"Pier Pressure" | |
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Arrested Development episode | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 10 |
Directed by | Joe Russo |
Written by | Jim Vallely Mitchell Hurwitz |
Cinematography by | James Hawkinson Greg Harrington (uncredited) |
Editing by | Steven Sprung |
Production code | 1AJD09 |
Original air date | January 11, 2004 |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
"Pier Pressure" is the tenth episode of the first season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It was written by consulting producer Jim Vallely and series creator Mitchell Hurwitz, and directed by producer Joe Russo. It originally aired on Fox on January 11, 2004. The episode is Hurwitz's joint-favorite episode with "Making a Stand", [1] and it was received mostly positive reviews from critics. [2] [3]
The series, narrated by Ron Howard, follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family, who made their money from property development. The Bluth family 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. In the episode, Michael thinks George Michael has started using marijuana, but Buster asked George Michael for it to treat Lucille Austero's vertigo. Maeby spends time with grandmother Lucille, but Lindsay resents their bond.
Michael (Jason Bateman) is disappointed with George Michael (Michael Cera)'s latest test grade, while Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) is impressed with Maeby (Alia Shawkat)'s C-minus because she didn't even study. Michael and Lindsay remember how George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) used a one-armed former employee named J. Walter Weatherman (Steve Ryan) to scare his children into learning life lessons. Lucille (Jessica Walter) asks Michael and Lindsay to help her doctor receipts before handing them in to the SEC, to which they both decline, with Maeby being forced to help as punishment. Michael overhears George Michael berate himself as he struggles with a math problem and tells him to take some time off. At the banana stand, Buster (Tony Hale) tells George Michael that Lucille Austero (Liza Minnelli)'s vertigo is acting up, and asks to obtain some marijuana for her. Michael finds his son working and chides him for not taking time off and gives him $20 to spend on himself. Buster then gives George Michael $225 to buy the marijuana.
Lucille gives a brooch that Lindsay always wanted to Maeby, who is excited to make her mother jealous, but is bothered by a remark Lucille makes about her freckles. George Michael doesn't find Gob (Will Arnett) on the yacht, and leaves a note asking if he can buy him some marijuana. Gob does, but tells Michael, who quizzes George Michael. Michael visits George Sr. to get the contact information of J. Walter Weatherman to teach George Michael a lesson, but George Sr. tells Michael he should just talk to his son. With Gob's help, Michael hires some "Hot Cops" (strippers in policeman costumes) to stage a fake drug bust. Lindsay finds out that her daughter got the brooch she always wanted, but when Lucille begins to criticize Maeby, she decides she's spent enough time with her grandmother.
George Michael heads for the yacht to pick up the marijuana, and Gob flashes the lights, leading two men to appear with a bag of marijuana and George Michael reluctantly completing the deal. The "Hot Cops" appear but start dancing around, and Michael appears and tells George Michael a lesson has been instilled. Buster comes forward and admits that the marijuana was for him, not George Michael. Two real drug dealers, having seen Gob's light flashing, come forward with a supply of marijuana. Before Gob can explain, a police boat appears and the dealers, thinking they were set up, pull out their guns, and Michael and Gob become trapped in a gun battle. One of the dealers loses an arm, and they look up to see the face of J. Walter Weatherman. Michael realizes that his father had taught him an elaborate lesson: not to teach lessons. Maeby gives Lindsay the brooch, and Michael encourages George Michael to be honest with him. George Michael admits that he has a crush on Maeby, but Michael thinks he's joking.
"Pier Pressure" was directed by producer Joe Russo and written by consulting producer Jim Vallely and series creator Mitchell Hurwitz. [4] It was Russo's fourth directing credit, Vallely's first writing credit and Hurwitz's fourth writing credit. [5] It was the ninth episode of the ordered season to be filmed after the pilot. [6]
In the United States, the episode was watched by 7.21 million viewers on its original broadcast, an increase of over 1 million viewers from the previous episode. [7]
The episode garnered positive reviews. In 2019, Brian Tallerico from Vulture ranked "Pier Pressure" as the best episode out of the whole series. [2] In 2015, The A.V. Club ranked it as the fifth best episode of all time from any sitcom since 1990. [3] The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray praised the episode, saying "Arrested Development kicked off 2004 in impressive fashion with “Storming The Castle,” and then cemented its place as the best sitcom on the air with ["Pier Pressure"]." [8] In 2015, Megan Walsh from Screen Rant ranked the episode as one of the top ten best of the series. [9] Series creator Mitchell Hurwitz ranked "Pier Pressue" as his joint-favorite episode of the show with "Making a Stand". [1]
At the 57th Writers Guild of America Awards, Mitchell Hurwitz and Jim Vallely won Best Episodic Comedy for "Pier Pressure". [10]
"Good Grief" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It is the 26th overall episode of the series, and was written by consulting producer John Levenstein and directed by Jeff Melman. It originally aired on Fox on December 5, 2004. The episode is series creator Mitchell Hurwitz's third favorite episode.
"The One Where They Build a House" is the second episode of the second season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It is the 24th overall episode of the series, and was written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and co-executive producer Jim Vallely, and directed by Patty Jenkins. It originally aired on Fox on November 14, 2004. The title is a reference to the sitcom Friends, which had finished airing six months earlier.
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"My Mother, the Car" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It was written by supervising producer Chuck Martin and directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. It originally aired on Fox on December 21, 2003.
"Storming the Castle" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It was written by co-producer Brad Copeland and directed by Greg Mottola. It originally aired on Fox on January 4, 2004.
"Marta Complex" is the twelfth episode of the first season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It was written by co-executive producer John Levenstein and consulting producer Jim Vallely, and directed by producer Joe Russo. It originally aired on Fox on February 8, 2004.
"Pilot" is the first episode of the first season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It was written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and directed by producers Anthony and Joe Russo. It originally aired on Fox on November 2, 2003. An uncensored, extended version of the episode was released as a special feature on the DVD home release.
"Exit Strategy" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It is the 52nd overall episode of the series, and was written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and co-executive producer Jim Vallely, and directed by Rebecca E. Asher. It originally aired on Fox on February 10, 2006, along with the two previous episodes, and the following episode in a two-hour block against NBC's coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
"Making a Stand" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It is the 48th overall episode of the series, and was written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and co-executive producer Chuck Tatham, and directed by Peter Lauer. It originally aired on Fox on December 12, 2005. The episode is Hurwitz's joint-favorite episode, the other being "Pier Pressure", while also making the Parents Television Council's Worst Primetime TV Show of the Week list for the first week of 2006 due to its "graphic violence and dysfunction."
"Development Arrested" is the thirteenth and final episode of the third season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development, and is the 53rd overall episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producers Chuck Tatham and Jim Vallely from a story by co-executive producer Richard Day and series creator Mitchell Hurwitz, and was directed by John Fortenberry. It was the final episode to air on Fox before the series was cancelled. The episode originally aired on February 10, 2006, along with the three previous episodes in a two-hour block against NBC's coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony. The series was later revived by Netflix for a fourth and fifth season.
"The Cabin Show" is the first episode of the third season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It is the 41st overall episode of the series, and was written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and Jim Vallely, and directed by Paul Feig. It originally aired on Fox on September 19, 2005.
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"Let 'Em Eat Cake" is the twenty-second and final episode of the first season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It was written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and consulting producer Jim Vallely, and directed by Paul Feig. It originally aired on Fox on June 6, 2004.
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"Hand To God" is the twelfth episode of the second season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It is the 34th overall episode of the series, and was written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and supervising producer Chuck Martin, and directed by Joe Russo. It originally aired on Fox on February 13, 2005, airing back-to-back with the previous episode, "Out on a Limb".
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