From left to right: Gob, George Sr., Lindsay, Tobias, Michael, Lucille, George Michael, Maeby, and Buster

Family tree

- - - - : Adoption

(Oscar is the supposed father of Buster, although this is never made clear and in fact disputed by Lucille in Season 3.)

Michael Bluth

Fictional biography

Michael Bluth (born December 14, 1967) is the second oldest Bluth son, and the father of George Michael Bluth. In season 3, it is revealed that there is a typo on his birth certificate and that his legal name is Nichael Bluth. Michael's wife Tracy died (presumably of ovarian cancer) two years prior to the first season. His role in the story is to lead his family through their many crises, and he serves as the straight man in the comedy series.

When his father George Sr. goes to jail, Michael becomes head of the family and CEO and President of the Bluth Company. His authority, however, is constantly undermined by his family. He remained President for all of Season 1, but was replaced by G.O.B. in Season 2. As Vice President, Michael was the Bluth Company's de facto head, doing all the work of the President while being scrutinized by the SEC for his father's crimes. In season 3, Michael was firmly in charge again, though the sibling rivalry and family interference did not totally recede.

Concept, portrayal, and reception

Michael is generally the straight man in the series. However, creator Mitch Hurwitz says that in some respects Michael is "the craziest one" in that he cannot see much of what happens around him.^[1]

Michael is portrayed by actor Jason Bateman. Hurwitz did not know if Bateman was right for the part as he seemed associated with more conventional sitcoms, but Hurwitz said that in trying out for the part, Bateman "gave this dry, confident performance."^[2] Bateman also explained his performance by saying he could be "naturally... dickish" like his character.^[3] Bateman said of his part, "it's the best job I've ever had, hands down," and it may have also been his most famous one.^[4] Bateman and his character were also well-received by critic Robert Bianco, who wrote "the key to the show's success is the hilariously deadpan Bateman."^[5] Additionally, Bateman won a Golden Globe for his role as Michael in 2005, and was nominated for several other awards, including an Emmy.^[6]

Michael Bartel plays Michael Bluth as a young man in six episodes. Ryan Slough plays Michael in an episode. In a flashback in the series finale, Brandon Killham plays young Michael Bluth.

Lindsay Bluth Fünke

Fictional biography

Lindsay Bluth Fünke (born in 1965) is the adopted daughter of George Sr. and Lucille, but is ostensibly Michael's twin sister. She is also the wife of Tobias Fünke and mother to Maeby Fünke. Lindsay believes herself to be a dedicated activist. In reality, she is quite shallow and superficial, only supporting current trendy causes for the social status of holding extravagant charity drives from the Bluth Company money.

Lindsay is portrayed as trying to be promiscuous, often flirting and pursuing relationships with men other than her husband, usually with no success. She has become interested in and even dated characters such as Moses Taylor (who plays Detective Frank Wrench in the television series Wrench) and Tom Jane (star of Homeless Dad and Junk). In season three, Lindsay becomes interested in the family's new lawyer Bob Loblaw and becomes his daughter Hope's nanny to gain his interest.

Lindsay often ignores her daughter Maeby.

In the last episode of Season 3, it was revealed that Lindsay was not actually Michael's twin sister, or even a Bluth at all. She was actually adopted at age 3 to spite Bluth rival Stan Sitwell, who was already in the process of adopting her at the time. She also discovers that she is 40 years old, three years older than she had previously believed herself to be. Feeling that her youthful allure has now escaped her, she becomes desperate to marry a successful man, and divulges to Michael that they are not biological siblings and reveals her wish to divorce Tobias and marry him. She believes that he will accept, after misinterpreting Michael's brotherly compliments over the years as a sexual interest. However, Michael rejects Lindsay's offer of marriage, saying that he is not that into older women. Lindsay later reveals to Lucille that she is still pursuing a relationship with Michael.

Concept, portrayal, and reception

Creator Mitchell Hurwitz came up with Lindsay as the family's liberal figure, but Lindsay is also meant to represent a liberal who benefitted from her politics more so than she sacrificed, due to the image she built.^[7]

Lindsay was portrayed by actress Portia de Rossi. Having previously appeared in Ally McBeal, she said that she was looking for a new series like it.^[8] De Rossi was also attracted to Arrested Development for what she thought was a "fresh new perspective on comedy."^[9] She played Lindsay as someone who "doesn't have much of a clue but... has a pretty good heart".^[7] She explained her approach by saying that, "with Ally McBeal, we were very rehearsed and staged. But this is a lot looser."^[10] Hurwitz felt that de Rossi made the character somewhat similar to Lucille.^[7]

George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II

Fictional biography

G.O.B. (pronounced [] as in the Biblical figure Job) is the eldest Bluth son and the father of Steve Holt.

By trade he is a part-time magician, and was formerly a stripper, working as one of the "Hot Cops". He is a founding member of the "Magicians' Alliance", a group that was formed to preserve magicians' secrets, but he was later blackballed by them for unwittingly revealing how one of his illusions was performed. He is known for incorporating over-the-top theatrics into his magic shows, including pyrotechnics, dance routines, and wind machines. He plays Europe's "The Final Countdown" before almost all of his major illusions. In the second season he became president of the Bluth Company; however, it has been suggested that he wields no real power and that his brother Michael is still in charge.

George Sr. paid little attention to G.O.B. as a child and has no respect for him as an adult. G.O.B's mother openly hates him. On several occasions, G.O.B. and Michael have realized that their rivalry has been nurtured by their father and mother's manipulations. G.O.B. is known to be the womanizer of the Bluth family. Eventually, G.O.B. discovers that he is the father of the teenage jock Steve Holt.

He is also the original creator and inspiration for the Mr. Bananagrabber character. Although he retains most of the rights to the character, he gave away the animation rights to Michael. It was later made into an animated TV series that became an infrequent background joke. He also briefly had a ventriloquist act with a stereotypical African-American doll named Franklin. He is frequently seen throughout the series getting around on a Segway which has a pouch that says "G.O.B." on it.

Concept, portrayal, and reception

G.O.B. is portrayed by Will Arnett.

George Michael Bluth

Fictional biography

George Michael Bluth (born March 2, 1990) is the young teenage son of Michael Bluth. He is a student, and he works at the family banana stand, where he is "mister manager".

When he was reunited with his cousin Maeby, he shortly developed a crush on her (after they kissed in the first episode). In the second season, George Michael started dating a girl named Ann, a devout Christian whom his father dislikes. Season two ends with George Michael and Maeby kissing, to his delight. After the incident, the two try to avoid each other for much of the third season. Later in the third season, he and Maeby accidentally get married during what they believed was a fake weddings for Alzheimer's patients. They also kiss passionately later in the season, when George Michael tells Maeby they may not be related.

Concept, portrayal, and reception

George Michael is portrayed by Michael Cera, and in flashback sequences by Christian Lavery.

Maeby Fünke

Fictional biography

Mae "Maeby" Fünke (born September 22, 1990) is the teenage daughter of Lindsay and Tobias. Maeby's conception is an unanswered question and running joke throughout the series; though it is frequently implied that she is a test-tube baby, it is revealed that Lindsay delivered Maeby in the final episodes of season three.

Maeby attended a progressive school called "Openings" before her parents moved in with Michael. Once she enters the public school system, she is not able to compete. She loses interest in grades and starts creating new opportunities to get into trouble. Maeby receives charity money on false pretenses by pretending to be a wheelchair-bound girl named "Surely" who suffers from a rare, debilitating illness called "B.S." Maeby cons her way into being a movie executive and maintains the charade for many episodes. Eventually, her age is discovered when her cousin George Michael sends invitations to her 16th birthday party to all the other studio executives in her address book.

Maeby is occasionally receptive to George Michael's affections. However she starts dating Steve Holt, who is discovered near the end of Season Two of the series to be the son of G.O.B, thus Maeby's cousin (although not related by blood, as Maeby's mother Lindsay was adopted). While increasingly desperate to end the relationship, she continues to date him, at one point slipping him one of G.O.B.'s "forget-me-nows" to avoid having sex with him. George Michael tells Maeby at the beginning of Season Three that Steve Holt is also her cousin.

Concept, portrayal, and reception

Creator Mitchell Hurwitz named the character after his daughters May and Phoebe.^[11] Hurwitz acknowledged the peculiar result of this blending, saying "It just seemed like crazy extra fun to think of weird names. I don't want us to become too self-conscious about it but, yes, we do have some strange names."^[12] Maeby was initially imagined as a pseudo-conservative, to be a deliberate foil to her activist mother Lindsay, but eventually re-imagined to be a troublemaker in other ways.^[11] In making Maeby an opposite to George Michael (she is bolder and not as reverent towards her father), Hurwitz thought this also contributed to the idea of George Michael and Maeby developing a romance.^[13]

Maeby is portrayed by Alia Shawkat. Shawkat tried out for the part with Michael Cera, who plays George Michael, in Los Angeles, and the creators thought they both did well. Thus, Shawkat and Cera joined the cast before the other performers.^[14] For her role as Maeby, Shawkat won a Young Artist Award in 2005 and was also nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2005 and 2006.^[15]

Byron "Buster" Bluth

Fictional biography

Byron "Buster" Bluth is the youngest son of George Sr. and Lucille, though it is later revealed that his biological father is actually George Sr.'s identical twin brother Oscar. He is portrayed by Tony Hale.

Buster is a professional student, having completed coursework in cartography, Native American tribal ceremonies, 18th century agrarian business principles, and archaeology. In the second season premiere, Lucille signs Buster up for the Army although his training unsuccessful.

He is extremely immature and socially inept. He has frequent panic attacks, hates both closed and open spaces, is terrified of sheep, seals, and birds, and is very wrathful towards his Korean-born adopted brother, Annyong. Buster has an unhealthy attachment to his mother Lucille. He sometimes tries to assert his independence by defying his mother's orders, such as by dating her rival, Lucille Austero. He has an uncharacteristic habit of greeting people with back rubs and commonly addresses his relatives by their relation to him (G.O.B. and Michael, for example, are greeted with "Hey, brother"). Buster's left hand is bitten off and in all succeeding episodes he wears a transradial prosthetic on his left arm, usually a hook or an artificial hand.

Reception

Buster is portrayed by Tony Hale. Entertainment Weekly selected Buster as the uncle for "The Perfect TV Family."^[16]

Tobias Fünke

Fictional biography

Tobias Fünke is the husband of Lindsay Bluth and the father of Maeby Fünke. He was the Chief Resident of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, though he lost his license for giving CPR to a man who wasn't actually having a heart attack. At the beginning of the series, Tobias decides that his destiny is to become an actor, and he pursues this career throughout the series without success. He spends time trying to join the Blue Man Group, often appearing in blue spots in the background.

Tobias has a condition called "never-nude" syndrome (which, as the narrator states, is "exactly what it sounds like") and wears denim cut-off shorts at all times, even in the shower. (The condition is based on the real condition of severe gymnophobia, although the portrayal is largely fake). His homosexual tendencies are a running joke in the show; he makes frequent sexual double-entendres. Lindsay, who married Tobias to spite her father, is convinced that her husband is gay. He has experienced sexual difficulties with his wife. This leads to their joint decision to attempt an "open" marriage.

Concept, portrayal, and reception

Tobias is portrayed by David Cross.

George Bluth Sr.

Fictional biography

George Bluth, Sr. is the head of the Bluth family and the husband of Lucille Bluth. George Sr. was the chief executive officer of the Bluth Company, which he founded. However, after years of "creative accounting" practices, he became the subject of an investigation and was imprisoned. While in prison, George Sr. continues to try to exert control over the company, often using G.O.B. to undermine Michael's authority.

George Sr. escapes to Mexico with a briefcase filled with evidence of his dealings with Saddam Hussein. In season two, George Sr. fakes his death in Mexico and returns to America to hide in the attic of the Bluth model home. Early in the third season, after being discovered among the Blue Man Group in Reno, Nevada, he was placed under house arrest. He told Michael that he had been set up to build homes in Iraq by a group of British contractors operating out of "Wee Britain".

George Sr. is also the inventor of The Cornballer, a faulty product which has been banned in numerous countries. George Sr. has also had a religious awakening twice on the show, once becoming Jewish after a period of isolation and selling a video series "Caged Wisdom," and once becoming a devout Christian after reading a pamphlet in a garbage bag while hiding in the attic.

Concept, portrayal, and reception

George Sr. is portrayed by Jeffrey Tambor.

Lucille Bluth

Fictional biography

Lucille Bluth is the matriarch of the Bluth family. She is the mother of G.O.B., Michael, Lindsay, Buster, and the adopted Hel-loh "Annyong" Bluth, as well as wife to George Sr. Her grandchildren George Michael Bluth and Maeby Fünke call her "Gangy" (pronounced "gang-ghee"). She carried on an affair with George Sr.'s twin brother Oscar.

Lucille is accustomed to an opulent and decadent lifestyle which she funds with misbegotten Bluth Company money. She treats herself to repeated spa treatments and face lifts, and is known to abuse alcohol and prescription drugs and to mistreat her housekeepers. Lucille is domineering, and she emotionally abuses her children. She furtively wrests control of the Bluth Company board from Michael. She has a tight grip on her youngest son Buster, who, as a result of his mother's dominance and sheltering, is unstable, socially inept, and prone to panic attacks. She has also admitted that she never cared for G.O.B..

Concept, portrayal, and reception

Lucille is portrayed by Jessica Walter.

See also

• List of Arrested Development minor characters

References

es:Anexo:Personajes de Arrested Development