Arrested Development: 10 Things Only Die-Hard Fans Know About The Series

Netflix’s revival of Arrested Development that began all the way back in 2013 may have come to an end, but its remains worth watching for its original style, intelligent writing, and ridiculously oblivious characters. The show provided some of the most memorable moments of any sitcom, as well as one of the most shocking TV plot twists that were subtly foreshadowed.

Despite its popularity, there are a lot of fascinating details about Arrested Development that most fans don’t know about. For the hardcore fans of the cult sitcom, however, these facts help define a show that wasn’t afraid to be different.

Arrested Development Was Inspired By Reality TV

In the early 2000s, when the show was first conceived by Ron Howard, reality TV was already a huge genre in its own right and it had a very distinctive visual style compared to others. For Arrested Development, Howard had the idea of a situational comedy that used the “visual vocabulary” of reality TV, as he told the Television Academy.

Luckily, the potential of this idea was immediately recognized by eventual showrunner Mitchell Hurwitz, who already had an idea for a dysfunctional family that would become the Bluths.  The show was also influenced by The Simpsons, which had already demonstrated that not all sitcoms needed to follow conventions.

Ron Howard Was Arrested Development’s Uncredited Narrator

Arrested Development had one of the most iconic narrators of any television show, often breaking the neutrality viewers would expect of a detached observer narrator and giving his own wry opinion on characters or events. It is a surprise then, that this narrator went uncredited for all 84 episodes.

In reality, the voice was provided by Ron Howard, who remained an executive producer of the show and even went on to have his own cameo, confusingly blurring the line between reality and fiction. Initially, Howard only voiced the narrator for the pilot as a stand-in, but after it tested well, he became a permanent fixture.

Michael Cera Almost Missed Out On His Role In Arrested Development

Michael Cera, Tony Hale, who played Buster Bluth, and Jessica Walter, who played Lucille, were all cast from videotape auditions before being called in for the pilot. All went on to be iconic cast members, with Buster having some of the best quotes in Arrested Development. There were concerns, however, that the Canadian Michael Cera would have issues obtaining a Visa to work in America in time for the audition, and that he could miss out on his chance.

In the end, luckily, the then 11-year old Cera was able to obtain the Visa in time. The show went on to launch Cera’s career as well as giving him one of his best roles, playing the awkward George Michael Bluth.

Tobias, George Sr. And Barry Zuckerkorn Weren’t Supposed To Be Regulars In Arrested Development

Arrested Development was always intended to focus on the Michael Bluth and the rest of the core Bluth family, so it’s no surprise that the team didn’t initially have the imprisoned George Sr, played by Jeffrey Tambor, down to be a regular cast member. Similarly, Tobias Fünke, the husband of Lindsay, and Barry Zuckerkorn weren’t expected to be in the show as much as they were.

Of course, with Tambor, David Cross, and Henry Winkler all giving memorable performances as each of their respective characters, it would have been hard to leave them out of future episodes.

Tobias’ “Nevernude” Condition In Arrested Development Is A Real Thing

The fear of nudity is referred to as gymnophobia and is a highly personalized phobia. It can manifest in different ways, and often has similar symptoms to other serious phobias. One of the ways it can manifest is never wanting to be naked though, even when alone or with a significant other.

This reflects how Tobias is portrayed in the show, refusing to take off his iconic jean shorts even in moments of intimacy. Though Tobias perhaps isn’t the most realistic portrayal of the phobia, it seems he is not the only one who hates the idea of being seen without clothes.

Arrested Development’s Producers Never Expected To Get Liza Minnelli

Minnelli joined the show in season 1 and played Lucille Austero, the fierce rival of Lucille Bluth, returning to the role again in seasons 2 and 4. While the producers had her in mind as a dream casting for the role of “Lucille 2”, it was Ron Howard who asked her to join the cast and managed to convince the multitalented Minnelli.

Even though she hadn’t seen the show, Minnelli quickly got to grips with the show’s style and became a welcome addition. She was another member of the cast who ended up appearing in far more episodes than initially expected, due to her character simply being too good to leave out.

Amy Poehler, Who Played Gob’s Wife In Arrested Development, Was Married To Will Arnett In Real Life

In another instance of the show blurring the line between fiction and reality, the at-the-time married couple played an on-screen couple in seasons 1 and 2 of the show. Gob, played by Arnett, got married to Amy Poehler’s unnamed character as a result of a series of escalating dares, perhaps a less romantic origin story.

In a nod to this fact, Gob even refers to the character as Amy when trying to demonstrate the fact he has no intention of learning her actual name. Poehler went on to appear in five episodes of the show.

Arrested Development Referenced Happy Days In Its Casting

Already having Ron Howard and Henry Winkler on the team, both of whom played parts in the iconic sitcom, the show made further references to Happy Days throughout its run. In one instance, Winkler sticks his arms out after combing his hair in a mirror in the style of his character, Fonzie, in the show’s opening credits, and, in another, he literally “jumps the shark” as the show is now infamous for doing.

In another reference to the show, the character Bob Loblaw, who is set to replace Winkler’s character as the Bluth family lawyer, is played by Scott Baio. This is a reference to how Baio joined the cast of Happy Days as Chachi, a cool, younger character who was effectively taking Fonzie’s teen idol role from Winkler, who was getting older.

Arrested Development Was One Of Many Award-Winning Shows Cancelled By Fox

It was thanks to prematurely ending the life of shows like Arrested Development after the show’s third season in 2006 that 20th Century Studios gained a negative reputation for canceling beloved properties. Arrested Development wasn’t the first either, as shows like Futurama and Firefly were both canceled in the early 2000s, and Emmy award-winning The Ben Stiller Show was axed even earlier.

It’s unknown how many seasons of the show would have been created if not for its cancelation. Thanks to Netflix picking the show back up though, Arrested Development was able to return in a new form and for a new kind of media, despite the fact it had some of the most expensive episodes of any sitcom.

Arrested Development Season 4 Has An Official “Remix”

With such a long gap before the show was revived by Netflix in 2013, there were issues with getting the cast together at the same time, meaning the show had to be filmed and edited around that. Additionally, Hurwitz was trying something different by showing the same events happening from a different perspective in each episode.

However, not everyone was a fan of this experiment in non-linear storytelling and so, in 2018, Netflix released a recut “remix” called Fateful Consequences, that turned the non-linear 15 episodes into a more traditionally structured 22-episode season.