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" is the series premiere of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. The never-aired extended pilot, which appears on the Season 1 DVD, features several new scenes as well as extended takes of existing scenes. George Sr. is about to announce his retirement when he is arrested.
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[edit] Plot
For the past ten years, Michael Bluth had been waiting for his father, George Sr., to make him a partner in their family company. On the morning of his father's retirement boat party, Michael discusses the announcement of his promotion with his son, George Michael. The two of them are living in one of the Bluth's model homes, to show their support for the business. After dropping his son off at the frozen banana stand his father started, Michael goes to see his oldest brother (an amateur magician) 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, their sister Lindsay had 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, he hadn't spoken to her for over a year, and her abuse of the company's largesse, Michael goes to tell his mother, Lucille, to spread the news that the company checkbook is closing. Tobias, Lindsay's husband, then enters. Tobias recently lost his medical license.
At the banana stand, George Michael's cousin Maeby plays a prank on him, taking advantage of the fact that he doesn't recognize her at first. The kids discuss how they never see each other, and Maeby suggests they kiss at the boat party to teach their parents 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 mistakes a group of garishly dressed men for pirates, and boards a van full of homosexual protesters. Finally, the Bluth patriarch, George Sr., gives his retirement speech, and appoints the new CEO, which is his wife Lucille, much to Michael's dismay. Michael decides it's time to move on. The family is about to pose for a photo - at which point Maeby takes the opportunity to teach the family a lesson by kissing George Michael, when the SEC raids the ship. George Sr. calls his secretary with instructions on what to do. Lindsay takes command of the boat and Lucille tells Buster, her youngest son, to find a channel to the ocean on the maps. Buster, despite his Cartography lessons, 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 discovers that the men on the other boat with him were not pirates, but in fact actors from the local theater. Believing that a path has been shown to him, Tobias informs the family that he has decided to become an actor. Michael then 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. 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, and George curses the advice of his 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 decide to stay in California, give the family a shot and try to save the family business.
[edit] Cultural References
Buster has taken 18th Century Agrarian Business classes among the many things that he has done. Michael references the explorers Cortés and Magellan when questioning Buster's choice of cartography. Tobias performs “I’m a Bad, Bad Man” from the musical, Annie Get Your Gun, at his audition for the Community Theater of Orange. G.O.B. rides a Segway, a two-wheeled transportation device that would become a recurring characteristic of his in latter episodes.
[edit] Foreshadowing
Lucille claims that the SEC is wrong in calling George Sr. a criminal mastermind. In Development Arrested, it is revealed that she was the true mastermind. George Sr.'s rationale for naming Lucille CEO instead of Michael is "they cannot arrest a husband and a wife for the same crime," hinting that Lucille is somehow also complicit in the Bluth company scandal.
Michael and G.O.B. have job interviews at Sitwell Enterprises 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, Mitchell Hurwitz suggests that there could be a 5th Bluth sibling (and, after Hel-loh entered the family, a 6th sibling), an idea which was the plot of the Season 3 episode Family Ties.
[edit] Added scenes in extended pilot
- After waking up with George Michael in the model home, Michael mentions how his father calls him "partner" and how he is going through a "cowboy phase."
- After Michael and George Michael eat breakfast, they mention that their relatives are spoiled and, when a couple walks in to look at the model home, praise it to advertise it.
- A cut scene shows the manufacture of bananas.
- GOB takes a twenty dollar bill from George Michael and makes it "disappear" in a magic trick when he is working at the banana stand.
- After GOB responds, in front of children, that "A trick is something a whore does for money", he erroneously backpedals by saying "Or cocaine." In the aired version of the pilot, he said "Or candy."
- In Buster's introduction, Michael says "Hasn't everything sorta been discovered though, by like Magellan, Cortés, NASA". In the original version of the pilot, he doesn't say "NASA" but says "all those folks" instead.
- In Maeby's introduction, there is a scene about her unique ways of rebelling against her mother in which Lindsay wants to get her a tattoo, but Maeby decides to enter beauty pageants instead. Footage of this scene appears in the show's opening.
- In a conversation between George Michael and Maeby, Maeby asks why George Michael works so much. George Michael says something (that his father probably told him) about a lack of work ethic in the youth today, but is unable to explain what he means.
- There are some extra lines of dialogue during Michael's intervention.
- In the FOX news clip, John Beard says "Normally we're used to high speed chases..but today it was on the high seas.. and as slow as molasses."
- There are some extra lines of dialogue when Michael visits George Sr.
- A short clip where the Bluth's assets are "frozen" shows bananas being loaded into a freezer
- As the Fünkes pack up, Tobias can't find his old glasses.
- When the Bluths are playing Monopoly at the end of the episode, Tobias says "How are you?" again.
- "On the next Arrested Development," there is an extra scene where Lindsay gets a "job" at a watch store.
[edit] Episode notes
- This episode was given the number "79" as its official production code instead of "1," a standard practice for FOX TV shows.
- 32 minutes of footage were shot for this episode, which 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.[citation needed]
- 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.
- The gay protester with the "Freedom" sign appears in the background of several other episodes, including Storming the Castle, Whistler's Mother, Let 'Em Eat Cake, and Queen for a Day.
