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Témák és egyéb különlegességek

The show focuses on the tension that developed among the members of the Bluth family, primarily from their diminished spending power. Each show pulls from a serpentine mix of sibling rivalries, unresolved oedipal conflicts, sexual incompatibilities, personal identity crises, adolescent trauma, aging, pride, miscommunication, lying, guilt, subterfuge, determination, immigration, manipulation, mutilation, social status anxiety, incest taboo, alcoholism, and a wide variety of other themes.

Much like other dysfunctional-family comedies such as Malcolm in the Middle and The Simpsons, the family unit is depicted as necessary for the survival of the individual. Much of the comedy comes from the quirks of the characters and the patterns that developed within the family structure.

Egyedi előadásmód

Arrested Development uses several elements that are rare for American live-action sitcoms. Like a documentary, it often cuts away abruptly from scenes in order to supplement the narrative with material such as security camera footage, Bluth family photos, website screenshots, and archive films. Flashbacks are also extensively used to show the Bluth family members in various stages of their lives. The show does not employ a laugh track, allowing for uninterrupted back-and-forth dialogue and permitting more time for plot development and jokes. An omniscient third-person narrator (producer Ron Howard, uncredited) ties together the multiple plot threads running through each episode, and provides tongue-in-cheek commentary. Wordplay is abundant for humor and plot; a character may misinterpret an ambiguous phrase with embarrassing or disastrous results. Before cutting to a commercial, the show flashes a white screen instead of the usual black screen.

Az opening credit

With few exceptions, Arrested Development begins immediately with the title credits, rather than a cold open (which is more common for modern sitcoms). Over a series of slides introducing the characters using archive photos, Ron Howard provides a narrative summary of the show's premise ("Now the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. It's Arrested Development.") accompanied by the show's theme tune. The credits serve to immediately introduce the new viewer to many of the unique elements of the show: the documentary-style use of archive photos and footage, the upbeat soundtrack, and the presence of the narrator.

"A következő részben"

Almost every episode ends with an epilogue segment called "On the next Arrested Development," in which lingering stories are humorously wrapped up or extended. These segments portray events that do not usually appear in the subsequent episodes, but remain part of the show's canon. However, on some rare occasions (typically in the first half of a two-part episode), scenes from these portions are worked into the following episode; also, the segment occasionally shows a significant plot twist (e.g. Maggie Lizer's deception, Buster's accident, Steve Holt's discovery). The second episode of Season 3 reversed this by having "Previously on..." featuring the resolution of the cliffhanger and nearly an entire episode of plot changes within thirty seconds. The epilogue sometimes shows a several-second continuation of the previous scene, in comically direct opposition to the name of the sequence.

The first and second season finales changed the segment to "On the next season of Arrested Development…" and in the third season finale (which was also the series finale), it became "On the epilogue…".

Intertextuality and reflexivity

Fájl:Arrested Development - Burger King.jpg

Scene referring to Burger King and product placement:
Tobias: "It's a wonderful restaurant!"
Narrator: "It sure is!"

The show is highly intertextual and reflexive, features commonly associated with postmodernism. For example, Arrested Development often alludes to the past work of its cast and crew through the restaging of familiar scenarios, such as Fonzie's jumping the shark from Happy Days, Tony Hale's bit part in a Volkswagen commercial, and by casting former collaborators in small bit parts, including many cast members from Mr. Show as well as improv comics from Christopher Guest films. Guest stars frequently appear from other lauded television comedies such as The Daily Show, Seinfeld, Scrubs, The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Upright Citizens Brigade, The Simpsons, and Saturday Night Live. The show's reflexiveness may be literal or subtle. In the episode "For British Eyes Only," Michael tells George Sr., whom he believes is trying to convince him of a lie, "You're a regular Brad Garrett." This is in reference to the Emmy Awards that directly preceded the episode's original airing, where Garrett beat out Jeffrey Tambor (George Sr.) for "Best Supporting Actor." The series has acknowledged its competition (Desperate Housewives), commercial sponsor (Burger King), its struggle to go after an "idiot demographic," its use of dramatic moments as act breaks, and FOX's cutback of the second season to 18 episodes. The episode "S.O.B.s" made numerous references to Arrested Development's attempts to remain on air by parodying typical television ratings ploys and hinted at the attempts of other networks to purchase the series from FOX. In another example, a picture of Charlize Theron's character Rita is shown prior to her plastic surgery; it is a picture of Theron as Aileen Wuornos in Monster. In addition, narrator Ron Howard has made several references to his experiences on The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days.

Incest

Several of the major characters of the show are at some stage involved in a plot with incestuous themes. Frequently, this theme is linked with questions about murky family lineage. For example, George Michael's attraction to Maeby, who may or may not be his cousin. There is also Maeby's interest in Steve Holt, who may or may not be her cousin. In the second season, the episode "Afternoon Delight" plays on this theme when Michael and Maeby (and later George Michael and Lindsay) sing the Starland Vocal Band song Afternoon Delight, being unaware of its sexual nature. This theme is also explored in the episode "Family Ties", through the character of Nellie Bluth, who Michael thinks for a time might be his older sister, but who herself presumes Michael is interested in her for sex. The fact that Nellie Bluth is played by Jason Bateman's real life sister Justine Bateman (who also starred in the 1980s sitcom "Family Ties") lends the plot line an additional layer of comedic complication. In addition, Rita, Michael's mentally retarded girlfriend, has her limited mental capabilities attributed to her parents being cousins. Yet another example of this theme is when, upon discovering her adoption, Lindsay attempts to seduce her brother Michael. Gob, out of brotherly competition, later attempts to seduce her. Another running joke throughout the series was Buster's Freudian obsession with his mother. This strange relationship is highlighted in the episode "Motherboy XXX", where Buster says: "whenever she'd change clothes, she'd make me wait on the balcony until zip-up – and yet anything goes at bath-time".

Topicality

Arrested Development plays with divisive, controversial social and political issues. Writers have turned references to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the U.S. Army's recruiting crisis, inadequate supplies for US troops, the non-existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" photo-op into jokes. Also George Sr. has been a parody of Osama Bin Laden and appeared with Saddam Hussein. There are also occasional references made to the USA PATRIOT Act, namely as a catchall excuse for the prosecutors against the Bluths to act in underhanded and illegal ways. It has also poked fun at the decadence of American white collar criminals, "limousine liberals", religious protest campaigns, the Terri Schiavo case, controversy over public display of the Ten Commandments, and the restriction of protesters to "free speech zones". Other references include "Girls with Low Self-Esteem" (a parody of Girls Gone Wild), "Boyfights" (a parody of Bumfights), Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, low-carb diets, and "Star Wars Kid".

Continuity

The plot regularly features callbacks to previous episodes (e.g., Gob's recurring use of the phrase "Come on!" and the family's, as well as some secondary cast members use of "I've made a huge mistake" and a disgustedly uttered "typical" whenever Michael is gone or missing, repeated use of family members' "chicken dances" and the infomercial for George Sr.'s infamous invention The Cornballer) and will often use what creator Mitch Hurwitz has termed "call-forwards", wherein plots or events will be foreshadowed in subtle ways. For example, many references are made to the loss of limbs, foreshadowing the loss of Buster's hand in the second season. The first season episode "Pier Pressure" has several flashbacks to George Sr. hiring J. Walter Weatherman, a man with a prosthetic arm, to teach his children “lessons” by staging elaborate scenes in which the man’s arm is pulled or cut off as a result of the children's misbehavior. Before losing his hand, Buster retrieves his hand-shaped chair, which his mother had given to her maid Lupe. He then says, "I never thought I could miss a hand so much." In Season 3, they allude to Rita being mentally retarded in many subtle ways, including her name, which is pronounced exactly like the first four letters of the word "retarded", and a scene in "Forget-Me-Now", when after having been left unconscious on a bus bench by Gob and Lindsey, a still-groggy Rita is seen sitting up, partially obscuring an advertisement for "Wee Britain", the (fictional) English-themed section of Orange County, such that it now reads "Wee Brain".