TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life

I can’t say it radically changed my opinion of the show, because I already thought it was brilliant, but I became even more amazed at Arrested Development when I bought the DVD to re-watch it, with the very first episode. One of the plotlines in the third season is whether Lindsay was adopted, which would mean that George Michael and Maeby were not biological cousins, and free to pursue a romantic relationship. When this first aired on broadcast TV, naturally I had ceased to give too much thought to the names of the characters who had been around since the start of the show. Only upon re-watching on DVD did I realize they had been setting this up from the very first episode, when the narrator referred to “George Michael’s cousin, Maeby” (“George Michael’s cousin, maybe.”)

• Arrested Development is famous for this, with jokes running over not just multiple episodes but multiple seasons. In the first episode Gob claims that magicians perform illusions. Tricks are something a whore does for money… also cocaine. This is referenced in the final season with Gob claiming he was pimping “Turns illusions for money”.
  • “I’ve made a huge mistake.”
  • “Going to Portugal… down ole’ South America way…”
  • “Have these people ever even seen a chicken?”
  • “Her?”
  • “If Tobias is straight, I’m sober…”
  • “Where did the lighter fluid come from?”
  • Never-nudes
  • “There are dozens of us. DOZENS!”
  • George Michael is Star Wars Kid
  • The Board is incompetent.
  • “Come on!!”
  • “Well, this is the last time you’ll see these!”
    • “Spring Break! Woo!”
  • “It’s the final countdown…”
  • “Marry me!”
  • “Look at Banner, Michael!”
  • Family love Michael.
    • Michael love family.
  • “You’re killing me, Buster.”
  • “You can’t do that on the balcony, buddy?”
  • “There’s always money in the banana stand!”
  • “NO TOUCHING!”
  • “Hey, brother..”
    • “Hey, Hermano…”
  • All the Bluth men’s love of ice cream
  • Dramatic music playing whenever Oscar says something that reveals he might be Buster’s father
  • Variations of “Watch out for the hop-ons. You will get some hop-ons.”
    • “Watch out for live-ins.”