"Good Grief" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American television

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Arrested Development ''Arrested Development'' is an American satire, satirical television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family and is presented in a Serial (radio and television), serialized format, inco ...

''. Written by consulting producer John Levenstein and directed by

Jeff Melman Jeffrey L. Melman (born May 18, 1947) is an American television director and producer. Melman has directed for several present-day network television series. More recently Melman has directed episodes of ABC's ''Grey's Anatomy'', '' Private Pra ...

, it first aired on

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

on December 5, 2004. The episode has received critical acclaim, with series creator

Mitchell Hurwitz Mitchell Donald "Mitch" Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' as well as the co-creator of '' The Ellen Show''. He is ...

calling it his third favorite episode of the series. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' ranked the episode as the 29th best television episode of all time in 2024. The series, narrated by

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...

, follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy,

dysfunctional family In psychology, abnormality (also dysfunctional behavior, maladaptive behavior, or deviant behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when i ...

, who made their money from property development. The Bluth family consists of

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

, his twin sister Lindsay, his older brother Gob, his younger brother Buster, their mother Lucille and father George Sr., as well as Michael's son

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

, and Lindsay and her husband

Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the , which is a Graecisation of the Hebrew biblical name . With the biblical Book of Tobit being present in the Deuterocanonical books and Biblical apocrypha, Tobias is a popular male given name for both Chri ...

' daughter Maeby. In the episode, after Ice reveals that George Sr. has been executed in Mexico, the family holds a wake. Gob attempts an illusion in which he is buried in place of his father's body, which upsets Buster, who was told that it was a birthday party. George Michael discovers George Sr. alive in an underground bunker and hides him in the attic.

Plot

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(

Malik Yoba Abdul-Malik Kashie Yoba (born September 17, 1967) is an American actor. He is known for his starring role as New York City Police Department, NYPD Detective J. C. Williams on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox police drama ''New York Undercover' ...

), the bounty hunter that

(

Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox / Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2019) and Marty Byrde in the Netflix crime drama s ...

) hired, discovers that George Sr. (

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American retired actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank ...

) has supposedly died in Mexico, while

Ann Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie and Ana. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in ...

(

Mae Whitman Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actor. She began her career as a child actor, starring in the films '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994), '' One Fine Day'' (1996), ''Independence Day'' (1996), and '' Hope Floats'' (1998), ...

) breaks up with

(

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera ( ; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor. Over his career he has received nominations for a British Academy Film Award, three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. Cera beca ...

). Maeby (

Alia Shawkat Alia Martine Shawkat ( ; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her performances as Maeby Fünke in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2006; 2013–2019), Dory Sief ...

) seeks advice from

Barry Zuckerkorn ''Arrested Development'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on Fox from November 2, 2003 to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013, and a fifth season was released in two part ...

(

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, producer, director, and author. Widely known as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984), Winkler has distinguished himself as a character acto ...

) on divorcing her parents. The family discusses a wake for George Sr., and Gob plans to turn the event into an illusion. Buster is not told the truth about his father's death out of fear of him overreacting. George Michael finds George Sr., who had faked his death and came back to win Lucille back from his brother

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

(Tambor), alive and hiding in a

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, so George Michael hides him in the attic of the model home. The wake begins, with George Sr. watching through a vent and sending George Michael to bring him

hors d'oeuvre An hors d'oeuvre ( ; ), appetiser, appetizer or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the meal, or ...

s. Michael intercepts his son, reuniting him with Ann and telling him that he wants them to be happy and honest with each other. Buster arrives, and Lucille asks Gob to get him out of the house before he realizes it's a wake. Outside, Gob begins his illusion, but ends up getting himself buried alive when Buster realizes that the event is his father's wake. Michael finds his father in the attic and tells everyone else, but when they arrive at the attic, George Sr. has apparently fled. When they leave, George Sr. emerges from a hiding spot, and Michael keeps his secret.

On the next ''Arrested Development''...

Buster finds out about the death of

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program ...

and trashes Lucille's apartment, Michael gets annoyed with looking after George Sr., and Gob is put on the cover of ''Poof'', a magazine for magicians.

Production

"Good Grief" was directed by

and written by consulting producer John Levenstein. It was Melman's first and only directing credit and Levenstein's sixth and final writing credit. It was the fourth episode of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

to be filmed.

Reception

Viewers

In the United States, the episode was watched by 6.66 million viewers on its original broadcast.

Critical reception

"Good Grief" received critical acclaim. ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' writer Noel Murray praised the episode, calling it a "stunningly well-constructed piece of farce". In 2019, Brian Tallerico from ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'' ranked the episode as the 20th best of the whole series. In 2015, Megan Walsh from ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...

'' ranked the episode as one of the top ten best of the series. Series creator

ranked "Good Grief" as his third favorite episode of the show. In 2024,

Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He ...

from ''

'' ranked the episode as the 29th best television episode of all time, calling it "a standout from the series’ initial three-year run".

Accolades

Richard Candib was nominated for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series at the

57th Primetime Emmy Awards The 57th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 18, 2005, and were hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The ceremony was broadcast on CBS. BBC America received its first major nomination this year. The ceremony, which aired three weeks afte ...

for "Good Grief".

References

External links

* {{Arrested Development 2004 American television episodes Arrested Development season 2 episodes Television episodes directed by Jeff Melman