I was about 14 years old when I saw my first Arrested Development episode. I was with my mom, watching some T.V. show on FOX when a commercial announced, “Stay tuned for Arrested.” I was expecting a show similar to COPS or America’s Most Wanted, but was in no way ready for what I was about to see. At that time I was too young to appreciate Arrested Development, but I still understood that it was different than anything I had ever seen on television before.
Mitch Hurwitz began writing the series in 2002 and the first episode aired in 2003. Arrested Development received much critical acclaim but failed to acquire a decent audience during its three seasons on air. Of course now Arrested Development has a ridiculously sized fan base considering that five years have passed since the last episode aired.
What makes the show so brilliant is the continuity. Hurwitz is an amazing writer and creates subtle jokes that the viewer does not always catch on first watching the show. It can take years and years of dedication to the series to pick out all of the references and attention to detail in the series. Also, Arrested Development episodes are constantly referring to previous Arrested Development episodes and to other television shows such as Happy Days.
There is so much going on in Arrested Development. There are reoccurring themes of incest (easily explained away by adoption), between cousins George Michael and Maeby and then later on between brother and sister Michael and Lindsey. Constant references to political concerns of the time such as the PATRIOT Act, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and countless other events surrounding the war and Iraq. There are frequent references to J. Walter Weatherman, “Forget-Me-Knows,” and the list goes on and on.
The reoccurring reference to Cloudmir Vodka is the most easily recognizable of the continuity. When Tobias paints himself blue in order to stalk his wife Lindsey after they begin their open marriage; he is seen disguised by a large blue advertisement for Cloudmir Vodka. Lindsay was previously offered a job to advertise for the same vodka company and later on at the Bluth Company Christmas party; Cloudmir Vodka is in the cart of alcohol G.O.B. brings.
Henry Winkler plays the Bluth’s attorney, Barry Zuckerkorn (he’s very good!). There is a scene in the show where Barry hops over a dead shark on a dock. It took me years to catch this reference to Happy Days; but in my defense, Happy Days was before my time.
If you haven’t already seen Arrested Development it is currently instantly streaming on Netflix. If you don’t have Netflix, well… you should, but I have all three seasons on DVD and I would be more than happy to let anyone borrow them. So, you have no excuse to not watch this show.
There have been rumors and whispers of an Arrested Development movie for the past few years. Hurwitz is apparently still working on the script and many of the cast members have confirmed that the movie is in fact happening. The only question is when will they start production?
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