Great TV While High: Arrested Development

Arrested Development, like Van Gogh, was never truly appreciated until after it’s demise. Easily one of the best comedies in existence, Arrested Development has become an enormous cult sensation and, quite literally, has set the gold standard by which other shows are judged. Let me tell you, the show set that bar pretty damn high (which is what you should be during your first or any subsequent Bananathon).

Fox, in its infinite wisdom and foresight, cancelled Arrested Development after just 3 seasons and wrote it off as a loss. The fans however, did not go quietly into that good night. The show’s DVD sales exploded so far beyond expectations and generated such a following that, 7 years after its cancellation, Netflix bought the rights and actually pulled some Lazarus magic.

Arrested Development was renewed for at least one more season and possibly a feature film. Thank you Netflix! I’d pay the subscription fee each month just to have access to Arrested Development.

The show revolves around one hysterically dysfunctional family, the Bluths. The Bluths also own a flailing land development company. The pilot depicts a retirement party for the patriarch of the family, George Bluth (known as either George Senior or the more affectionate moniker of Pop Pop by his grandchildren). At this party, the shows main protagonist, Michael Bluth (son of George Senior) expects to be handed the reigns of the company. I won’t ruin the story for you, but basically what happens is that George Senior decides to hand the company over to his wife, Lucille, rather than Michael, and is almost immediately arrested by the SEC for “light treason.” The show then takes off with Michael eventually getting control of the company and George Senior going to jail.

The plots and story lines are exceptionally well written and interwoven with expertly built layers that continue to unfold (I have seen the show in its entirety many, many times and I still find subtleties and nuances that are new to me). However, what makes Arrested Development so righteously funny are the characters. I think it’s easiest to do a generational breakdown:

The elders:

• George Senior, the patriarch, hilariously blunt and spends his time either in jail, hiding from the law, or on house arrest.
• Lucille Bluth, constantly drinking, criticizing her children and exhibiting thinly veiled bigotry (in an episode wherein Lucille is attending a Hispanic awards show, she says “a sea full of waiters and no one will take a drink order”).
• Oscar Bluth, George Senior’s identical twin brother. Where George is bald and a former business titan, Oscar has a full head of long hair and is basically a hippie, the show repeatedly references marijuana and other drugs in relation to Oscar. One story arc involves Oscar’s annual 420 pilgrimage walk from Southern California to Humboldt. Oscar only ever makes it a couple of miles before giving up and getting stoned.

The middle generation:

• Michael Bluth, responsible, level headed son who just wants to turn the Bluth company into a success. His wife has died and he’s raising his son as a single father.
• Gob Bluth, “Gob” (pronounced with a “j”) stands for George Oscar Bluth, he is the eldest of George and Lucilles children. He is generally a screw-up and retains occasional employment as a magician.
• Lindsay Bluth and Tobias Funke, Lindsay is supposedly Michael’s twin sister and has more beauty than brains. She married Tobias Funke, a former psychologist turned failed actor who is so far in the closet he doesn’t know it.
• Buster Bluth, the baby of the family, he is in his thirties and still lives with Lucille. He has spent many years in college with no degree. At one point, after it is revealed that he studied cartography, he looks at a map and say “ok, so this blue part is the land.”

The grandchildren:

• George Michael, the son of Michael, he is a delightfully awkward and insecure teenager who falls in love with his cousin.
• Maeby Funke, George Michael’s cousin on whom he has a crush, the daughter of Tobias and Lindsay, generally mischevious and holds a reckless abandon for rules.

Arrested Development is really an impossible television phenomenon to reduce to a short article. There is no way to appreciate it but to give it a watch. Just make sure you give it a few episodes before you decide against it, it’s one of those shows that keeps building on itself and deepening the jokes throughout the whole series.

So, Weedists, I hope that if you’re not already a fan of Arrested Development, you will give it a try. For those of you that are already believers, I hope that you, like me, will smoke a “big yellow joint” and settle in. On May 26th at 12:01 AM the show drops on Netflix and I, for one, will be hosting a non-stop Bananathon.

Check out other posts from Weedist’s Great TV While High series!