The B. Team

"The B. Team"
Directors: Mitch Hurwitz & Troy Miller — Writer: Mitch Hurwitz & Jim Vallely — Aired: May 26, 2013 —    ◄    ►

"The B. Team" is the fourth episode of Arrested Development's fourth season.

Michael is presented with a new business opportunity that could change his life. Unfortunately, he needs his family to sign off.

Synopsis

To cope with the failure of the Michael B. Company and his $700,000 debt to Lucille Austero, Michael got a job at Google driving a Google Maps StreetView car. During a drive he received a call from Barry informing him that Ron Howard wanted to meet with him. Michael drove up to Hollywood to meet at the offices of Imagine Entertainment when he bumped into Kitty, who was employed by Imagine and who had edged Maeby out of her movie producer career.

Michael meeting Ron Howard

Ron had seen Michael's in flight magazine article and decided to make a film about the financial collapse and wanted it to revolve around Michael and feature the rocky Bluth father-son relationship. Ron tasked Michael with getting signatures from every member of his family. Upon being named a Producer, Michael ran into a beautiful red-headed actress on the street whom he though would be perfect Tracey Bluth. She slipped away without him learning her name but not before telling him about her bagpipe concert at the Ealing Club.

Michael tried to track down his father for his signature at Balboa Towers and thought he saw him with Lucille Austero on her balcony. In the hallway, upon asking for his signature and extremely hesitantly saying he'd make the character of George Bluth look nice, Michael was told a very firm "go to hell." Michael then met with Kitty in his new and very short office where she threatened to bury him if he made one misstep. He then met with Carl Weathers to see if he could get Carl's Bluth family rights from Scandalmakers but Carl never obtained the rights, thus causing another episode of Scandalmakers about him.

The creative team behind the Untitled Michael B. Project

Taking a page from Carl's book, Michael met with Stefan Gentles to write the screenplay. Gentiles suggested Philip Seymour Hoffman for the role of George but instead Michael approached Andy Richter, who joined when Conan O'Brien insulted him. The four men tried to meet with Ron but were warned by Kitty that he doesn't like surprises. They were then stuck in the elevator between floors and were at foot level with Ron and Brian Grazer. Ron asked that Michael come back when he had all the signatures. 

Michael was moved down to Orange County Imagine where his father stumbled into his office with Mexican porn. They caught up and Michael mentioned the cute redhead to him so he decided to sign his rights to the film. Outside the Ealing Club, Ron told Michael that he didn't care about George's rights, he needed George Michael's rights to make the father-son dynamic work. Michael was hesitant to invade his son's privacy again. To take his mind off it, he listened to the red-headed girl's concert and the two bonded over their children. They then had sex in a photo booth and Michael finally learned her name from her tattoo: Rebel, whom Michael believed was the mistress of Ron Howard (but was in reality his daughter.)

Appearances

Michael meets Rebel for the first time

Main Cast

• Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth
• Alia Shawkat as Maeby Fünke
• Jeffrey Tambor as George Bluth and Oscar Bluth
• David Cross as Tobias Fünke

Recurring

• Isla Fisher as Rebel Alley
• Brian Grazer as Himself
• Louisa Velis as Luisa Velez
• Andrew Secunda as Process server
• Judy Greer as Kitty Sanchez
• Ron Howard as Himself
• Henry Winkler as Barry Zuckerkorn
• Scott Baio as Bob Loblaw
• Carl Weathers as Himself
• Andy Richter as Himself
• Andy Richter as Rocky Richter-Wang
• Liza Minnelli as Lucille Austero
• Seth Rogen as Young George Bluth
• Kristen Wiig as Young Lucille Bluth
• James Lipton as Stefan Gentles
• Maria Bamford as Debrie Bardeaux
• Allan Wasserman as Herb Zuckerkorn
• Max Winkler as Young Barry Zuckerkorn

Guest

• Conan O'Brien as Himself
• John Krasinski as Himself
• Andrew Santino as Employer
• Rick Federman as Prosecuting attorney
• Sara Chase as Receptionist
• Barry Wiggins as Actor portraying Carl Weathers
• Stephanie Coffey as Andy's stylist
• Keeshan Giles as Imagine guard
• Peter Kousakis as Mike Dawkins
• Constantine Salavas as Charles Dawkins
• Kevin Walsh as Pitch man
• Jayme Ratzer as OC Nurse
• Beth Melewski as Patient's mother
• Hamish Clark as Band leader 

Recurring themes

References

• Happy Days -
  • Max Winkler, Henry Winkler's son who portrays Barry Zuckerkorn in 1982, says "eh!" like Henry Winkler's character Fonzie in Happy Days.
  • When Barry is reaching over the gate at the high school, he calls the doorknob a "chachi". Bob Loblaw, standing nearby, is portrayed by Scott Baio who portrayed Chachi Arcola in Happy Days and the spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi.
• Imagine Entertainment - Several Imagine films are mentioned including Cocoon, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Splash, Curious George, The DaVinci Code, and Willow.
• Variety - Issues of Variety appear in multiple episodes including "Development Arrested".
• Carrie Fisher - The issue of Variety has a headline "Carrie Fisher Ankles Big, Too"
• Arrested Development - The trays for projects at Imagine Entertainment are "active development" and "not going forward development".
• Jerry Bruckheimer -
  • Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Imagine Entertainment have a feud with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Bruckheimer Films.
  • Gentles pitches a Transformers script to Bruckheimer Films, and the producer says "you're not charring my tree", a reference to Bruckheimer Film's logo.
• The Andy Griffith Show - Ron Howard starred as Opie in The Andy Griffith Show (which was previously mentioned in "For British Eyes Only" and "Public Relations".) Imagine Entertainment is casting to direct an AGS film but it's "not a done deal yet", mocking how the AD movie is not a done deal either and churned for 7 years.
• Moon landing conspiracy - Ron Howard says the 1969 moon landing was faked.
• iPad - Stefan Gentles can't use his iPad correctly.
• Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Warden Gentiles suggests getting a "Phillip Seymour Hoffman-type" to play George Bluth and Michael thinks of Andy Richter.
• "Simply the Best" - Tina Turner's rock song plays when Michael, Warden Gentiles, Carl Weathers and Andy Richter enter Imagine Entertainment.
• Rocko's Modern Life - Warden Gentiles mentions that he wrote several episode of the 1990s cartoon show.
• Cuba Gooding Jr. - Brian Grazer mistakes Carl Weathers for Cuba Gooding Jr.
• Charlize Theron - Rebel says that turning her character into a mentally challenged woman might win her an Oscar, and Michael is reminded of Rita. Charlize Theron, a previous Oscar winner, played Rita.

Callbacks/Running Jokes

• Banners - Michael knocks down a Herbert Love banner with the Google StreetView car.
• "Her?" - Michael says "Them?" about his family to Ron Howard.
• "He's Very Good" - Barry's slogan is said by a young Lucille in 1982.
• Scandalmakers - A flashback of Carl Weather's episode "Blurred Truth" of Scandalmakers is shown. Also, a new episode about Carl Weathers is shown, which is based on the story of Carl's failure to procure the Bluth family rights for the original episode of Scandalmakers, titled "Weather's Permit-ing: The Scandalmaker's Maker's Scandal".
• Ostrich - The Google employees call StreetView car drivers "ostriches".
• "Get this - Beverly Hills" - Barry tells Michael that Ron Howard wants to meet with him in "— get this — Beverly Hills." Narrator later describes the headquarters of Imagine being located in "— get this — Beverly Hills."
• Rhyming legal advice -
  • Bob Loblaw says "If he can't reach, this trial's a breach!"
  • A young Barry tells the Bluths "If you don't sign, you'll be fine!"
• Bob Loblaw law bomb - After the prosecutor says "That's a low blow loblaw" he replies "Bob Loblaw law bomb!" Loblaw lobbed a law bomb at the Bluth family in "S.O.B.s".
• Flashing - Michael assumes Kitty is going to flash him. She is seen flashing in her ID card photo.
• Photo montage - A photo montage shows Kitty and Ron Howard bonding, mirroring her montage with George in "Visiting Ours".
• Phoenix - Ron has been traveling to Phoenix to see his sick aunt.
• Prayer hands - Ron decided to make a movie about the real estate market crash based on Michael's begging photo in the Altitude magazine.
• Tracey Bluth - Ron Howard wants to alter the story of Michael's deceased wife to make a better movie and to cast Rebel. Michael mentions Tracey had red hair when he meets Rebel on the street.
• Health insurance - Imagine Entertainment does not offer it's employees health insurance.
• "Baby, you’ve got a stew going" - In Carl's Scandalmakers intro, stew is seen in the background.
• Mr. Bananagrabber - In Carl's Scandalmakers intro, Mr. Bananagrabber can barely be seen.
• Hot ham water - Michael reminds Andy of the "Save Our Bluths" dinner which served "chicken and ham water", from "S.O.B.s".
• Bees / Ashamed of their name - Michael's film is called the Untitled Michael B. Project, just as his solo real estate company was called the Michael B. Company and his father wanted to be called "Father B." and the episode title "Queen B." is about Lucille.
• Repulsive - While Kitty's hair got better since Visiting Ours, she still goes cross-eyed when she takes off her glasses, as seen when she lowers her glasses and winks at Maeby.
• Rita Leeds - When Rebel suggests making her character a mentally disabled woman, Michael responds, "there's a part like that too", and tries to excuse himself again for his past obliviousness.
• Sheep - While looking over the Photos of Michael and Rebel from the Ealing Club's Photo Booth, a sheep can be seen intruding on the couple, similar to Buster's incident in the series one episode, "Staff Infection", in which a Sheep interrupts him in a photo booth.
• "[synonym for arrested] Development" - Kitty puts Maeby's script in a box labeled "Not going forward development".
• Tips - Michael doesn't tip the two black men who delivered the table for his office, like his father does.

Hidden/Background Jokes

• Scripts - There are multiple funny movie scripts seen in this episode in the Imagine offices. In the Lunar Lander there are three scripts entitled Three Men and Two Babies, Tell it to the Hand and Backgammon!. Later on when Michael is stuck in the elevator Brian Grazer is seen holding a script for a movie called Cap'n Crunch.
• Imagine Entertainment Offices - While Michael walks through the Imagine Entertainment building for his first meeting there, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's offices are seen, Ron's has a wooden carving of a baseball cap above the door (a reference to the fact he often wears the hat) and Brian's has a carving of his own hairstyle.
• LEM - Ron invited Michael to talk inside the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module). Rebel's son is named Lem.
• 21st Century Family - The title of Maeby's project for the Bluth family film was 21st Century Family. This is a possible reference to the show Modern Family.
• Orange County Imagine movie posters - Includes 3 Ron Howard & Brian Grazer films with poor Spanish translations and one made up sequel.
  • Agua - Means "Water" in Spanish. The actual poster is from Splash.
  • Señor Princesa - Means "Mr. Princess" in Spanish. The poster is actually from Cinderella Man.
  • "Dos hombres, uno ve a una mujer con otro hombre que no es el primer hombre. ¿Que hara? ¿En caso de que le diga?" - Means "Two men, one sees a woman with another man who is not the first man. What will he do? What will he say to her in that case?" in Spanish. The poster is from The Dilemma.
  • Angeles Y Diablos: ¡Mas! ¡Mas! ¡Mas! - Means "Angels and Devils: More! More! More!" in Spanish. Appears to be a sequel of Angels and Demons staring Tom Hanks's "Bosom Buddy" Peter Scolari.

Foreshadowing/Future References

• High-tech sector - Michael gets a job in the high-tech sector after the housing market crashed. George Michael, Maeby, and Mort all get jobs in high-tech during Season Four.
• India - A shot of Maeby "on location" is explained in "Señoritis"
• G.O.B.'s limo - Michael is nearly hit by a limo, which is later seen to be driven by G.O.B.
• Oscar with Lucille 2 - Michael assumes his father is fooling around with Lucille 2, but it turns out to be Oscar in "Double Crossers".
• DeBrie's heart stopping - On the set of Scandalmakers DeBrie's heart stops. When Tobias rushes her to the hospital, he knows the staff. This is later revealed to be the second time he's rushed her to the hospital for the same reason, as revealed in "A New Start".

Quotes

Ron Howard: I think it's a lot more fun to see her die.  

Producer: Sorry, you're not charring my tree.  

Warden Gentiles: It's a slideshow of my granddaughter's daughter's graduation from college... or was it high school?  

Notes

• In the opening credits, Michael's instrument is a trumpet.
• Lindsay, Lucille, George Michael, Buster, and G.O.B. do not appear in this episode.

Goofs

• While walking Michael to his office, the censoring "bleep" is played above a section of Kitty's apparent bad language, despite the fact that you can hear her say just the letter "F" before the bleep.

Images

→ See 137 pictures from The B. Team at Images from The B. Team.

SEASON FOUR EPISODES
1. "Flight of the Phoenix" 2. "Borderline Personalities" 3. "Indian Takers" 4. "The B. Team" 5. "A New Start"	6. "Double Crossers" 7. "Colony Collapse" 8. "Red Hairing" 9. "Smashed" 10. "Queen B."	11. "A New Attitude" 12. "Señoritis" 13. "It Gets Better" 14. "Off the Hook" 15. "Blockheads"
Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five