Motherboy XXX (13 Mar. 2005)

Lucille recruits George Michael to take Buster's place at the annual mother son dinner dance. While Michael and GOB are busy tracking down the seal that ate Buster's hand, Tobias signs away... See full summary »

Director:

Joe Russo

Writers:

Mitchell Hurwitz (creator), James Vallely,

Stars:

Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Bateman	...	Michael Bluth
Portia de Rossi	...	Lindsay Bluth Fünke
Will Arnett	...	Gob Bluth
Michael Cera	...	George-Michael Bluth
Alia Shawkat	...	Maeby Fünke
Tony Hale	...	Buster Bluth
David Cross	...	Tobias Fünke
Jeffrey Tambor	...	George Bluth Sr.
Jessica Walter	...	Lucille Bluth
Henry Winkler	...	Barry Zuckerkorn
Dave Attell	...	Himself
Amy Poehler	...	Bride of Gob
Michael Paul Chan	...	Judge Lionel Ping
Carl Weathers	...	Carl Weathers
Timothy Brennen	...	Announcer at Dance

Storyline

Lucille recruits George Michael to take Buster's place at the annual mother son dinner dance. While Michael and GOB are busy tracking down the seal that ate Buster's hand, Tobias signs away the family's life rights in order to get a part with his former acting coach Carl Weathers.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Release Date:

13 March 2005 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 5, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael, Buster, GOB and their attorney played by Henry Winkler are on the dock attempting to retrieve Buster's hand from the seal that had bit it off. Mistakenly it was a shark which was captured and the scene ends with Winkler "jumping the shark", a phrase which is thought to have originated from a 1977 episode of the Happy Days when the character Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, played by Winkler, jumped over a shark while water skiing.

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Goofs

When Buster is zip lining across the hotel, the end of the zip line can be seen at the bottom of the balcony, much lower than the window. After the hook is let go by Buster, it crashes through the middle of the window, even though the end of the line would be much too low to crash through the middle of the window.

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Quotes

Narrator: George Michael should have realized by the sailor suits Lucille dressed him in that he was not going north to the Promised Land. No, he was going south. South, to Motherboy.

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Connections

Spoofs Happy Days: Hollywood: Part 3 (1977)

User Reviews

Man-eating seals, badly named mother-son dances and other oddities

When Buster loses his hand to a seal bite in the episodes Out on a Limb and Hand to God, it was unclear whether this would be a permanent development or temporary; indeed, in this episode, the Bluths think they can track the seal and restore Buster's hand with a transplant. In the mean time, what one thinks of the hand storyline might be mixed- I've heard of fans who liked it and didn't like it, but got used to it. I fall into the second category. Motherboy XXX is a good enough episode that, when I realized the hand would not be reattached, I nevertheless accepted the hand loss story (which isn't to say Out on a Limb and Hand to God are bad, just that the storyline is odd at first). Part of how Motherboy XXX does justice to the storyline is by tying it in with a previous episode: The Bluths remember being psychologically tormented by a one-armed man growing up (see the episode Pier Pressure), and are thus a little afraid of Buster. But they eventually accept him.

From a comedic perspective, this episode is good, complete with some Ann jokes, George going crazy in the attic, and a mother-son dance badly titled Motherboy XXX (as in 30). It's an episode that utilizes the odd characters Buster, Lucille and Michael well. Nominated for an Emmy for editing.