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Sep. 28th, 2005 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pixiecrinkleThere will be an update from vacation later, but I just typed what turned out to be a really long guide to characters on Arrested Development for a friend here who asked, so I thought I'd put it here in case any of you want to watch the show and are lost. And you should watch it. It's fantastic!
Here's my AD guide to characters:
Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman): Most un-messed up (but he's still not normal) member of the Bluth family. Only one with any business sense. Is trying to keep the Bluth home construction company afloat after his father, George Bluth (Jeffery Tambor) was arrested by the SEC for a variety of schemes, including building cul-de-sac homes in Iraq. His wife Tracy died before the show started, but we don't yet know how, although apparently she was in a coma since Lindsay said they "weren't even speaking at the end". He has one son, George Michael, who is played by the best kid actor ever.
Michael has a twin sister Lindsay (Portia di Rossi) who shops a lot and has lots of pet causes. She can't ever decide whether to divorce her husband Tobias or not, and everyone but Tobias seems to realize he's gay. (Although I missed last week's premiere, and he was reportedly kissing the former family attorney, Barry Zuckerkorn, played by non other than the Fonz, Henry Winkler, so maybe he's figuring it out). Tobias is a former psychiatrist who lost his license and is now trying (badly) to be an actor. Lindsay and Tobias have a daughter Maebe who wasn't in the last episode at all, and there is some weird tension between she and her cousin George Michael because they kissed in the first episode. Maebe is a trickster who gets away with everything. She created a fake twin with a devastating disease last season, Shurley, to scam her fellow students out of money, and she also worked as a movie executive because she looks old for her age. There is some speculation that she's really adopted so it would be ok for her and George Michael to date.
Michael and Lindsay have two brothers, Buster and GOB. Buster, the youngest, has been overly coddled by his mother, so is unable to function in the world, but he's gone to school a lot to study things like cartography and African drumming. His hand was bitten off by a "loose seal" last season. The loose seal is not to be confused by his mother Lucille, or her friend and his girlfriend Lucille Too (who was played by Liza Minelli!) GOB (pronounced "Johb" not "gob", short for George Oscar Bluth) is a hack magician, who was at one point thrown out of the Magician's Alliance (by Tony Wonder/Ben Stiller) because he revealed a trick's secret during the arrest of his father. He's kind of back in now, but he's always seeking his father's approval. He's also a womanizer, and was briefly married last season (to Amy Poehler from SNL, who he's married to in real life) but she left to join the army. She sold seals. It may have been her loose seal who ate Buster's hand. Gob also recently learned he may have a son (Steve Holt!) who is a classmate of his niece and nephew and who yells his own name (Steve Holt!) whenever given the chance. Gob is my favorite, because he's such an ass.
George, Sr. also has a twin brother named Oscar, who lives in a trailer and smokes a lot of pot. Lucille is apparently more in love with him than George, mostly because he still has a full luxurious mane of hair. Last we saw him, George Sr. had escaped from prison and shaved his brother's head, so he was wrongfully imprisoned. He has a blog at imoscar.com (no, really) to try to share his plight. Oscar may be Buster's real dad, but we don't know for sure.
Other peripheral characters: Kitty, George Sr's secretary, who he had an affair with, who GOB also had an affair with, and who tried to blackmail the family for a while; Lupe, the maid, who always has a different sweatshirt for an off season holiday on; Ice, the family's private investigator; Gene Parmesan, (and I don't remember who he was, but I love his name); Carl Weathers, who is actually playing himself, an actor most known for being in Predator 2, who is Tobias' acting coach; Maggie Lizer (Julia Louis Dreyfus), a prosecuting attorney who pretended to be blind in order to gain sympathy from the jury and then dated Michael; Judge Ling, who is played by an actor who always plays judges, and who always seems to be the Bluth's judge; Uncle Jack, played by Martin Short, who's a Jack Lalane kind of guy, except he's lost the use of his legs and is carried everywhere by an enormous bodyguard; Ann, George Michael's uber-Christian/born again virgin girlfriend, who's most defining characteristic is that she's very plain. And of course, the narrator, who is Ron Howard.
I already know the spoiler regarding Charlize Theron's character's "secret", so the whole thing with the thug from Wee Britain isn't what it seems. It's very un-PC and very funny. :-) And I so can't wait for Scott Baio as Bob Loblaw next time! I think it's hilarious that they managed to replace Henry Winkler with Scott Baio, just like Happy Days!
Here's my AD guide to characters:
Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman): Most un-messed up (but he's still not normal) member of the Bluth family. Only one with any business sense. Is trying to keep the Bluth home construction company afloat after his father, George Bluth (Jeffery Tambor) was arrested by the SEC for a variety of schemes, including building cul-de-sac homes in Iraq. His wife Tracy died before the show started, but we don't yet know how, although apparently she was in a coma since Lindsay said they "weren't even speaking at the end". He has one son, George Michael, who is played by the best kid actor ever.
Michael has a twin sister Lindsay (Portia di Rossi) who shops a lot and has lots of pet causes. She can't ever decide whether to divorce her husband Tobias or not, and everyone but Tobias seems to realize he's gay. (Although I missed last week's premiere, and he was reportedly kissing the former family attorney, Barry Zuckerkorn, played by non other than the Fonz, Henry Winkler, so maybe he's figuring it out). Tobias is a former psychiatrist who lost his license and is now trying (badly) to be an actor. Lindsay and Tobias have a daughter Maebe who wasn't in the last episode at all, and there is some weird tension between she and her cousin George Michael because they kissed in the first episode. Maebe is a trickster who gets away with everything. She created a fake twin with a devastating disease last season, Shurley, to scam her fellow students out of money, and she also worked as a movie executive because she looks old for her age. There is some speculation that she's really adopted so it would be ok for her and George Michael to date.
Michael and Lindsay have two brothers, Buster and GOB. Buster, the youngest, has been overly coddled by his mother, so is unable to function in the world, but he's gone to school a lot to study things like cartography and African drumming. His hand was bitten off by a "loose seal" last season. The loose seal is not to be confused by his mother Lucille, or her friend and his girlfriend Lucille Too (who was played by Liza Minelli!) GOB (pronounced "Johb" not "gob", short for George Oscar Bluth) is a hack magician, who was at one point thrown out of the Magician's Alliance (by Tony Wonder/Ben Stiller) because he revealed a trick's secret during the arrest of his father. He's kind of back in now, but he's always seeking his father's approval. He's also a womanizer, and was briefly married last season (to Amy Poehler from SNL, who he's married to in real life) but she left to join the army. She sold seals. It may have been her loose seal who ate Buster's hand. Gob also recently learned he may have a son (Steve Holt!) who is a classmate of his niece and nephew and who yells his own name (Steve Holt!) whenever given the chance. Gob is my favorite, because he's such an ass.
George, Sr. also has a twin brother named Oscar, who lives in a trailer and smokes a lot of pot. Lucille is apparently more in love with him than George, mostly because he still has a full luxurious mane of hair. Last we saw him, George Sr. had escaped from prison and shaved his brother's head, so he was wrongfully imprisoned. He has a blog at imoscar.com (no, really) to try to share his plight. Oscar may be Buster's real dad, but we don't know for sure.
Other peripheral characters: Kitty, George Sr's secretary, who he had an affair with, who GOB also had an affair with, and who tried to blackmail the family for a while; Lupe, the maid, who always has a different sweatshirt for an off season holiday on; Ice, the family's private investigator; Gene Parmesan, (and I don't remember who he was, but I love his name); Carl Weathers, who is actually playing himself, an actor most known for being in Predator 2, who is Tobias' acting coach; Maggie Lizer (Julia Louis Dreyfus), a prosecuting attorney who pretended to be blind in order to gain sympathy from the jury and then dated Michael; Judge Ling, who is played by an actor who always plays judges, and who always seems to be the Bluth's judge; Uncle Jack, played by Martin Short, who's a Jack Lalane kind of guy, except he's lost the use of his legs and is carried everywhere by an enormous bodyguard; Ann, George Michael's uber-Christian/born again virgin girlfriend, who's most defining characteristic is that she's very plain. And of course, the narrator, who is Ron Howard.
I already know the spoiler regarding Charlize Theron's character's "secret", so the whole thing with the thug from Wee Britain isn't what it seems. It's very un-PC and very funny. :-) And I so can't wait for Scott Baio as Bob Loblaw next time! I think it's hilarious that they managed to replace Henry Winkler with Scott Baio, just like Happy Days!
