search for George Sr. In the following episode, Ice ascertains that George Sr. was killed by a prison guard in Mexico.
Throughout these events, Ice consistently ignores or is oblivious to Lindsay's attempts to attract him. At one point, Lindsay pretends to be talking to George Sr. on the phone so that Ice will follow her to get to George Sr., but this plan proves futile.
When Ice notifies the family of George Sr.'s plight, he displays his party-planning talents by catering the event and leaves a business card with them to help jumpstart his alternate career of party-planning, referred to as his "first love."
Carl Weathers mentions to Tobias in season 2 that, in a show called Scandal Makers that he was directing to portray the Bluths, he had decided to play Ice.
:Appears in: "
¡Amigos!
The second season of the television comedy series ''Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
", "
Good Grief"
"Uncle" Jack
"Uncle" Jack Dorso (Martin Short) is not related to the Bluth family, he was actually a friend of George Sr.'s dad. He gave George Sr. the money to buy the first tract of land for the Bluth development company in exchange for what is implied to be sexual favors from Lucille.
Jack Dorso achieved stardom as the sidekick in the radio show "Red McGibbon and Bullet: Nazi Hunters." After his partner was imprisoned for being a communist sympathizer, Jack was unable to get work as an actor. He opened a chain of fitness centers, and came to be known for his annual "Birthday Feats of Strength." He lost the use of his legs on his 70th birthday when he attempted to squat 350 lb (5 lb for each year of his life).
Now a 90-year-old paraplegic fitness buff, he refuses the use of a wheel chair. Instead he gets around by being carried like a child by a large man named Dragon who is hard of hearing. Dragon's hearing impairment causes him difficulty in following Jack's directions.
Uncle Jack agrees to give the Bluth family more money in exchange for a date with Lindsay, a woman more than half a century his junior. Lindsay was convinced to go on the date by Michael telling her the date was with Dragon, but that Dragon has to work, thus explaining Jack's presence.
:Appears in: "
Ready, Aim, Marry Me
The second season of the television comedy series '' Arrested Development'' aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second ...
"
James Buck
James Buck (Rocky McMurray) is warden of George's prison until he is replaced by Stefan Gentles. Buck is aggressive and unappreciative of the Bluths, though he allows Gob to try to perform an escape act from the prison, which largely fails, leading Gob to write a "strongly worded letter" to Buck, for which he is detained against the trailer George Sr. and Lucille are having sex in.
:Appears in: "
Key Decisions", "
Visiting Ours"
Phillip Litt
Phillip Litt (Zach Braff) is the director of the film series ''Girls With Low Self-Esteem'' (a parody of Girls Gone Wild (franchise), Girls Gone Wild); while the series is often referenced in the show, Litt only appears after Gob's failed magic act is included in the newest release. He, along with Tobias, is a never-nude. Braff was likely cast due to his resemblance to Girls Gone Wild (franchise), Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis.
:Appears in: "
Spring Breakout", "
S.O.B.s" (briefly)
Frank Wrench (Moses Taylor)
Frank Wrench is the protagonist of ''Wrench'', a fictional television series about a rule-abiding police detective. He is played by actor Moses Taylor, who is also a vocal gun activist, frequently brandishing a realistic prop gun that shoots out a flag imprinted with the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, Second Amendment. Lindsay briefly begins an affair with Taylor which is interrupted when she is shot by a tranquilizer dart. From the perspective of a group of onlookers, Taylor, who is holding his prop gun, looks like he has murdered her; he quickly carries her to a bench where he leaves her and flees the scene. His voice is later heard outside the door to the bathroom on the set of ''Wrench'', which Tobias has entered, believing it to have a real, functioning toilet. On ''Arrested Development'', Moses Taylor and his character-within-a-character Frank Wrench are played by Rob Corddry.
:Appears in: "
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
", "
Sword of Destiny"
Tracey Bluth
Tracey Bluth is Michael's deceased wife, and George Michael's deceased mother. She died of ovarian cancer before the series. She is briefly seen in a flashback/fake ad in season 4, played by Maria Thayer.
:Appears in: "It Gets Better"
Nellie
Nellie, played by Justine Bateman, is a prostitute who Michael mistakes for his sister. He also mistakenly believes that she is a business consultant (her job title, if read carefully, is "con''slut''ant") and hires her to work at the Bluth Company.
Although Michael and Nellie turn out not to be related, Jason and Justine Bateman are siblings in real life.
:Appears in: "Family Ties"
References
{{Arrested Development
Arrested Development, Characters
Lists of American sitcom television characters, Arrested Development