Arrested Development season 2
The second season of Arrested Development, an American television series created by Mitchell Hurwitz, premiered on November 7, 2004, and concluded its initial airing on April 17, 2005. The eighteen-episode season was broadcast on Fox, an American broadcast television network.
Arrested Development, narrated by Ron Howard, follows the Bluth family, which consists of Michael, 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, and Lindsay and her husband Tobias' daughter Maeby. A formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family, the Bluths made their money from property development, before George Sr. was arrested for arrested for using his company's funds for personal expenses. Central storylines of the season include George Michael's relationship with his on-again-off-again girlfriend Ann Veal, George Sr.'s hiding in the Bluth model home's attic, and Lucille's affair with Oscar, George Sr.'s twin brother.
The second season received acclaim from critics, who lauded it as overwhelmingly better than the first. It was nominated for multiple awards, notably for 11 Emmys, the highest amount a single season of the series ever received. A preview of the season was released several weeks prior to its premiere. It was released on DVD in region 1 on October 11, 2005, in region 2 on January 23, 2006, and in region 4 on March 15, 2006.
Production
Renewal
The series was not immediately renewed for another season like the rest of Fox's programming was in April 2004. Portia de Rossi, who portrays Lindsay, said in an interview that she was worried about the possibility the series would not be renewed for a second season, because she had grown very close to her co-stars during the first season. Jason Bateman said that he was sure the series would be renewed, as Gail Berman, a Fox executive, was a fan of the series; oppositely, David Cross felt the series would be cancelled before a second season could be ordered, citing its low ratings as a reason. The series was soon picked up for a full 22-episode second season. However, its production order was later cut down to 18 episodes by Fox in order to save air time for American Dad!.Development
For season two, series creator Mitchell Hurwitz served as the showrunner, as well as the co-executive producer with Dean Lorey, Richard Day, Tom Saunders, Jim Vallely, and Chuck Tatham. John Amodeo was the season's main producer, while Maria Semple was the consulting producer; Sam Laybourne and Karey Dornetto were staff writers.Hurwitz encouraged the writers of the season to experiment and take more risks when writing scripts. This helped spawn the season's reoccurring storyline of Buster losing his hand by a seal attack, which was originally pitched as a joke concept in an email. After it was decided to create a storyline out of the attack, Hurwitz went back to previous episodes of the season to add more foreshadowing to it.
Casting
The main cast of the series all returned for season two, including Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Jessica Walter, and Jeffrey Tambor. Starting with the season, Ann's original actress—Alessandra Torresani—would be replaced by Mae Whitman. Originally, the plan was to replace Ann's actress with every subsequent appearance following Whitman's casting, but it was considered too convoluted and Whitman remained as Ann.Release
A preview of some episodes of the second season was released onto Fox's official website in October 2004, several weeks prior to its premiere. The season began airing on November 7, 2004, and concluded on April 17, 2005. The series' time slot was moved to it airing after The Simpsons in November 2004. In 2006, the first three seasons of the series became available to watch for free on Microsoft's nascent internet video streaming service MSN.Episodes
Cast
- Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth
- Portia de Rossi as Lindsay Bluth Fünke
- Will Arnett as Gob Bluth
- Michael Cera as George Michael Bluth
- Alia Shawkat as Maeby Fünke
- Tony Hale as Buster Bluth
- David Cross as Tobias Fünke
- Jeffrey Tambor as George Bluth, Sr. / Oscar Bluth
- Jessica Walter as Lucille Bluth
- Ron Howard as Narrator
Reception
Ratings
Ratings for season two were "slightly" better than the first; the season averaged about six million viewers. During the season, Arrested Development ranked 115th out of all prime-time shows in terms of viewership. The second-season premiere "The One Where Michael Leaves" received a 2.4 rating share in the Nielsen ratings among viewers age 18 to 49, attracting 6.61 million viewers overall. The succeeding episode, "The One Where They Build a House", received a 2.6 share in the same Nielsen ratings demographic and drew in 7.22 million viewers, the highest of the season. Both of these ratings significantly built upon the viewing figures of the previous season finale. The lowest ratings belonged to "Sword of Destiny" with 4.72 million viewers and a 1.7 share.Critical reception
In its second season, Arrested Development was met with widespread critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 94% with an average score of 8.3 out of 10 based on 18 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Arrested Developments second season doubles down on the absurd antics and densely layered gags, cementing the Bluths as TV's best worst family." On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the second season scored 88 out of 100, based on 17 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim."Nick Venable of CinemaBlend praised the season, hailing it as better than the first. Venable highlights the season's many sight gags—along with verbal and physical gags—as the reason he found it so compelling.
Awards and nominations
In 2005, the second season received eleven Emmy nominations in seven categories with one win. It was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series ; Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series; Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series. The episode "Righteous Brothers", written by Mitchell Hurwitz and Jim Vallely won for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.The second season also received two Golden Globe nominations in two categories with one win. It was nominated for Best Series Musical or Comedy, and Jason Bateman won for Best Performance in a Musical or Comedy.