History YMMV / Arresteddevelopment

* SpiritualAdaptation: In addition to being a hilarious sitcom in its own right, ''Arrested Development'' is also probably the best comedic reimagining of Classical Greek tragedy that you'll see on the small screen. It could easily be a modern retelling of Creator/{{Aeschylus}}' ''Theatre/TheOresteia'' (with a few elements of [[Theatre/OedipusTheKing the]] [[Theatre/OedipusAtColonus Theban]] [[Theatre/{{Antigone}} trilogy]] thrown in), with the Bluths standing in for the House of Atreus. All the tropes are there: intergenerational conflict, random mutilation and disfiguration, a powerful BigScrewedUpFamily's fall from grace, a complex web of backstabbings and infidelity, an [[EvilMatriarch ambitious scheming matriarch]] manipulating a clueless patriarch behind his back, an OnlySaneMan son trying to right his parents' wrongs, boatloads of IncestSubtext, and a surreal courtroom trial at the climax--all set against the backdrop of a brutal war in Asia Minor (though one involving [[TheWarOnTerror battle tanks]] instead of [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar a big wooden horse]]).

** Several plot arcs in Season 4 (the government building a wall along the Mexican border, privacy protection on social media) now seem eerily prescient, and not nearly as absurd as the show presented them as.

** The MythArc of the show's original run turns out to be all about a wealthy real estate broker coming under government investigation for possible dealings with Saddam Hussein and the government of Iraq. When rewatching the show after 2017, it's hard ''not'' to think about another [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump wealthy real estate broker]] who wound up under government investigation for possible dealings with Vladimir Putin and the government of Russia.

* ValuesResonance: A big part of this show's continuing popularity. It first aired in 2003, but its merciless mockery of the excess and corruption of America's corporate elite seems to have ''really'' caught on with Americans in the years after the 2007 Recession, when [[AcceptableTargets making fun of the rich]] became even more of a national pastime than it had been before. This arguably goes double for the later episodes dealing with the Bluth family's shady dealings with the government of Iraq. After US President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump and his family came under investigation in 2017 for possible dealings with the government of Russia, the idea of a wealthy family of real estate brokers engaging in business deals with a historical enemy of the United States suddenly didn't seem so ridiculous.

** In "Everyone Gets Atrophy" of Season 5, Michael wonders if he might have been too verbally hard on Rebel. Jessica Walter (Lucille) would describe Jeffrey Tambor (George Sr.) losing his temper at her as verbal harrassment in the rather infamous New York Times article (see OvershadowedByControversy below).

* HollywoodPudgy: A few characters, notably Michael, make jabs indicating that Ann is fat. She's somewhat round in the face, but that's about it.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The show actually got a decent amount of network support, it lasted 3 years despite being rather expensive to produce, but some theorize that FOX simply did not know how to effectively advertise the show, Emmy winning or not. Basically it's a show about a family of egotistical yuppies where [[OnlySaneMan only one man is trying to do the right thing]], the rest are either [[ExtremeDoormat pushovers]], flawed to the point of being TheLoad or outright [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist unsympathetic characters]]. The complex narrative, intricate business subplots and IncestSubtext out the wazoo complicates things further. This was [[LampshadeHanging pointed out]] in the third season by Michael: "Maybe we aren't as likable as we think we are."

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/ArrestedDevelopment Has its own page]]. David Schwartz's score for the show is almost as riddled with running jokes and clever allusions as the show itself. His daughter Lucy Schwartz's song [[http://arresteddevelopment.wikia.com/wiki/Boomerang "Boomerang"]] was great enough (and [[EarWorm catchy enough]]) that after hearing it, Mitch Hurwitz actually re-edited the final minutes of the season 4 finale (even bumping TheTag to after the credits) just to include it in the show.

* {{Earworm}}: The "Mock Trial with J. Reinhold" theme song, as sung by William Hung[[note]]infamous for being one of the worst ''Series/AmericanIdol'' contestants ever at the time[[/note]].
** Big Yellow Joint
** The opening theme.
** "You're a crook/Captain Hook/Judge, won't you throw the book..."
** "Keep those balls in the air!"
** "It ain't easy, bein' white..."
** "FOR BRITISH EYES ONLY!"
*** "MR. F!"
** "[[Music/TheBeatles We're floating along on a yellow boat, making a stand on a yellow boat...]]"
** "Hot Cops, we're aiming to please..."
** [[spoiler: "Go away, Getaway! Get away, Getaway! Stay away, Getaway!"]] Even the chorus instrumental is catchy.
** It's the Final Countdown! [[note]]Oddly enough, one of the only songs that's actually licensed.[[/note]]
** "Police Cruise," [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1dihWz3G1I the jazz/Latin tune]] that plays during the closing credits.

** Maggie's seeing eye dog, Justice, is remarkably undisciplined and ill-behaved for a service dog. Then we find out that not only is Maggie [[spoiler:not blind, meaning that Justice is just a regular dog instead of a service one, [[IncrediblyLamePun it's Justice who's blind.]]]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Are all of George Sr's HeelFaceTurn attempts faked, or does he try to change and fail?

-->'''Narrator''': Now the story of what happens when the one man who was holding his family together finally let go. And the separate journey that eventually gave them no choice but to come back together.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/ArrestedDevelopment Has its own page]]. David Schwartz's score for the show is almost as riddled with running jokes and clever allusions as the show itself.
** His daughter Lucy Schwartz's song [[http://arresteddevelopment.wikia.com/wiki/Boomerang "Boomerang"]] was great enough (and [[EarWorm catchy enough]]) that after hearing it, Mitch Hurwitz actually re-edited the final minutes of the season 4 finale (even bumping TheTag to after the credits) just to include it in the show.
* BetterOnDVD: Watching the episodes in quick succession instead of an episode per week makes the countless [[RunningGag running gags]] and [[BrickJoke brick jokes]] funnier because the set-ups are fresh in the viewer's mind. The show is also made even more hilarious when you watch the first season and catch all the {{Foreshadowing}} of things you now know are to come.
** Season 4 is fully aware of this, and features several Netflix-related gags.

* CrazyAwesome: George sometimes leans into this. The man is clearly insane, doing things like setting up elaborately cruel pranks to teach his children life lessons (including to teach Michael to ''not'' teach people life lessons), posing as God in a live painting banquet so he can make a jailbreak, stashing away money in giant banana-shaped food stands, and using his eldest sons to stage "Boy Fights" so he could sell the tapes for money (even though he was already rich as all hell, so said money would be pretty much worthless to him).
** This is also deconstructed, as his insane behavior ended up greatly helping shape his [[DysfunctionJunction ludicrously screwed up family]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: GOB, his puppet Franklin, and Tobias - Tobias is especially notable in that he was originally supposed to be a minor character, but the character left such an impression that he was promoted to main character status.

* FridgeBrilliance: In both episodes featuring Maggie Lizer, the blind lawyer, it made no sense that she would often make eye contact with Michael. Then, it turns out [[spoiler: she's not really blind!]]

* MemeticMutation: "I've made a huge mistake".
** "I don't know what I expected."
*** Preceding that line is Michael finding a paper bag labelled "DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT" and [[SchmuckBait looking into the bag anyway]]. "Dead Dove, Do Not Eat" has become an official tag on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn as a way to warn readers that a story has problematic elements in it and those elements are being played completely straight.

* {{Narm}}: In rare case of one work making another Narmy, many have reported being unable to take the song "The Sound Of Silence" seriously after its usage in the show as Gob's {{Leitmotif}}.

* ValuesDissonance: In the episode "Sad Sack", aired in 2004, Maeby pretends her mother is {{Transgender}} to make Steve Holt stop liking her. She uses the offensive slur words "tranny" and "shemale" to describe her - but the offensiveness of the words is not acknowledged, and they're treated casually. In the 2010s, this would be virtually unthinkable.
** ... Except Season 4 brings back the "s-slur" joke; Tobias can be seen wearing a shirt with that word on it in a couple episodes (same scene redone from different [=POVs=]). So it's not as "dissonant" as perhaps it should be.
** Of course, part of the point of the show is that all the characters are jerks or idiots (or both). Maeby does it to manipulate Steve Holt, because that's what she does. And listen to Tobias reading from "The Man Inside Me", he is certainly the type of person who would wear that shirt without realizing what it meant.

* VindicatedByHistory: The show never really caught on when it was first airing, rave reviews kept it going for three tumultuous seasons. But after it ended the show exploded as one of the highest DVD sales and even managed a few UsefulNotes/{{syndication}} deals (100 episodes are considered the standard for a syndicated show, 65 at minimum, Arrested Development had 53). This lead to be revived as a Netflix show for the fourth season.
** Season 4 itself. When it premiered many fans said the show should have stayed dead. However, this backlash has really died down. This may be at least partially due to how [[BrickJoke many jokes were structured to make sense only after the full season had been viewed.]]

* SpecialEffectFailure: Uncle Jack is wearing a hilariously obvious fake muscle suit.

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/SethRogen playing a younger George Bluth Sr. in flashbacks in Season 4, due to bearing little resemblance to Jeffrey Tambor. That said, those who have seen Tambor in his younger days in films such as ''Film/AndJusticeForAll'' will note that he did bear at least a passing resemblance to Rogen.

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/SethRogen playing a younger George Bluth Sr. in flashbacks in Season 4, due to bearing little resemblance to Jeffrey Tambor.
** That said, those who have seen Tambor in his younger days in films such as Film/AndJusticeForAll will note that he did bear at least a passing resemblance to Rogen.

* The "No touching!" RunningGag revolving around George Sr.'s imprisonment became a lot less funny when Jeffrey Tambor was accused of sexual assault.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: [[AwesomeMusic/ArrestedDevelopment Has its own page]]. David Schwartz's score for the show is almost as riddled with running jokes and clever allusions as the show itself.
** His daughter Lucy Schwartz's song [[http://arresteddevelopment.wikia.com/wiki/Boomerang "Boomerang"]] was great enough (and [[EarWorm catchy enough]]) that after hearing it, Mitch Hurwitz actually re-edited the final minutes of the season 4 finale (even bumping TheTag to after the credits) just to include it in the show.

* HypeBacklash: Season 4 was built up with a lot of excitement, but was heavily criticized when it premiered. It has died down as the season was designed to be better viewed and understood once the entire season was viewed, making the first handful of episodes really slow.

* BetterOnDVD: Or on [[http://www.hulu.com/arrested-development Hulu]], as it were. (And remember to pause whenever a newspaper or other text piece appears on screen -- there are always a couple of extra jokes thrown in).
** Watching the episodes in quick succession instead of an episode per week makes the countless [[RunningGag running gags]] and [[BrickJoke brick jokes]] funnier because the set-ups are fresh in the viewer's mind. The show is also made even more hilarious when you watch the first season and catch all the {{Foreshadowing}} of things you now know are to come.

* DiscreditedMeme: The series' running gags get zigged-zagged all over the place in Season 4.

** Although Tobias has commonly been read by audiences as the oblivious inhabitor of a TransparentCloset, WordOfGod has it that [[CampStraight he really is straight and simply has a fatal habit of terrible phrasing]]. This becomes more clear in the [[UnCancelled un-cancellation]], in which he deliberately shifts away from his inadvertant gay innuendo, [[spoiler:only to accidentally [[MistakenForPedophile come off as a straight pedophile]] instead]]. It also seems more plausible given [[spoiler:his relationship with Debrie]] in Season 4 and [[spoiler:the introduction of an illegitimate son conceived prior to his marriage]] in Season 5.

** Although Tobias has commonly been read by audiences as the oblivious inhabitor of a TransparentCloset, WordOfGod has it that [[CampStraight he really is straight and simply has a fatal habit of terrible phrasing]]. This becomes more clear in the [[UnCancelled un-cancellation]], in which he deliberately shifts away from his inadvertant gay innuendo, [[spoiler:only to accidentally [[MistakenForPedophile come off as a straight ''pedophile]]'' instead]]. It also seems more plausible given [[spoiler:his relationship with Debrie]] in Season 4 and [[spoiler:the introduction of an illegitimate son conceived prior to his marriage]] in Season 5.

** Although Tobias has commonly been read by audiences as the oblivious inhabitor of a TransparentCloset, WordOfGod has it that [[CampStraight he really is straight and simply has a fatal habit of terrible phrasing]]. This becomes more clear in the [[UnCancelled un-cancellation]], in which he deliberately shifts away from his inadvertant gay innuendo, [[spoiler:only to accidentally [[MistakenForPedophile come off as a pedophile]] instead]]. It also seems more plausible given [[spoiler:his relationship with Debrie]] in Season 4 and [[spoiler:the introduction of an illegitimate son conceived prior to his marriage]] in Season 5.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Season 4 can come off like this sometimes- namely while the comedy's still there, it's far darker than before, ''everyone'' is in a worse position than they were, and the few likable characters take several levels in jerkass. Most notably Micheal, George Michael, Buster and Maeby's storyline ALL have DownerEnding with all of them barely resembles the people they were at season 3.

** "Here's some money, go see a Star War" is funnier now that Ron Howard [[{{Film/Solo}} is directing a Star War]], also including a lead named Tobias. Not to mention that Season 4 revolves around a large celebration on May 4th ("Cinco de Quatro"), a date informally observed as a holiday by many ''Star Wars'' fans (as in "[[{{Pun}} May the Fouth be with you]]").