Arrested Development question: what does Lucille Bluth live on?

Cafe Society
1

I must have missed this and it must be in the first few episodes.

George Bluth goes to prison in the first episode. Michael and the rest of the family have to economize drastically (though really only Michael does) due to assets being frozen and contracts being cancelled, but Lucille never seems to have to tighten her belt at all. She whines about forced economies periodically but she continues living in her penthouse, gives Buster $10,000 to bid on her at the charity auction, has a facelift, keeps her club membership, etc…

Does it explain where her money comes from and why she’s not subject to the same privations as George and (sometimes) Lindsay and Tobias? Is it hidden money or is it in her name and thus not seizable or… what exactly?

2

How far are you into the show? Its late revealed there are caches of well cash hidden around, presumably she may know of one?

3

Gin.

4

There’s a lot of money in the banana stand.

5

Well, there go my two responses.

6

wink

7

I saw that one, but didn’t the cash hidden there get destroyed?

Well, I guess there’s a lot of money in other things as well.

And there are the royalties for the Boy Fights videos (with Baby Buster shorts.)

8

That’s actually the source of one of the show’s rare inconsistencies, depending on how fussy one wants to be. George sr. his money in the banana stand, but there is also a long-standing annual tradition of a bunch of college students tossing the banana stand off the pier and into the ocean.

Now maybe George hid the money there shortly before his arrest, intending it only as a short-term cache, but more likely the writers just overlooked it.

9

Didn’t she get an allowance or something, but kept spending way above it, much to Michael’s annoyance?

10

Why did I think it was vodka…

Also the pills wink.

And she did downsize on the club membership - they are now pool members only. And you’ll forgive me for using that tone…

11

The show’s not meant to stand up to extremely rigorous scrutiny but I think Lucile holds up pretty well. The whole point of the show is that the family uses company money as their personal spending account but it’s not implied that they have no personal assets whatsoever.

It’s really more realistic that Lucile would be able to afford her condo fees and utilities and stay living in her luxury condo, which would likely be owned free and clear by George and Lucille. The rest of them having to live in a model home leads to countless hilarious situation but it’s not at all realistic. After all they’re not supposed to be allowed to use the company’s assets for personal use anymore.

George was merely awaiting trial most of the series so it’s not like their personal property would have been sold off a la the Madoffs.

And the $10,000 bid on at least 1 of the auctions was Michael’s money, I think the first time.

12

The suffering of her children.

13

She runs a spy agency on the side.

14

She also eats Lindsay chops.