S.O.B.s

S.O.B whose title is meant to be a play on "S.O.B" which stands for Save Our Bluthes, besides being an obvious joke, also refers to a movie of that same name by Blake Edwards - the mega Hollywood comedic director who created the Pink Panther series with "A Shot In the Dark" ( a line which is quoted in another episode by Tobais).

S.O.B was Blake Edwards's scathing rebuke of the Hollywood film industry that prefers glitz over content and forces artists to beg for money and pander to the lowest common denominator or the latest fad. Many previous reviewers have picked up on Arrested Development's criticism of the Hollywood funding machinery and how it effects the from and content of this episode- hence the 3D scene and the Live stream ending. What the creators of this show were doing was adding another lense/layer to see the episode through. Like a fine Old Masters painting, Arrested Development is made up of layers upon layers of transparent references that can be seen and stay invisible at the same time depending on its viewer: this is Semiotics at its best folks! How Meta this show gets is as far as your knowledge and imagination can take you! S.O.B is also an anagram for Standard Operational Bulls..t. BRILLIANT!!

...I mean that metaphorically, of course.

The episode is rife with subtle jokes that are both self-referential and pointing the finger at critics, fans, and their parent network (FOX) alike.

Using ridiculous ploys to open the show --such as "One of these people... will DIE!" montage showing the characters in quick succession, multiple TV celebrities appearing in the show, and a promised live finale of the episode, this chapter of the Bluths begins by the press all but writing off the Bluths. ...in court. Michael implores his family to tighten their belts and pull out all the stops to ensure their survival past the next few weeks (as the show was on the bubble of being canceled in a few weeks). A prompt immediately warns viewers to put on their 3D glasses, whereupon Gob throws a tomato at the camera. George Sr. suggests a "Save our Bluths" rally ("www.saveourbluths.org" appears on screen). Michael concedes that it's sad, but it's come to begging to ensure that the Bluth clan stays afloat (whereupon executive producer and series narrator Ron Howard flat-out tells viewers "Please, tell your friends about this show").

Even the title's episode "S.O.B.s" has a triple meaning: a message possibly to the network's executives for canceling the show, "sobs" (a sad state of affairs that such an intelligent show is being canceled), and the acronym itself for "Save Our Bluths"-- again, another plea for fans to recruit even more fans.

References to cable networks Showtime and HBO are made in sly fashion (as both networks were rumored to be in a war to lure the show to their programming lineup-- Showtime in fact had openly stated they would program 26 new episodes if series Mitch Hurwitz would sign off on it-- sadly, he didn't, fed up with dealing with the stress and network executive bull he'd accumulated over the past few years), in addition to references to the show's quick wit, self-references, complicated themes that are quickly resolved, running gags,and non-relatable characters that critics had stated about the show's formula ("If I may take off my acting pants and pull my analrapist stocking over my head", a spoken by Tobias Funke is one such line uttered, as it was a word he had used combining "analyst" and "therapist" to describe his career).

The show does fulfill every one of it's promises, giving guest stars, a dead character (a minor one-shot character who was quickly exposed as the soon-to-be victim long before it occurred), and a live ending, ensuring that it would end up as arguably one of the best episodes ever of the show's three-season run, and of most if not all sitcoms.