Drinking to Arrested Development

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Now here's a funny one. My husband and I never really knew anything about Arrested Development. And I mean nothing. Not sure what years it ran, what network, who was in it, what it was about, even if it was a comedy or a drama (or heck, it might have been a reality show for all we knew). But, shortly after we moved back to Florida (for a whopping two weeks, but that's a separate story), one of our friends told us all about it, as he had recently gotten into it (and was working his way through the series).

So, after watching the first season and most of the second so far, I can report that it's most definitely a comedy. It's absolutely hilarious. It's very atypical. There are a lot of flashbacks, a lot of (absolutely necessary) narration, and a lot of unresolved stories. In case you also know nothing about the show, it's basically about a family who has gone from riches to rags. Granddad has gone to jail for embezzlement, and most of the family is ignorant of the fact that the money is actually gone. Grandma still lives in a lush apartment with her youngest adult child (a perpetual graduate student), while the rest of the family (the other three kids, one of their spouses, and two grandkids) resides in a model home that the family owned. Storylines revolve around dealing with granddad in jail and the middle son trying to run the company (and the family), the granddaughter rebelling, the grandson having a crush on the granddaughter, and everyone else being unsuccessful at actually working for a living.

Okay, it's bizarre, I know. But, it's a real knee-slapper. And, the drinking game for this show started before I had ever saw an episode - two of our friends had to make suggestions about what would be included. We've altered them somewhat since then, and what we currently use is reproduced below.

Take ONE drink:
- whenever they're at the banana stand
- whenever there's a flashback
- whenever someone is visiting the jail
- whenever Tobias is wearing cut-offs
- whenever Lindsay flirts
- whenever Michael refers to Ann by anything other than her name (like egg, "her," Annhog, etc)
- whenever George Michael alludes to having a crush on Maeby
- whenever Maeby says "marry me"
- whenever Lucille pokes at Lindsay's appearance
- whenever Oscar tries to point out that he's Buster's father
- whenever Gob attempts to do a magic trick
- whenever Buster talks about or is drinking juice
- whenever we see the staircar or the segway
- whenever we see a newspaper clipping

Taken TWO Drinks:
- whenever someone says "I've made a HUGE mistake"
- whenever someone says "No Touching!"
- whenever we hear an air horn
- whenever the house is falling apart
- whenever we hear the name, "Steve Holt!"