TVSquad

A high profile family like the Bluth clan requires a large staff to meet its needs. They need to keep up the image (make that illusion) of their lifestyle, after all. Yacht crews, maids, and Segway repairmen are basic necessities. The skilled professionals were the ones that kept the Bluths going. Here are a few of my favorites:

Gene Parmesan (Martin Mull) - As private eyes go, Gene was not a top-notch detective. If he spent more time investigating and less time on his disguises, he might have discovered George Sr.'s infidelity back in the day. I can't decide which is funnier: Gene's satisfied smirk whenever he took off his disguise, or Lucille's screams when he tricked her. It's a shame that Martin Mull only stuck around for a single episode. Perhaps the writers wanted to let Gene leave on high note after locating George Sr. and hanging out with G.O.B.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

(S02E13) Originally aired March 13th, 2005 -- There are way too many great episodes of Arrested Development. I can't think of any other sitcom that has as much replay value as this show does. Maybe Seinfeld, but c'mon - Jerry, Kramer, George, and Elaine had a lot of stinkers. I don't think the Bluths ever disappointed. When we nominated Arrested Development to get the "Retro Squad" treatment, "Motherboy XXX" immediately popped into my head. It's one of my favorites because it blends so many different stories together and it includes what I think is quite possibly the funniest, and most important, inside joke ever featured on the show.

The list of qualities that made Arrested Development such a great show is quite long, but somewhere near the top, right after the cast, is the list of recurring characters who were so hilarious. Here my ten favorite acquaintances of the Bluth family.

1. Barry Zuckercorn (Henry Winkler)
It is a credit to the brilliance of Arrested Development that an actor like Henry Winkler, who will forever be identified with the role of Fonzie, can be identified with a character who could not be more different. The hilarity that comes from Barry's sexual deviancy and complete legal ineptitude is reason enough to watch.

Now that local groups have raised enough money, the Bronze Fonz statue will make its Milwaukee debut at an August 19 dedication ceremony. Henry Winkler will attend the ceremony, along with Happy Days co-stars Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, Erin Moran, Don Most, and Anson Williams. A few spots for the statue were considered, but the Fonz found a home on the city's RiverWalk.

This project has been in the works since last fall, when a Milwaukee tourism group announced its plan to raise funds for the statue. The dedication ceremony is invitation-only, but the public is welcome to attend a free frozen custard social following the dedication. Later that day, the Happy Days cast will throw out the first ball at a Brewers game and Anson Williams, better known as Potsie, will sing the National Anthem.

It's an Arrested Development reunion! Well, not quite. But Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Henry Winkler will be lending their voices for a new Fox animated series called Sit Down, Shut Up.

The show centers around staff members at a high school where the student needs become secondary. It is based on an live-action Australian series. Also joining the voice cast are Cheri Oteri, Will Forte, Regina King, Nick Kroll, Tom Kenny and Maria Bamford.

It's a common strategy of television shows to bring together two or more cast members from previous successful series and call it a "reunion." I've seen Lost In Space reunions on Babylon 5 and Dukes of Hazzard reunions on Smallville.

Arrested Development has its own cult following, which I do not count myself among. I enjoyed episodes of the show, but don't go out of my way to see it or own it on DVD. However, given AD's following, it may mean more viewers for Sit Down, Shut Up.

How good are you at spotting someone's true age? There's been a few times I've caught myself wondering how old that actor really is on TV, when they're playing someone my age and look ten years older. Do I really look that good? Then again, I've seen the opposite and thought, "damn, I am an old decrepit fart." In any case, I'll pull up IMDb and usually find myself in shock of how young/old the actor on-screen really is.

The whole actor-to-character age ratio thing got me curious, so I did a little research (with the help of some of the TV Squad team) and made a list of some of the more extreme and well-known (or, maybe to some, not-so-well-known) examples. By the way, we didn't include actors who played flashback scenes of their characters for short periods of time, as there are more of those than we have room for.

Reunions are hot, you know? On February 12, for example, Oprah reunited (most of) the kids from The Cosby Show, with Bill appearing via satellite. Well, never one to let a good idea go to waste, NBC jumped on the theme. They recently had a Family Ties reunion on Today, so now the morning show is commencing tomorrow with a series of more "Together Again" features. Tune into 8:00 a.m. hour each day so you don't miss a thing!

It looks like the "Bronze the Fonz" campaign worked. The archetypical Happy Days character will be getting his own bronze statue in the city where the T.V. show was set.

This isn't the first time a television character has gotten a statue. I live near New York City and I walk past the Ralph Kramden statue every time I take the bus. The cable channel TV Land has arranged for a half-dozen statues to be placed across America. TV Land is co-sponsoring the Fonzie statue as well.

TV Land isn't making statues of their TV characters any longer (after everyone from Mary Richards to Dr. Bob Hartley were made into statues and put in various cities around the country), but that isn't stopping a group in Milwaukee from raising money to make a statue of The Fonz for their city. And they have the permission of Viacom to do it.

Vist Milwaukee and others have raised $57,000 of the $85,000 needed to make a statue of Arthur Fonzarelli for the city. Artist Gerald Sawyer says it's going to be one of the Fonz's classic poses, so I'm guessing he'll be standing and giving a "thumbs up" sign. (Please don't let it be of him in a leather jacket and swim trucks on water skis...). It won't be of him on a Triumph motorcycle as in the show, because Milwaukee is the home of Harley-Davidson!

The statue will be placed near the Chase Plaza office tower.

We at TV Squad tend to think that we're blogging in a bubble; we post from homes and offices that are scattered around the country and truly don't expect many people to see what we write (at least I don't... just a little quirk of mine). So when not one, but two actors from a show you've covered comment on a post about that show, you sit up and take notice.

That's what happened last week, when both Christopher Gorham and Paula Marshall wrote comments on a post I wrote about their show, Out of Practice, getting shelved, along with fellow Monday at 9:30 exile Courting Alex. So, I reached out to both of them to respond and vent. Both answered, and Chris was the first that was willing to talk. We spoke by phone this past Friday.

In Out of Practice, the 31-year-old actor plays Benjamin Barnes, youngest son of a family of doctors. Ben's the only one who didn't finish medical school, instead becoming a marriage therapist. The ironic thing is, he's probably the sanest person in the Barnes family.

The show boasts a top-notch cast, which -- besides Marshall and Gorham -- also includes Henry Winkler, Stockard Channing, Ty Burrell, and Jennifer Tilly. It's executive producers are Chrisopher Lloyd and Joe Keenan, who were long-time producers on the classic sitcom Fraiser.

In this interview (after the jump), Chris discusses his frustrations with how his show is being treated, gushes on the writers and his castmates, and responds to people who say he and Marshall are "show killers".

[Photo: Lester Cohen/WireImage]