Arrested Development is full of pop culture references, with numerous nods to tv shows/films/etc. in pretty much every episode. Having made its own mark on the pop culture landscape, Arrested Development has itself come to be referenced across a variety of different pieces of pop culture since its 2003 premiere. The below list is an attempt to archive the various allusions to Arrested Development in other media.
Please be aware this list is by no means complete. If you know of an Arrested Development reference that hasn’t been included here, you are encouraged to bring it to management’s attention so it can be added!
TELEVISION
FILM
VIDEO GAMES
MUSIC
OTHER
TELEVISION
ADVENTURE TIME
Season 1, Episode 13: “City of Thieves”
A man resembling Tobias has his clothes stolen, revealing a pair of denim cut-offs underneath (with a chastity padlock over the top).
AMERICAN DAD!
Season 2, Episode 15: “With Friends Like Steve’s”
When Stan feels rejected by Steve, he is told by Francine, “He’s just going through a phase. It’s like Steve is America and you’re Arrested Development. It doesn’t mean you’re bad, it just means he’s not interested in you.” The episode aired back in 2006 when Arrested Development was struggling in the ratings, despite overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Season 17, Episode 7: “Beyond the Alcove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Klaus”
Jeff asks Klaus to do his Will Arnett impression, and Klaus lets out a “Oh, come on!” – a catch phrase of Gob’s established in Afternoon Delight.
ARCHER
Described by its creator Adam Reed as “James Bond meets Arrested Development,” Archer has numerous points of overlap with the Arrested Development cast, many of whom were specifically cast because of their roles in Arrested Development; ie. Jessica Walter was chosen for the role of Mallory Archer precisely because Adam Reed had described her as a “Lucille Bluth type,” and Judy Greer is once again playing an unhinged secretary. There have also been cameos from Jeffrey Tambor (playing a man with a romantic history with Jessica Walter’s character, who may or may not be Archer’s real father) and David Cross, in addition to some more specific references to Arrested Development:
Season 1, Episode 4: “Killing Utne”
Jessica Walter’s character Mallory complains about her neighbor Trudy Beekman (a running joke in the show’s early episodes), to which Archer responds, “Wow, you don’t get along with your neighbors anywhere.” This is a nod to the contentious relationship between Lucille Bluth and her neighbor Lucille Austero (AKA Lucille 2).
Season 3, Episode 8: “Lo Scandolo”
The episode is set almost entirely in Mallory’s apartment, the interior of which is heavily modelled after Lucille Bluth’s penthouse.
Season 6, Episode 7: “Nellis”
A staircar can be seen in the background of an airplane hangar. While it does not sport the logo, it shares the same design and color scheme as the Bluth Company staircar.
Season 7, Episode 10: “Deadly Velvet: Part II”
Jessica Walter’s character Mallory refers to Star Wars as “Star War,” the same way Lucille did in ¡Amigos! (another of Arrested Development’s most frequently-quoted lines).
Season 10, Episode 2: “Happy Borthday”
The montage from Marta Complex set to Rose’s Turn by Ethel Merman – where Lucille finds herself alone in the penthouse for the first time in years and decides to let loose and indulge herself – is recreated shot-for-shot in this episode (complete with a sing-along to the same song)
CHUCK
Season 2, Episode 12: “Chuck Versus the Third Dimension”
Tony Hale’s character yells “No touching!” in a manner similar to how it’s repeatedly said throughout Arrested Development (first uttered in Top Banana).
FAMILY GUY
Season 17, Episode 17: “The Griffin Winter Games”
A brief piece of narration can be heard in a Ron Howard voice (performed by Jim Meskimen), which concludes with “I’m Ron Howard, and I do voice-overs for this show now too.”
THE INCREASINGLY POOR DECISIONS OF TODD MARGARET
Season 1, Episode 1: “In Which Claims Are Made and a Journey Ensues”
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret was created and co-written by David Cross, with both David Cross and Will Arnett in the cast. In the first scene where their characters meet, David Cross’s character Todd Margaret is practicing being assertive to a self-help tape. This entails him threatening to ship a hypothetical employee overseas, selling rotten bananas directly across from a far better banana salesman – a nod to the Bluth Frozen Banana backstory established in season 3 finale, Development Arrested.
OZARK
Season 1, Episode 9: “Coffee, Black”
In order to keep a large quantity of cash hidden, Jason Bateman’s character Marty winds up lining the walls of the Blue Cat Lodge with it, much like George Sr. did with the banana stand in Top Banana.
Season 2, Episode 9: “The Badger”
Jason Bateman’s character Marty, much like Michael, is revealed to be well-versed in maritime law, explaining “Riparian rights are the laws that say who owns the land under a body of water.”
RUNNING WILDE
Running Wilde is created by Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz, and contains multiple points of overlap in the cast and other personnel (ie. shared writers/producers/directors, music also composed by David Schwartz). The show was consciously modeled after Arrested Development – essentially designed to be a more accessible iteration of the show – and as such, numerous likenesses can be drawn between the two, which would take too long to list out. There are, however, some more specific nods to Mitch Hurwitz’s previous series:
Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”
Steve Wilde (played by Will Arnett) uses the phrase “huge mistake,” in reference to the catch phrase first uttered by Gob in Key Decisions.
Season 1, Episode 2: “Into the Wilde”
David Cross’s character Andy says “Come on!” the same way Gob repeatedly says in Arrested Development, with Will Arnett’s character Steve telling him to “Stop saying that.”
Season 1, Episode 3: Oil & Water
Andy (David Cross) refers to his genitalia as his “Blue Man Group,” a nod to the memorable Tobias story arc that began in The One Where Michael Leaves.
Season 1, Episode 12: “The Pre-Nup”
A line of dialogue is uttered, “I’ve been doing some arresting developments in the middle east,” with emphasis placed on the words “arresting developments.”
Season 1, Episode 13: “Basket Cases”
Jeffrey Tambor guest stars as the father of Will Arnett’s character. When the two first appear on screen together, an Arrested Development-esque ukulele sting can be heard.
SIT DOWN, SHUT UP
Like Running Wilde above, Sit Down, Shut Up is also created by Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz, and had multiple personnel from Arrested Development working on it (it has the most cast overlap of any other Mitch Hurwitz production, starring Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Henry Winkler in the main cast, with Maria Bamford also contributing additional voices).
Season 1, Episode 3: “World’s Greatest Teacher”
An image of Mr. Bananagrabber (from season 1’s Charity Drive) can be briefly seen during a fantasy sequence experienced by Henry Winkler’s character Willard.
Season 1, Episode 12: “SpEd”
Will Arnett’s character Ennis ruminates on an inspirational movie being made about him, “Starring Christian Bale, or if it’s made for tv, Tim Daly.” Later in the episode, he returns to the fantasy, saying, “You know what? *beep* Christian Bale, this is a Michael Cera” – in reference to the then-burgeoning film career of his former Arrested Development co-star.
Season 1, Episode 13: “High School Musical”
Jason Bateman’s character Larry says “We can’t spend our lives in arrested development,” which is immediately followed by Will Arnett’s character Ennis saying “Not more than three years, anyway.” This was in 2009, when Arrested Development was still cancelled after its original three-season run.
UP ALL NIGHT
Season 1, Episode 17: “First Birthday”
One of the plot points in this episode involves a full-body chicken costume. Will Arnett’s character can briefly be seen holding the head to the costume, where he replicates his chicken impression from Arrested Development (first seen in Staff Infection).
Season 2, Episode 6: “Ma’am’d”
Tony Hale guest stars as Dr. Welborn, and greets Will Arnett’s character Chris with a “What’s up, my brother?”
FILM
FROZEN
A character can be seen mimicking Lindsay’s chicken dance at the ball.
(The film also has the exact “finish each other’s sandwiches” joke from season 3’s Family Ties, though the writers have confirmed this was a coincidence)
MARVEL MOVIES
The staircar can be seen in the background of Captain America: Civil War (directed by the Russo brothers, who directed Arrested Development’s Pilot together, and 13 episodes of the series individually). Much like the staircar appearance in Archer mentioned above, there is no Bluth Company logo, but the vehicles’ designs/color schemes are otherwise identical.
Tobias Fünke can be seen in the background of Avengers: Infinity War (also directed by the Russo brothers), covered in blue paint and sporting his signature cut-offs. He is portrayed by a lookalike rather than David Cross himself.
VIDEO GAMES
THE BINDING OF ISAAC
One of the unlockable items in the game is a pill called a “Forget Me Now,” a piece of Arrested Development lore first established in the episode by the same name.
BORDERLANDS 2
There’s a custom character skin in the game named “I Blue Myself,” a nod to Tobias’s line from The One Where Michael Leaves.
A news vender in the Sanctuary area also says “There’s always money in the news stand,” referencing the well-known line from Top Banana.
COSTUME QUEST
A character by the name of Gob can be seen dressed in a full-body banana costume, much like the banana costume Gob wears in Afternoon Delight. He even says a variation on Gob’s recurring line from the same episode:
DOTA 2
Many of the bots in the game possess names of Arrested Development characters, including Buster, George, Gob, Kitty, Lindsay, Lucille, Lupe, Maeby, Marta and Tobias.
DUNGEONS OF DREDMOR
One of the items in the game is a pair of cut-offs. The description reads, “It’s a real medical condition!” – echoing Tobias’s assertion about never-nudes in Beef Consommé: “This is a real affliction.”
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
The character Renata Glasc says a variation on Lucille’s frequently-quoted line from Charity Drive: “I mean, it’s one health potion. What could it cost? 10,000 gold?”
LEFT 4 DEAD 2
If the character Nick gets shot by one of his teammates, he will occasionally remark, “Are you really shooting at the guy in the $3,000 suit? Come on,” also in reference to Gob’s running gag from Afternoon Delight.
MANEATER
A side mission in the game is to hit all the landmarks in Sapphire Bay, one of which is “Biff’s Frozen Nanners,” modelled after the Bluth Frozen Banana stand (its placement at the bottom of the ocean may be a subtle nod to Afternoon Delight). The aforementioned line from Top Banana is referenced upon interacting with the landmark:
It doesn’t appear to the only reference to Top Banana in this mission either – one of the other landmarks in Sapphire Bay is a music festival site modelled after the failed Fyre Festival; upon interacting with that, the on-screen text reads “Fyre Sale.”
POCKET PLANES
The game has a mock-up social media app called BitBook. One of the posts reads “There’s always money in the toilet paper stand” (also referencing the aforementioned Top Banana quote), while another reads “And that’s why you always leave a note” (from Pier Pressure).
THE SIMS 3
The game has a character trait called “never nude,” where characters will never completely remove their clothing.
One of the in-game characters is named Gobias Koffi (in reference to Gobias Industries and its slogan from season 1’s Whistler’s Mother). He bears a strong resemblance to Tobias and possesses the aforementioned never nude trait.
SUNSET OVERDRIVE
The game’s map features a frozen banana stand. During the mission “Crimson Eyes in the North,” the player is tasked with blowing up several controllers, one of which is attached to the banana stand. After destroying it, the player’s character remarks, “There’s always money in the banana stand” – yet another nod to the line from Top Banana.
UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE’S DECEPTION
One of the locations in the game is a cruise ship named The Seaward, referencing the boat by the same name from The One Where They Build a House.
MUSIC
Deathcore band The Acacia Strain have several songs on their album “Continent” named in reference to Arrested Development: Seaward, Forget-Me-Now, Baby Buster and Balboa Towers.
Progressive metal band Periphery have a track titled Jetpacks Was Yes, taken from the website George Sr. visits in Mr. F.
Pop artist St. Vincent has confirmed her 2007 debut album “Marry Me” is named in reference to the running gag from the show, first established in season 2’s Switch Hitter.
OTHER
In the 2014 installment of webseries Homestar Runner, “I Killed Pom Pom,” the titular character dresses up as Tobias Fünke for Halloween, sporting his blue paint and denim cut-offs.
KNOW OF ANY REFERENCES THAT AREN’T ON THE LIST?
Post it in the comments below, or write to management directly here!
Deconstructing Arrested Development 