# "Arrested Development-- \*\*2-Hour Season Finale\*\*" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506 "2006-02-08T04:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/101 "2006-02-12T03:04:03Z")
When George Michael went to Ann’s house, I was hoping to see Alan Tudyk. Maybe the Veals should have been hosting a party with Caroline Dhavernas, Seth Green, Linda Cardellini, and Jay Baruchel. And maybe Joss Whedon should’ve been there to back up Ron Howard’s “…maybe a movie!” …or maybe not. “And that was _Arrested Development_.” ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/102 "2006-02-12T04:29:47Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > No, I think my favorite joke was the partially-hung “Risky Business” banner, the limping guy, the knocked-over ladder, and the man without pants lamenting his actions that caused the accident. > > Referential. Subtle. Brilliant. And beyond me. Explain? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/103 "2006-02-12T04:46:33Z")
> [@Oslo Ostragoth](#): > > And beyond me. Explain? In the movie _Risky Business_, Tom Cruise, whose parents are away on vacation, dances in his socks, underwear and a button-down shirt to “Old-Fashioned Rock and Roll”, lipsynching…like we all do, when nobody’s watching, y’know? Now, the ladder and the banner are there because, while the poor injured guy was standing on the ladder hanging the banner, the guy in his underwear chose that moment to do the sock-slide that’s so famously a part of Cruise’s dance routine. In doing so, he ran into the ladder, tipped it over, the guy who was hanging the banner fell off, and was injured, leaving only half the banner hung. It really loses something in translation to text, doesn’t it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/104 "2006-02-12T04:52:28Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > In the movie _Risky Business_, Tom Cruise, whose parents are away on vacation, dances in his socks, underwear and a button-down shirt to “Old-Fashioned Rock and Roll”, lipsynching…like we all do, when nobody’s watching, y’know? > > Now, the ladder and the banner are there because, while the poor injured guy was standing on the ladder hanging the banner, the guy in his underwear chose that moment to do the sock-slide that’s so famously a part of Cruise’s dance routine. In doing so, he ran into the ladder, tipped it over, the guy who was hanging the banner fell off, and was injured, leaving only half the banner hung. > > It really loses something in translation to text, doesn’t it? 😃 And the reason for the Risky Business banner in the first place was because the Bluth Co. stock was upgraded to "risky"by Jim Cramer. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/105 "2006-02-12T04:56:51Z")
> [@Happy Lendervedder](#): > > And the reason for the Risky Business banner in the first place was because the Bluth Co. stock was upgraded to "risky"by Jim Cramer. :smack: I knew I forgot a detail somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/106 "2006-02-12T06:47:40Z")
> [@Happy Lendervedder](#): > > Did anyone else hear this exchange: > > Michael: Well, they’ve put an N. Bluth on the witness list. > > GOB (as Franklin): That better not stand for what I think it does! Yeah, I can confirm that. Very funny! Also, speaking of Justine, I loved that they gave her her own music cue. It took me a few times to figure out what the joke was, though. The cue was a few voices singing “nanana”. I eventually realized it was a reference to the theme song of “Family Ties”, her old sitcom from the 80s. That song, of course, ended with the famous “Sha-na-na-na.” ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/107 "2006-02-12T07:06:54Z")
I have a question about the whole thing about Michael and Lindsay not being twins: That scene where young Lindsay is so much taller than Michael-- did that take place after or before it was revealed they weren’t twins? I seem to remember it was before, which would have been a bit of foreshadowing rather than a straight-up explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/108 "2006-02-12T07:10:41Z")
> [@Happy Lendervedder](#): > > That scene where young Lindsay is so much taller than Michael-- did that take place after or before it was revealed they weren’t twins? Before. Girls are often so much taller than boys at that age that you couldn’t make much of it at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/109 "2006-02-12T08:36:00Z")
> [@Happy Lendervedder](#): > > I have a question about the whole thing about Michael and Lindsay not being twins: > > That scene where young Lindsay is so much taller than Michael-- did that take place after or before it was revealed they weren’t twins? I seem to remember it was before, which would have been a bit of foreshadowing rather than a straight-up explanation. Before. But speaking of foreshadowing, remember in the Nellie episode, there was that exchange where Michael said he vaguely remembered growing up with an older sister, but Lindsay didn’t. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/110 "2006-02-12T08:58:24Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > But speaking of foreshadowing, remember in the Nellie episode, there was that exchange where Michael said he vaguely remembered growing up with an older sister, but Lindsay didn’t. 😃 Of course, GOB didn’t remember a sister either. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/111 "2006-02-12T09:34:07Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Lindsey and Tobias’s baby announcement? I rewound that and paused on that image and laughed until my sides hurt. “ **There’s a baby in our soup!** ” with Lindsey in a tub full of blood. Unbelieveable. It was actually “There’s a girl in my soup!” – a reference to the [Peter Sellers/Goldie Hawn sex comedy of the same name](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066449/). ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/112 "2006-02-12T14:15:21Z")
I’m not depressed at all. Going into the episode, I was a little bummed thinking about the fact that I may be watching AD for the last time. But those four episodes were so good, and the resolution so satisfying, that I think I am at peace if the show is gone forever. Don’t get me wrong, I hope it gets picked up, but if not, I raise my glass to 53 excellent episodes. Some random funny parts: - Justine Bateman is hotter today than she was in the 80s! She needs to get a pilot deal. - I loved how Michael kept selling out. Which was worse? Suggesting GM find Ann (he knew her name) or spooning with Tobias? - I loved the Hussein look alikes and the Not a Scar bit (dot com!). Wasn’t there a joke in there about wanting to keep the house for at least one more season? - GOB’s inability to escape the prison. COME ON! - I loved the Pete Rose picture as a symbol of second base. Especially when they used it on GOB. I loved the running gag that GOB can’t finish the deal. Not only could he not get Egg, he also couldn’t make it with a prostitute. - The Anyong gag was a riot. It was too bad the set up for it, with the grandfather, had not been set up long ago. That kind of payoff would have been legendary. Either way, it was great that they brought him back for the finale. - The Prosecutor had some great moments. He was probably one of my favorite smaller recurring roles. I liked that he appreciated that Reinhold got Executive Producer. “He got EP? Good for him.” and his seamless transition from no nonsense negotiation to a scathing critique of Tobias’s performance of the Vagina Monologues “It seemed forced.” So dry. - I loved that they ended the series by putting Ron Howard on camera. Great stuff. Come what may, I am satisfied with Arrested Development. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/113 "2006-02-12T17:04:32Z")
I laughed when the prosecutor turned on the TV to show Michael the news about GOB, but instead of it being the next segment, as it always is on cliched TV, they had to wait several minutes before it came on. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/114 "2006-02-12T18:51:07Z")
Paraphrase: “That would have had a great dramatic effect if it had come on right away.” ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/115 "2006-02-12T19:52:09Z")
And then the same commercial was playing later when Michael turned the TV on. I’m sure I’ll watch it again, but why did GOB accuse Michael of being a robot? I think it happened both in the prison episode and the one after it. Was it some sort of prison brainwashing reference? I was wondering if Ann turning out to be 18 (three years older than George Michael) was meant to parallel Lindsay turning out to be three years older than previously thought. As long as they were being outrageous and ending the series, they could have had a freak accident just after George Michael visits the Veals — some space debris crashes into the house (killing her father instantly). > [@middleman](#): > > Justine Bateman is hotter today than she was in the 80s! Agreed. I now regret that I preferred Carol to Mallory. No offense to Tracey Gold, but what was I thinking? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/116 "2006-02-12T19:56:01Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > I’m sure I’ll watch it again, but why did GOB accuse Michael of being a robot? I think it happened both in the prison episode and the one after it. Was it some sort of prison brainwashing reference? I’m an AD newbie (the only eps I’ve seen were the final 3) so if there’s backstory here I don’t know about it, but I thought it was because Michael actually thinks about things before doing them and isn’t recklessly spontaneous. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/117 "2006-02-12T19:57:05Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > (the only eps I’ve seen were the final 3) Just wanted to add “so far” to that…I have no idea how I missed this for 3 seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/118 "2006-02-12T19:57:09Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m sure I’ll watch it again, but why did GOB accuse Michael of being a robot? I think it happened both in the prison episode and the one after it. Was it some sort of prison brainwashing reference? I always took it to be GOB’s swipe at Michael for never crying. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/119 "2006-02-12T20:37:51Z")
Yes, Michael finally Tasted the Sad. And so did I when I heard “…that was ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT”. But ya know what? I sort of got tired of all the backhanded shenanigans and having to worry about the show. I’m glad it’s finally done with Fox and vice versa so that everybody concerned can move onto whatever life it has next–and if it doesn’t, I’m satisfied with what we got. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506/120 "2006-02-12T20:59:10Z")
Sounds like someone has moved into the “Acceptance” stage of TV series death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-development-2-hour-season-finale/343506.md?page=7)