Pilot (Arrested Development episode)
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| Arrested Development episode | |
| "Pilot" | |
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| Episode No | 1AJD79 |
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| Airdate | November 2, 2003 |
| Writer(s) | Mitchell Hurwitz |
| Director | Anthony Russo & Joe Russo |
| On the next: | “George Michael gets a new roommate and Michael finds it difficult to get his father out of jail.” |
| Guest star(s) | John Beard as Himself Stacey Grenrock-Woods as Trisha Thoon |
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Arrested Development Season 1 |
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| All Arrested Development episodes | |
"Pilot" was the series premiere of the TV comedy series Arrested Development.
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[edit] Synopsis
This is a story about Michael Bluth. For ten years, he's waited for his father, George Sr., to make him a partner in the family's company. The rest of the family includes Michael's mother Lucille, his sister Lindsay, whom he hasn't spoken with in over a year, brother G.O.B., an amateur magician, and finally, youngest brother Buster, who spends all of his time taking graduate classes in fields such as Native American Drumming and Cartography. But none of this bothers Michael. Because he's decided not to speak to these people anymore.
But Michael is feeling more generous on the morning of his father's retirement boat party. With his son, George Michael, he discusses the sure-to-come announcement of his promotion. After dropping his son off at the frozen banana stand his father started, Michael goes to see G.O.B. to ask for his check to cover party expenses. G.O.B. asks why the party can't just be written off to the company. After all, Lindsay's been staying at the Four Seasons for a month and the company's probably paying for that.
Upset by both Lindsay's avoidance of him and her abuse of the company's largesse, Michael goes to the hotel to tell his mother and Lindsay the company checkbook is closing. Tobias, Lindsay's husband, then enters. Tobias lost his medical license for administering CPR to somebody who, in fact, was not having a heart attack.
While Michael is getting fed up with his family, George Michael is finally getting to know them in the form of his cousin Maeby. The kids discuss how they never see each other, and Maeby suggests they make out at the boat party to teach them a lesson that they need to see each other more often.
Back at the hotel, Tobias, believing that the boat party is pirate-themed because of a joke from Michael, begins trying on Lindsay's blouses. Then mistaking a group of garishly-dressed men for pirates, he boards a van full of homosexuals.
Finally, Michael's big moment comes - until the Bluth patriarch, George, puts Lucille in charge of the company. Shoved over the breaking point, Michael decides it's time to move on. The family is about to pose for a photo when the SEC raids the ship. George Bluth calls his secretary with instructions on what to shred and what to keep. Lindsay takes command of the boat and Lucille tells Buster to find a channel to the ocean on the maps. Buster can only offer certainty that the blue part of the map is land before a panic attack sets in. The SEC hauls George Bluth away, leaving the family in turmoil.
At the police station, Tobias joins up with the family and reveals that the men on the other boat with him were not pirates, but in fact actors from the local theatre. Believing that a path has been shown to him, Tobias informs the family that's he decided to become an actor. Michael then comes out, informs the family that their dad is being kept in jail, and the SEC is putting a halt on the company's expense account, which terrifies everyone.
Facing adversity, Lucille decides to put Buster in charge. This is too much for Michael, who accepts a job in Arizona with a rival development company. But when Buster discovers his academic pursuits didn't prepare him for running a big company, the family turns to Michael, begging for his help. Michael rejects their imposition, but Lindsay says he should visit their father before leaving.
Michael does indeed visit his father in jail, asking why he wasn't put in charge. George informs him that he put Lucille in charge because they can't arrest a husband and wife for the same crime. Which isn't true. George curses the advice of his horrible attorneys.
At the model home, Lindsay is seeing what she can grab and sell when she comes across George Michael. He opens up his heart, saying he wishes the family could see each other more often, and when Michael sees this, he makes a decision. They're going to stay here in California, give this family thing a shot and try to save the family business.
[edit] Episode notes
- This section is for notes specific to the Pilot episode. For information on the origins and development of the series, see the main article for Arrested Development.
- This episode was given the number "79" in its official episode number instead of "1," most likely due to the fact that the show had not been picked up at the time it was filmed. As a result, all episodes of Season 1 have misleading episode numbers in terms of production/broadcast order.
- 32 hours of footage were shot for this episode, which, of course, had to be trimmed down to 21 minutes. An Extended Pilot was later produced for the Season One DVD set with additional scenes and longer takes.
- The entire episode was shot on location. The model home, penthouse, and Bluth Company building were later created on sets at the FOX lot, which is why they appear so different in the Pilot and other early episodes.
- The fact that Michael and Lindsay are twins was made up in post-production of this episode.
- The 'On The Next Arrested Development' segment was originally an in-joke because, of course, the show had not been picked up at the time of production. It later became a staple of the show, used primarily to resolve that episode's storylines while rarely providing actual content from the following episode.
- This episode earned Writer Mitchell Hurwitz An Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing In A Comedy Series.
[edit] References
- Agrarianism - Buster has taken 18th Century Agrarian Business classes.
- Annie Get Your Gun - Tobias performs “I’m a Bad, Bad Man” from the musical for his audition for the Community Theater of Orange.
- Cortés, Magellan - Michael references the two explorers when questioning Buster's choice of cartography.
- Phoenix - Michael threatens to move to this city in Arizona named after phoenix, the bird which rises from the ashes in Egyptian mythology. One theory is that Michael never making it to Phoenix is symbolic of his failure to be reborn away from the lying and deception of the Bluth family members.
- Securities and Exchange Commission - The S.E.C. arrests George, Sr.
- Segway - G.O.B. rides his Segway, a two-wheeled transportation device that would become signature to his character.
- Verizon - George, Sr. says “Can you hear me now?” which is a tag line for Verizon’s advertisements.
[edit] Callbacks/Running Jokes
This episode features no callbacks (for obvious reasons), but certainly contains a wealth of gags that would make their return in future episodes.
- Back Rub - Buster gives Michael, Tobias, and George Michael back rubs.
- "Gahb Bluth" - Trisha Thoon pronounces G.O.B.'s name incorrectly.
- Incest - George Michael's hopeless crush on Maeby begins after they kiss at the boat party. In reality, it was actress Alia Shawkat's first kiss.
- Missing Limb - Maeby tells George Michael she found a foot in her frozen banana: the missing one from Lucille’s stole.
- Peanuts - Lucille and Lindsay both say "Good Grief" at the boat party.
- Same Audio - The exact audio of George Sr.'s line, "I've got the worst *bleep*ing attorneys", is later extracted and used in Let 'Em Eat Cake. Tobias' gleeful laugh after announcing his new career is extracted and used similarly by the shrink in Visiting Ours, Lindsay in Whistler's Mother, and again in Ready, Aim, Marry Me, and Kitty in The Righteous Brothers.
- Sudden Valley - The latest development tract of the Bluth housing company is introduced in an early scene.
- The Magician's Alliance - G.O.B. becomes a victim of his own organization that blackballs magicians who reveal their illusions' secrets.
- Tobias is Gay - Tobias inadvertently boards a boat of homosexuals and becomes involved in a gay rights protest. Later, it is clear from his line, "How many times must we have this..." that his sexual orientation has also come under fire in the past. Also, Tobias mentions at his audition that he was a student of psycholinguistics--might this be an ironic foreshadowing of his homosexually undertoned dialogue in following episodes?
- Wink - Lucille makes an ill-advised face while trying to wink, which would return in The One Where Michael Leaves, Spring Breakout and For British Eyes Only, and later reproduced by several others including Michael himself.
- Magazine - Tobias is seen after Buster's blackout reading a Variety magazine with a headline of Barry Zuckerkorn's trial against his assistant
- "Don't think so" - This is the fist time GOB uses the line; Don't think so after giving away a sort of secret. In this episode he said it after he revealed to Michael that Lindsay had been in town for a month.
[edit] Hidden/Background Jokes
- Cell phone - While Buster is taking part in the Native American tribal ceremonies, the Native American in the background talks on a cell phone.
- Glasses - While first meeting Michael at the penthouse, Tobias is wearing a different pair of glasses. During the scene he appears to be repairing his regular pair, which he then wears for the duration of the series.
- Graffiti - The graffiti on the police station walls says “FUNKE YOU.”
- "How are you?" - Tobias says "How are you?" to one of the protesters while on the boat, mirroring his earlier line to Michael.
- Lesbian - Lindsay suggests that "not all homosexuals are flamboyant". Portia de Rossi is in fact a lesbian.
- Monopoly - GOB gives George Michael a Monopoly game, yet while packing up in the attic George Michael already has 3 copies.
- Pardner - The boat party has a distinct cowboy theme, though most of the references were edited out for broadcast. The cowboy theme is more prominent in the re-edited Extended Pilot.
- Signs - The gay protesters at the yacht club carry signs reading, "Why Knot?", "Allow Same Sex Marriage At Sea", "Gay Mariners Unite", "Freedom" and "Sailors For Seamen".
[edit] Character Cameos
- The gay protester with the "Freedom" appears in the background of several other episodes, including Storming the Castle, Whistler's Mother, Let Them Eat Cake, and Queen for a Day.
[edit] Foreshadowing/Future References
- Lucille claims that the SEC is wrong in calling George Sr. a criminal mastermind. In Development Arrested, we learn the true irony behind this statement.
- Michael and G.O.B. have job interviews at Sitwell Housing Inc., a company which would play a larger role as rival to the Bluth Company throughout Season 2.
- Numerous scenes from this episode are heavily mirrored in Let 'Em Eat Cake and Development Arrested.
- On the DVD commentary track for this episode, Mitch Hurwitz suggests that there could be a 5th Bluth sibling, an idea which was the plot of the Season 3 episode Family Ties.
[edit] Goofs
- A different actor plays T-Bone in the final segment of this episode. In Top Banana, he was played by Patrice Oneal.
- Camera reflections can be seen on George Sr's sunglasses when he is on the boat.
- During Michael's speech at the penthouse about the family getting actual jobs, Buster can be seen already drumming in the background. However, the drum noise does not become audible until several seconds later.
- George, Sr. is heard instructing his assistant Delores on which documents to shred. However, we learn in Visiting Ours that his fiercely loyal assistant is Kitty.
- The narrator tells us that George Michael's grandfather started the stand in 1953. However, in subsequent episodes, the stand is referred to as being built in 1963, which makes more sense, since George Sr. would have been only twelve years old in 1953.
- The board room used for the meeting when Buster is in charge is not the same set as used throughout the series.
