Trivia for
"Arrested Development" (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• Episodes end with scenes appearing "on the next Arrested Development". These scenes usually don't appear in the next episode, but are part of the series' continuity.
  
  
• In one episode, Henry Winkler looks in a mirror, starts to comb his hair, then puts his arms out, just like Fonzie in the opening credits of "Happy Days" (1974).
  
  
• Lucille Austero's nickname is "Lucille 2".
  
  
• The nickname "Gob" is based on his initials (George Oscar Bluth).
  
  
• Before each commercial break, the scene cuts to an all-white screen instead of a typical all-black screen.
  
  
• Neither David Cross's nor Jeffrey Tambor's characters were ever intended to be regular characters. It wasn't until the actors tested so well that the writers ended up putting them regularly in the series.
  
  
• Three actresses played Marta during the three seasons. In the first two episodes ("Bringing Up Buster" and "Key Decisions"), she was played by Leonor Varela. But in the next few episodes she was in, she was played by Patricia Velasquez. In a later episode, during a montage of Michaels former girlfriends, one of them are labeled "Martha", played by an uncredited actress. According to the DVD commentaries, this was an after-throught when they were adding names in post-production, to have a third actress take on the role, even if this version had no lines and only appeared on screen for a few seconds.
  
  
• The song that plays whenever GOB performs on stage is "The Final Countdown" by Europe.
  
  
• Even before the "Altar Egos" episode, posters reading Save Surely can be seen on the walls when George Michael and Maeby are at school.
  
  
• The show is shot as a documentary, so character's swearing is bleeped out. However, the producers must find ways to obscure the mouths of the characters who are swearing so that their mouths don't have to be blurred out. This is often accomplished by cutting to a shot of another character reacting to the swearing, or by blocking the mouths with objects. Sometimes the characters resort to just covering their mouths with their hands.
  
  
• Martin Short's character Uncle Jack is based loosely on real-life 90-year-old fitness guru Jack LaLanne. Speech mannerisms, style of dress, and even the dyed jet-black hair are all trademarks of LaLanne, who, unlike Short's character, remains extremely mobile and agile at the time of this episode's airing.
  
  
• Amy Poehler, who plays Gob's accidental wife in many season one episodes is, in fact, Will Arnett's (the actor who plays Gob) wife.
  
  
• In the pilot both the model house and Lucille's houses were completely different. Tobias also had different glasses, Buster had longer hair and George-Michael had darker skin.
  
  
• In the second season, the Bluth Company housing order is cut back from 22 to 18. This is a reference to FOX cutting back the order of episodes of the second season from the usual 22 to 18.In the third season, FOX cut the third season's episode order from 22 episodes to 13 episodes.
  
  
• The websites featured on the show are real. You can go to www.imoscar.com, www.never-nude.com, www.freeannyong.com, www.imnoscar.com, and www.barrygood.biz.
  
  
• Tobias' "nevernude" condition is a real psychological affliction known as gymnophobia, the fear of nude bodies.
  
  
• Recurring character Starla had always claimed she had a relationship with Quincy Jones. The actress who played Starla, Mo Collins, is a former cast member on the Fox sketch show "MADtv" (1995) which Quincy Jones produces.
  
  
• 'Ron Howard''s role as the narrator was accidental. He was merely filling in on the pilot and his voice just "worked".
  
  
• In the Season 1 finale "Let Em Eat Cake", Alessandra Torresani played George Michael's girlfriend Ann, and her brief performance was singled out for praise by the rest of the cast on the DVD commentary for the episode. By Season 2, however, Ann was played by the very different-looking Mae Whitman. This casting change is possibly a joke, since Michael repeatedly forgets what Ann looks like, and Maeby jealously calls her "No Face".
  
  
• In the pilot, Michael is seen applying for and receiving a position at what the narrator refers to as a "rival firm." The sign behind the employers reads "Sitwell."
  
  
• Jason Bateman's sister Justine Bateman guest-starred on one third season episode titled "Family Ties" (1982), a reference to Justine's popular 1980s sitcom as well as to her relation to "Arrested Development" (2003) star Jason Bateman. Jason had long lobbied producer Mitchell Hurwitz to cast Justine in a guest role on the show, but Jason had originally wanted her to come on to play his character's love interest.
  
  
• The video camera that Gob uses to make his Tricks (Around the Office) video, and which appears many other times, is a Canon XL-2.
  
  
• Alia Shawkat was the first actor cast for the pilot.
  
  
• Will Arnett beat out Rainn Wilson for the part of Gob during the final round of auditions.
  
  
• Both Tony Hale (Buster) and Will Arnett (GOB) have appeared in episodes of two HBO series: Sex and the City and the Sopranos. Hale appeared in "The Real Me" from Sex and the City and "Second Opinion" from the Sopranos. Arnett appeared in "La Douleur Exquise!" from Sex and the City and "For All Debts Public and Private" and "No Show" from the Sopranos.
  
  
• Jason Bateman described the show in an interview for the Season 1 DVD box set as "The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) shot like "Cops" (1989)."
  
  
• When a photo is shown of Rita (Charlize Theron) from before her plastic surgery, it is actually a film still from _Monster_(2003)_, for which Theron famously gained 30 pounds and underwent extensive special effects makeup regimens to make her look rougher and less advantaged.
  
  
• David Cross was originally approached to play Buster Bluth, but chose to play Tobias Funke.
  
  
• The branch insignia disc on Buster's Army dress uniform indicated he was part of the Air Defense Artillery branch, meaning his specialty was probably as a Patriot Missile Battery operator or an Avenger Air Defense System crewmember.
  
  
• Michael's late wife is named Tracey.
  
  
• The name of the gun crazed celebrity, Moses Taylor, is a combination of Charlton Heston's two biggest roles - Moses, and Taylor , the mission commander from Planet of the Apes (1968). Heston was the president of the National Rifle Association for a number of years and remained an advocate of the group until his death.
  
  
• News broadcasts in numerous episodes feature anchorman John Beard. John Beard was the real life news anchor for Fox's local news in Southern California.
  
  
• A recurring joke has various characters named for adverbs. For example, the regular character played by Alia Shawkat is named "Maybe", her phony alter-ego is named "Surely", and George-Michael's ethics teacher (played by Heather Graham) is named Miss Barely.
  
  
• Jason Bateman is several months older than Will Arnett, yet plays his younger brother in the series.
  
  
• Alia Shawkat and Mae Whitman, who play George Michael's romantic interests, were both previously the main characters in the program "State of Grace" (2001).
  
  
• The character of Frank Wrench may be a reference to popular pulp fiction character Mike Hammer.
  
  
• Two often-mentioned fictional restaurants on the show are "Miss Temple's", which is said to be particularly popular on Friday nights, and "Skip Church's", where characters often go for Sunday brunch. The names of the restaurants describe the activities of their regulars, since Jews who go out to dinner on Friday night instead of attending a synagogue literally "miss temple", and Christians who eat Sunday brunch instead of going to a religious service literally "skip church".
  
  

• SPOILER: The mysterious cooler containing incriminating evidence against the George Bluth Sr. featured in the episode "1-18 Missing Kitty" (among other episodes) has the name "H. Maddas" written across the side. "H. Maddas" written backwards is "Saddam H."
  
  
• SPOILER: After Buster discovers that his biological father is not George but George's brother Oscar, he regularly calls Oscar his "uncle-father." This is a reference to Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2: "... my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived... I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw."
  
  

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