6. Mad Men- Mad Men is set in the 1960s, initially at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency onMadison Avenue in New York City, and later at the newly created firm Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.[3] The focal point of the series is Don Draper (Jon Hamm), creative director at Sterling Cooper and a founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and the people in his life, both in and out of the office. As such, it regularly depicts the changing moods and social mores of 1960s America.
Mad Men has received critical acclaim, particularly for its historical authenticity and visual style, and has won multiple awards, including fifteen Emmys and four Golden Globes. It is the first basic cable series to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, winning it in each of its first four seasons in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.[4
7. Arrested Development- arrested Development is an American television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz for theFox Broadcasting Company. The show's storyline centers on the Bluth family, a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family, and is presented in a continuous format, incorporating hand-held camera work, narration, archival photos, and historical footage. Ron Howard is an executive producer and the uncredited narrator. Although set in Newport Beach,California, Arrested Development was primarily filmed around Culver City and Marina del Rey. Three seasons of the show were produced and aired between 2003 and 2006. In late 2011, it was announced that Netflix would exclusively license new episodes for a 2013 debut on its streaming video service.[1] All ten episodes will be released on the same day, and are planned for an early 2013 debut.[2]
Since debuting on November 2, 2003, the series has earned six Emmy awards, one Golden Globe, and widespread critical acclaim and has attracted a cult following, including several fan-based websites.[3] In 2007 it was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."[4] In 2008, the show was placed #16 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list.[5]
Despite the approval from critics, Arrested Development never climbed in the ratings. Fox aired the final four episodes of the third season in a block as a two-hour series finale on February 10, 2006, opposite the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics (which was being broadcast on NBC). A script is currently under development for a movie adaptation ofArrested Development. The main cast of the TV series will reprise their roles.[6]
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[edit]Development
Discussion that led to the creation of the series began in the summer of 2002. Ron Howard had the original idea to create a comedy in the style of hand-held cameras and reality television, but with an elaborate, highly comical script resulting from repeated rewritings and rehearsals.[7] Howard met with David Nevins, the President of Imagine Television, Katie O'Connell, a senior vice president, and two writers, including Mitchell Hurwitz. In light of recent corporate accounting scandals, such as Enron and Adelphia, Hurwitz suggested a story about a "riches to rags" family. Howard and Imagine were immediately interested in using this idea, and signed Hurwitz on to write the show. The idea was pitched and sold in the fall of 2002. Over the next few months, Hurwitz developed the characters and plot to the series. The pilot script was submitted in January 2003, and filmed in March 2003. It was submitted in late April, and added to the Fox fall schedule in May.[7]
[edit]Characters
Main article: List of Arrested Development characters
The plot of Arrested Development revolves around the members of the Bluth family, who generally lead excessive lifestyles. At the center of the show is the relatively honorableMichael Bluth (Jason Bateman), who strives to do the right thing and keep his family together, despite their materialism, selfishness, and manipulative natures. Michael is a widowed single father. His wife, Tracey, died two years previously of ovarian cancer. His teenage son, George Michael (Michael Cera), has the same qualities of decency, but feels a constant pressure to live up to his father's expectations, and is often reluctant to follow his father's plans.
Michael's own father George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) is the patriarch of the family. At times dictatorial, George Sr. goes to considerable lengths to manipulate and control his family. His wife, and Michael's mother, Lucille (Jessica Walter), is equally manipulative, materialistic, and hypercritical of every member of her family, as well as being a perpetual drunk. In particular, she has a tight grip on her youngest son, Byron "Buster" Bluth (Tony Hale), who, as a result of her over-mothering, is unstable, socially inept, and prone to panic attacks.
Michael's older brother is Gob (Will Arnett). His name is an acronym for George Oscar Bluth II, and although pronounced Jōb [dʒoʊb], as in the Biblical figure, it is frequently mispronounced as Gŏb [gɑb] by various characters in the show. Gob is an unsuccessful professional magician whose business and personal schemes usually fail, or become tiresome and are quickly abandoned. He uses a Segway for transportation, and sometimes converses with others from it while stationary, as if it were a pulpit. Gob and Michael are often pitted against one another by George Sr. who, when they were younger, used to film the resulting brawls and marketed them as the amateur video franchise, "Boy Fights." Michael's sister Lindsay Fünke (Portia de Rossi) is flamboyant and materialistic, continually desiring to be the center of attention and attracted to various social causes, usually for a week or so. She enjoys being objectified but also protests it. She is married toTobias Fünke (David Cross), A discredited psychiatrist turned aspiring actor. Tobias is a self-diagnosed "never-nude", whose language and behavior have heavy homosexual overtones to which he seems completely oblivious and which are the center of much tongue-in-cheek comedy throughout the series. Their precocious daughter is Mae "Maeby" Fünke (Alia Shawkat). More often seen out of school than in, Maeby is the con-artist of the Bluth family - her rap sheet runs the gamut from cheating on homework (usually by manipulating others - namely George Michael - into doing it for her), to impersonating a movie executive. The ever-rebellious teen, Maeby's chief motivation is defying her mother.
Several other characters regularly appear in minor roles. George Sr.'s identical twin brother, Oscar (also played by Jeffrey Tambor, in a wig), is a lethargic ex-hippie seeking the affection of George's wife, Lucille. The family's lawyer, Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler), is an incompetent sexual deviant who often hinders the family's legal battles rather than helping them. He is eventually replaced by Bob Loblaw (Scott Baio). Lucille Austero, or "Lucille 2", played by Liza Minnelli, is Lucille's "best friend and chief social rival" as well as a sometimes-love interest of Buster and, later, Gob. Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade) is a high school senior (taking the year for the third time, as evidenced by his appearance in three yearbooks) and football star at the high school George Michael and Maeby attend. He often shouts his name, "Steve Holt!", while pumping his fists in the air. He is later discovered to be Gob's biological son. Carl Weathers plays a parodic version of himself as an unemployed, excessively thrifty, stew-loving actor. Beginning in the second season, Mae Whitman portrays Ann Veal, George Michael's sternly Christian girlfriend, who is often forgotten or disparaged by Michael. Marta Estrella is played by both Leonor Varela and Patricia Velasquez. She is originally Gob's girlfriend, but Michael falls in love with her, which eventually causes conflict between him and Gob. Ann was played by Alessandra Torresani in the character's first appearance in Season 1 in the episode "Let 'Em Eat Cake". J. Walter Weatherman (Steve Ryan), a one-armed amputee, is an old employee of George Senior. Weatherman appears in flashbacks from many episodes where, as hired by George Sr., he would lose his prosthetic arm in attempts to scare Michael, Gob, Lindsay, and Buster and teach them such lessons as "Always leave a note", "Don't yell", "Don't leave the door open with the air conditioner on" and "Don't teach lessons to your son." A British mentally handicapped woman named Rita Leeds (Charlize Theron) appears in five episodes in the third season as Michael's female companion. Michael was completely unaware of her mental condition until just before their wedding was supposed to begin. Judy Greer plays George Bluth Senior's assistant and lover (and partner-in-crime), Kitty Sanchez, for 10 episodes of the series.
[edit]Casting
Alia Shawkat was the first person cast. Michael Cera, Tony Hale, and Jessica Walter were cast from video tapes and flown in to audition for Fox. Jason Bateman and Portia de Rossi both read and auditioned for the network and were immediately chosen. The character of Gob was the most challenging to cast. When Will Arnett auditioned, he depicted the character with a "macho" streak different from expectations;[clarification needed] he was chosen immediately. The characters of Tobias and George Sr. were originally going to have minor roles, but David Cross's and Jeffrey Tambor's portrayals mixed well with the rest of the characters, and they were given more significant parts.[7] Ron Howard, the executive producer, provided the narration for the initial pilot but meshed so well with the tone of the program that the decision was made to stick with his voice. Howard also aided in the casting of "Lucille 2"; the producers told him that their dream actress for the role would be Liza Minnelli but assumed nobody of her stature would take the part. However, she agreed when Ron Howard asked her himself, because they were old friends; she had been his babysitter when he was a child and she was a teen.[8]
[edit]Notable guests
Recurring roles
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Guest appearances and cameos
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[edit]Plot
Main article: List of Arrested Development episodes
[edit]First season
Main article: Arrested Development (season 1)
George Bluth Sr., patriarch of the Bluth family, is the founder and former CEO of the Bluth Company, which markets and builds mini-mansions, among other activities. His son Michael serves as manager of the company, and, after being passed over for a promotion, decides to leave both the company and his family. Just as he makes this decision, however, George Sr. is arrested by the Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors and gross spending of the company's money for "personal expenses". His wife Lucille becomes CEO, and immediately names as the new president her extremely sheltered youngest son Buster, who proves ill-equipped, as his only experience with business is a class he took concerning 18th century agrarian business. Furious at being passed over again, Michael secures another job with a rival company and plans on leaving his family behind for good. Realizing that they need Michael, the family asks him to come back and run the company, which Michael scoffs at until he sees how much the family means to his teenaged son George Michael. To keep the family together, Michael asks his self-centered twin sister Lindsay, her husband Tobias and their daughter Maeby to live together in the Bluth model home with him and George Michael.
Throughout the first season, different characters struggle to change their identities. Buster works to escape from his mother's control through brotherly bonding and love interests such as Lucille Austero, Lucille Bluth's neighbor and chief social rival. George Michael nurses a forbidden crush on his cousin Maeby, while continually trying to meet his father's expectations. Lindsay's husband Tobias, a psychiatrist who lost his medical license, searches for work as an actor, with the aid of Carl Weathers. Michael falls in love with his screw-up older brother Gob's neglected girlfriend Marta, and is torn between being with her and putting "family first." After seeing Michael physically fight with Gob, Marta realizes that they do not share the same family values and she leaves them both. To spite Buster, Lucille adopts a Korean son whom she calls "Annyong" after she mistakes the Korean word for "hello" as his name. Through an escalating series of dares, Gob gets married to a woman he just met, played by real-life wife Amy Poehler, but cannot get an annulment because he refuses to admit that he did not consummate the marriage. Kitty, George Sr.'s former assistant and mistress, tries to blackmail the company. She is caught in the Bluth family yacht's explosion, as used in one of Gob's magic acts, but survives with a cooler full of damning evidence labeled "H Maddas". After previous failed attempts, and a brief religious stint in Judaism, George Sr. finally escapes from prison by faking a heart attack. It is also revealed that George committed "light treason" by using the company to build mini-palaces for Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
[edit]Second season
Main article: Arrested Development (season 2)
Because of his father's latest prison break deception (a faked heart attack), Michael decides to leave his family and move to Phoenix, Arizona with George Michael, but discovers that due to the Bluth Company being under investigation he cannot leave the state. Lucille appoints Gob the new Bluth Company president, but since Gob proves utterly incompetent, the position's real duties revert to Michael. During the rest of the season Gob serves as figurehead president; Michael is still under scrutiny for George Sr.'s illegal activity.
George Sr. is not, in fact, gone. After faking his death in Mexico by paying off the cops, George Sr. returns to the family model home, where George Michael discovers him and hides him in the attic. To protect his son from legal implications, Michael hides George Sr. in Gob's Aztec Tomb, orchestrates a diversion, and tells the family that George Sr. has escaped once more. Throughout the rest of the season, Michael sneaks George Sr. provisions and George Sr. keeps tabs on the Bluth family through the ventilation system. George Sr. also faces onslaught from the outside world; the press begins looking for him in Iraq, fumigators surround the house while he's still in the attic, and Kitty returns to steal a sample of his semen to make her own Bluth baby.
Buster meanwhile joins the army, but escapes serving in Iraq when his hand is bitten off by a loose seal (a play on "Lucille") Gob mistakenly gave a taste for mammal flesh. Buster is refitted with a sharp hook, which he is known to brandish dangerously near his relatives' faces. During Buster's long psychological recovery, he bonds with George Sr.'s stoner twin brother Oscar, who moves in with Lucille in an attempt to rekindle a past love affair. Uncle Oscar slowly reveals himself as Buster's presumptive biological father. Eventually, George Sr. takes revenge on the adulterous Oscar and Lucille by kidnapping Oscar, knocking him unconscious, exchanging appearances with him, and sending him to prison in his place.
Lindsay and Tobias continue their disastrous open relationship. Lindsay tries (but fails) to secure a lover, while Tobias paints himself blue each night in a futile attempt to join the Blue Man Group. When Lindsay kicks him out of the house, Tobias disguises himself as a singing British nanny named "Mrs. Featherbottom" (an idea he gets from the film Mrs. Doubtfire) so he can watch over his daughter Maeby. The family sees right through this incompetent disguise, but they humor Tobias—in the guise of Mrs. Featherbottom he also does their chores.
George Michael begins dating a deeply religious girl, Ann Veal, who encourages him to smash pop music CDs and to run for student body president against perennial favorite Steve Holt. Michael dislikes her and tries to disrupt the kids' relationship, most notably by breaking up Ann and George Michael's pre-engagement. Meanwhile, Maeby cons her way into an after school job as a film studio executive. When Maeby's studio remakes "Les Cousins Dangereux," George Michael abandons Ann to pursue his crush on Maeby. George Michael and Maeby kiss while the living room of the model home collapses under them.
[edit]Third season
Main article: Arrested Development (season 3)
Michael again searches for his runaway father, George Sr. Gob receives an invitation to a father/son reunion outing, and believes it to be George Sr. trying to contact him. In reality, the invitation was meant to reunite Gob with Steve Holt, son of Eve Holt, a girl Gob slept with in high school. Meanwhile, George Michael and Maeby deal with their previous kiss by avoiding each other. Gob is excited to find out that he managed to get his puppet, Franklin, officially "in the system," meaning Franklin may be called for jury duty someday or be called to testify at a trial.
In an attempt to remain in disguise, George Sr. joins the Blue Man Group. Michael discovers this and arranges to have his father placed underhouse arrest. George Sr. claims that he was set up by an underground British group. Michael goes to Wee Britain, a fictional British-themed city district, to investigate, and in the process meets a new love interest, Rita Leeds (Charlize Theron). Michael and the audience are led to believe that Rita is a mole for the underground British group, working for a man named "Mr. F." However, love-struck Michael proposes to her, and the couple run off to wed. Finally, it is revealed that Rita is actually an "MRF," or "mentally retarded female." Despite Rita's "condition," the family pushes him to go forward with the marriage because Rita is wealthy and they want her money. Michael is not persuaded and gently ends the relationship just as he and Rita are about to walk down the aisle. Meanwhile, Tobias and Lindsay seek legal help from Bob Loblaw(Scott Baio) concerning their troubled marriage.
With the family's retainer used up because of Lindsay's and Tobias's advances, Bob Loblaw chooses to no longer represent the Bluth family. Attorney Jan Eagleman offers to represent the family, on the condition that they participate in a mock trial in a new reality courtroom show called "Mock Trial with J. Reinhold." Musical accompaniment for the show's theme song and perceived jokes from testifying witnesses is provided by "William Hung And His Hung Jury." Michael uses an illegal threat from prosecutor Wayne Jarvis to have the mock case "dismissed." Gob and Franklin briefly appear in another courtroom show presided over by Bud Cort. Meanwhile, Maeby and George Michael perform a mock wedding for Alzheimer's patient which is accidentally conducted by a real priest; the two become legally married.
The family members are afraid to testify at the mock trial and at the real deposition; Buster fakes a coma, Lindsay and Lucille fake entering rehab, and Gob flees the country to perform in a USO Tour in Iraq. The deceptions are all uncovered by the prosecution, and in Iraq Gob is arrested for inadvertently inciting an anti-US riot. Buster and Michael travel to Iraq to rescue Gob, and while there, uncover evidence that the mini-palaces George Sr. built in Iraq were actually ordered and paid for by the CIA for wiretapping purposes. After this discovery, the US government drops all of the charges against George Sr. In the general confusion, everyone except George Michael forgets Maeby's sixteenth birthday.
To celebrate their victory in Iraq, the Bluths throw a shareholders' party on the RMS Queen Mary. During preparation for the party, it is revealed that Lindsay was adopted, meaning that George Michael and Maeby are not blood relatives. At the party, the Bluth's other adopted child, Annyong, reappears. He reveals that he is there to avenge the Bluth family's theft of his grandfather's frozen banana idea and the cause of his subsequent deportation, an event orchestrated many years earlier by Lucille Bluth. Annyong has turned over evidence implicating Lucille in the Bluth Company's accounting scandals. Before the police arrive, Michael and George Michael flee on Gob's yacht, the C-Word, and depart to Cabo with half a million dollars in cashier's checks, finally leaving the family to fend for themselves. However, it is revealed in the epilogue that George Sr. is also on the yacht, having lured his brother Oscar into taking his place once again. Also in the epilogue, Maeby tries to sell the television rights to the story of the Bluth family to Ron Howard, who tells her that he sees it as a movie rather than a series.
In light of Fox's possible cancellation of the show, the first episode of 2006 parodied various gimmicks that other shows had used during November sweeps in 2005. Thinly-veiled allusions were made to the possibility of HBO or Showtime picking the show up in the event of its cancellation. The episode took shots at frequently cited reasons for the show's failure in the ratings, such as complex storylines that can be hard to follow, obscure references that may go over viewers' heads, and main characters who were not sympathetic or relatable.
[edit]Episodes
Main article: List of Arrested Development episodes
| Season | Episodes | Season premiere | Season finale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | November 2, 2003 | June 6, 2004 |
| 2 | 18 | November 7, 2004 | April 17, 2005 |
| 3 | 13 | September 19, 2005 | February 10, 2006 |
[edit]Themes and other characteristics
The show focuses on the tension that developed among the members of the Bluth family, primarily from their diminished spending power. Each show pulls from a mix of sibling rivalries, unresolved oedipal conflicts, sexual incompatibilities, personal identity crises, adolescenttrauma, miscommunication, lying, subterfuge, social status anxiety, incest taboo, narcissism and a wide variety of other themes.
Much like other dysfunctional-family comedies such as Malcolm in the Middle and The Simpsons, the family unit is depicted as necessary for the survival of the individual. Much of the comedy comes from the quirks of the characters and the patterns that developed within the family structure.
[edit]Unique presentation
Arrested Development uses several elements that are rare for American live-action sitcoms. It was shot with hand-held cameras.[9] In a parody of tactics often employed in documentary film, the show makes heavy use of "cut gags" where it cuts away abruptly from scenes in order to supplement the narrative with punchline in the form of video material such as security camera footage, Bluth family photos, website screenshots, and archive films. Flashbacks are also extensively used to show the Bluth family members in various stages of their lives. The show does not employ a laugh track, allowing for uninterrupted back-and-forth dialogue and permitting more time for plot development and jokes. An omniscient third-person narrator (producer Ron Howard) ties together the multiple plot threads running through each episode, and provides tongue-in-cheek commentary. For example, Gob Bluth responds to his brother in the episode "Altar Egos" by saying, "I had sex with her last night," to which the narrator comments, "But he really didn't." Gob then continues, "Yes I did." Wordplay is abundant for humor and plot; a character may misinterpret an ambiguous phrase with embarrassing or disastrous results. Before cutting to a commercial, the show flashes a white screen instead of the usual black screen. Excluding the pilot and finale, every episode opens with the narrator starting a sentence with "Michael" or "Michael Bluth".
[edit]Opening credits
With few exceptions, Arrested Development begins immediately with the title credits, rather than a cold open. Over a series of slides accompanied by the show's theme, photos introduce the characters, and Ron Howard provides a narrative summary of the show's premise: "Now the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. It's 'Arrested Development'." The credits reflect several of the unique elements of the show: documentary-style use of archive photos and footage, upbeat soundtrack, and presence of the narrator. The penultimate scene of the series finale ends with the narrator saying "It was "Arrested Development"."
[edit]"On the next Arrested Development"
Almost every episode ends with an epilogue segment called "On the next Arrested Development," in which lingering stories are humorously wrapped up or extended. These segments portray events that sometimes do, but generally do not, appear in the subsequent episodes. However, on some rare occasions (typically in the first half of a two-part episode), scenes from these portions are worked into the following episode; also, the segment occasionally shows a significant plot twist (e.g. Maggie Lizer's deception,[10] Buster's accident,[11] Steve Holt's discovery[12]). The second episode of Season 3 reversed this by having "Previously on..." featuring the resolution of the cliffhanger and nearly an entire episode of plot changes within thirty seconds. The epilogue sometimes shows a several-second continuation of the previous scene, in comically direct opposition to the name of the sequence.
The first and second season finales changed the segment to "On the next season of Arrested Development..." and in the third season finale (which was also the series finale), it became "On the epilogue...".
[edit]Intertextuality and reflexivity
The show is highly intertextual (referring to other shows) and reflexive (self-referential). For example, Arrested Development often alludes to the past work of its cast and crew through the restaging of familiar scenarios, such as Fonzie's jumping the shark from Happy Days,[13]Tony Hale's bit part in a Volkswagen commercial,[14] and by casting former collaborators in small bit parts, including many cast members from Mr. Show as well as improv comics fromChristopher Guest films. Guest stars frequently appear from other lauded television comedies such as The Daily Show, Seinfeld, Scrubs, The Office, Mr. Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm,Upright Citizens Brigade, The Simpsons, "The Larry Sanders Show, and Saturday Night Live. The show's reflexiveness may be literal or subtle. In the episode "For British Eyes Only", Michael tells George Sr., who he believes is trying to convince him of a lie, "You're a regularBrad Garrett." This is in reference to the Emmy Awards that directly preceded the episode's original airing, where Garrett beat out Jeffrey Tambor (George Sr.) for the Best Supporting Actor award. In another example, a picture of Charlize Theron's character Rita is shown prior to her plastic surgery; it is a picture of Theron as Aileen Wuornos in Monster. The series has acknowledged its competition (Desperate Housewives), commercial sponsor (Burger King),[13] its struggle to go after an "idiot demographic",[15] its use of dramatic moments as act breaks, and Fox's cutback of the second season to 18 episodes. The episode "S.O.B.s" made numerous references to Arrested Development's attempts to remain on air by parodying typical television ratings ploys and hinted at the attempts of other networks to purchase the series from Fox. In addition, narrator Ron Howard has made several references to his experiences on The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days.
[edit]Incest
Several of the major characters of the show are at some stage involved in a plot with incestuous themes.[16] Frequently, this theme is linked with questions about murky family lineage. For example, George Michael and Maeby spend most of the series struggling to contain a mutual attraction, despite the fact that they believe themselves to be cousins. There is also Maeby's interest in Steve Holt, who is also revealed to be her cousin. In the second season, the episode "Afternoon Delight" plays on this theme when Michael and Maeby (and later George Michael and Lindsay) sing the Starland Vocal Band song "Afternoon Delight", being unaware of its sexual nature. Oscar also (very blatantly) hints that he is Buster's real father, through his relationship with Lucille. When Buster first learns of the truth, he exclaims, "My father is my uncle!" This theme is also explored in the episode "Family Ties," through the character of Nellie Bluth, whom Michael thinks for a time might be his older sister, but who herself presumes Michael is interested in her for sex. The fact that Nellie Bluth is played by Jason Bateman's real life sisterJustine Bateman (who also starred in the 1980s sitcom Family Ties) lends the plot line an additional layer of comedic complication. In addition, Rita, Michael's mentally challenged girlfriend, has her limited mental capabilities attributed to her parents being cousins. In yet another example of this theme, upon discovering she was adopted, Lindsay attempts to seduce Michael, who refuses because he "doesn't date older women." Gob hears about this and, in a reflexive urge to avenge himself on his brother, later attempts to seduce her. Another running joke throughout the series was Buster's Oedipal obsession with his mother. This strange relationship is highlighted in the episode "Motherboy XXX," where Buster says, "Whenever she'd change clothes, she'd make me wait on the balcony until zip-up—and yet anything goes at bath-time." Buster's mixed feelings about his mother are also shown through his relationship with his girlfriend and mother's chief social rival Lucille Austero, played by Liza Minnelli, known colloquially as "Lucille 2."
[edit]Topicality
Arrested Development plays with divisive, controversial social and political issues. The writers turned references to the Abu Ghraib prisonscandal,[13] the U.S. Army's recruiting crisis, inadequate supplies for US troops, the non-existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" photo-op into jokes.[17][18] George Sr. has been a parody of Osama Bin Laden[17] and appeared with Saddam Hussein in a family photo cut-away gag, as well as a parody of Hussein himself in a scene where he is having his teeth inspected after being found by George Michael in a hole in the ground. There are also occasional references made to the USA PATRIOT Act, namely as a catchall excuse for the prosecutors against the Bluths to act in underhanded and illegal ways. It has also poked fun at the decadence of American white collar criminals, "limousine liberals", religious protest campaigns, the Terri Schiavo case, controversy over public display of the Ten Commandments, and the restriction of protesters to "free speech zones". Other references include "Girls with Low Self-Esteem" (a parody of Girls Gone Wild), "Boyfights" (a parody of Bumfights), Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11,[15][19] andlow-carb diets.
[edit]Continuity
The plot regularly features callbacks to previous episodes, such as various family members' recurring use of the phrase "Come on!;" the family's, as well as some secondary cast members', use of "I've made a huge mistake" or a pleasantly surprised "That was a freebie"; a disgustedly uttered "typical" whenever Michael is absent, late, or missing; repeated use of family members' "chicken dances" that do not resemble chickens; and the infomercial for George Sr.'s infamous invention, The Cornballer. It will often use what creator Mitch Hurwitz has termed "call-forwards," wherein plots or events will be foreshadowed in subtle ways. For example, many references are made to the loss of limbs, foreshadowing the loss of Buster's hand in the second season. The first season episode "Pier Pressure" has several flashbacks to George Sr. hiring J. Walter Weatherman, a man with a prosthetic arm, to teach his children "lessons" by staging elaborate scenes in which the man's arm is pulled or cut off as a result of the children's misbehavior. Before losing his hand, Buster retrieves his hand-shaped chair, which his mother had given to her maid Lupe. He then says, "I never thought I could miss a hand so much." Also, in the episode where he is supposed to leave for the Army, he uses the claw arm to retrieve a stuffed seal that says "Good Luck." In the episode where Buster loses his hand, right before he runs into the water, he is sitting on a bench advertising for the army office, positioned in such a way as to only show "ARM OFF." Furthermore, at the very outset of Season 2, the Fox newscaster makes a passing reference to a story about a seal attack "coming right up". In Season 3, they allude to Rita being mentally retarded in many subtle ways, including her name, which is pronounced exactly like the first four letters of the word "retarded"; the fact that she says she spends her days at a preschool called "Slowbrooke"; her short attention span; and a scene in "Forget-Me-Now", when after having been left unconscious on a bus bench by Gob and Lindsay, a still-groggy Rita is seen sitting up, partially obscuring an advertisement for "Wee Britain", the (fictional) English-themed section of Orange County, such that it now reads "Wee Brain".
[edit]
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8. Life Unexepcted- Teenager Lux (Britt Robertson) had been through the foster care system for almost her whole life. Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby) had given birth to her while still a teen but gave her up for adoption believing a better home could be found for her. Most likely because of her heart problems as a baby, Lux was never adopted. On her 16th birthday, she decides that it's time for her to become an emancipated minor, but before that occurs, she has to get signatures from her unknown birth parents. First she encounters former High-School Football Quarterback, Nathaniel "Baze" Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha), her birth father and owner of the Open Bar. He lives a semi-fraternity boy lifestyle above the drinking establishment with two lazy roommates, and sleeps with many women. However, even when he signs the papers, Baze discovers that he is bonding with his newfound daughter, and realizes that she has his eyes. He introduces Lux to her mother Cate, co-host of the "Morning Madness" drive time show at Portland radio station K-100 and Baze's former one-night stand from high school. Lux has been listening to Cate's voice on the radio as long as she can remember, so she feels an instant connection with the mom she's never met. Baze takes Lux to meet Cate, who is shocked and saddened to learn that Lux has grown up in foster care instead of the adoption she believed would take place and is reluctant to commit to her daughter. Eventually, Cate wants to be a part of Lux's life, and she shows that she really does care. When a judge decides that Lux isn't ready for emancipation and unexpectedly grants temporary joint custody to Baze and Cate, they agree to try to get past the awkwardness. Cate, due to her job as a radio host, and the fact that she has a suitable house, is given primary custody of Lux. Ryan Thomas (Kerr Smith), her radio broadcast partner, as well as her fiance, also takes to Lux.
As the series progresses, though, Baze becomes more responsible, and works harder to get the bar and the living space above it in shape so that Lux can be able to visit and stay with him. Due to their close bond, Baze, the one that was considered to perhaps be more of a slacker, had proven that when the chips are down, he inevitably comes through for Lux, giving her support and love. Cate, despite her constantly disappointing Lux, still means well. Her radio show is produced by Alice (Erin Karpluk), who often serves as her confidante. Ryan, in some ways jealous and insecure because of Baze's constant presence in his fiancee's life, gets resentful and has physically fought Baze. Ryan, finally fed up with Baze's continual interference, breaks it off with Cate. Eventually though, Ryan and Cate reconnect, and their engagement is back on. He also relents a bit towards Baze after the two have drinks and Baze explains that all he is to Cate is the father of Lux, and nothing else. Baze's bar is owned by his father Jack (Robin Thomas), who considers Baze a disappointment but softens towards him somewhat in later episodes. Lux has several friends from her old life, including best friend Tasha (Ksenia Solo), Lux's boyfriend Bug (Rafi Gavron), and Tasha's boyfriend Gavin (Rhys Williams). She must decide whether she can continue to have her old friends in her life as she attempts new friendships. Sometimes, Bug is known for doing things which brings him in trouble with the law, and that sometimes imperils Lux's life with Baze and Cate. Her case is handled by her social worker, Fern (Lucia Walters). Baze also incurs Cate's wrath when it is discovered that he is sleeping with her sister and Lux's aunt, Abby (Alex Breckenridge). Baze also slept with Ryan's sister Paige (Arielle Kebbel) after a drunk incident in season two. Lux meets a young man at Baze's bar, Eric Daniels (Shaun Sipos), and goes on a date with him, only to find out he is her new teacher. The second season deals with Lux's affair with her teacher, Kate and Ryan's new marriage and their attempts to have a child, and Baze's relationship with his coworker Emma Bradshaw (Emma Caulfield).
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