Smashed 

Tobias attempts to recover from a series of bad choices by reigniting his passion: both professionally and romantically.

Directors:

Mitchell Hurwitz, Troy Miller

Writers:

Mitchell Hurwitz (created by), Paul Rust (story editor)

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 (voice)
Alia Shawkat	...	Maeby Fünke (credit only)
Tony Hale	...	Buster Bluth
David Cross	...	Tobias Fünke
Jeffrey Tambor	...	George Bluth Sr. (credit only)
Jessica Walter	...	Lucille Bluth
Ron Howard	...	Ron Howard / Narrator
John Beard	...	John Beard
Andy Richter	...	Emmett Richter
Tommy Tune	...	Argyle Austero
Terry Crews	...	Herbert Love
Isla Fisher	...	Rebel Alley

Storyline

Tobias attempts to recover from a series of bad choices by reigniting his passion: both professionally and romantically.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Did You Know?

Trivia

A Broadway musical production of another MARVEL character, Spiderman, has had a lot of trouble with accidents, recasting, financing and copyrights. Legal battles over copyrights on comicbook characters are notorious in Hollywood, often resulting in studios releasing mediocre projects to maintain control over a franchise.

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Connections

References The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)

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Soundtracks

End Credits Theme
Composed by David Schwartz

User Reviews

The Fantastic 4(th season)

The second Tobias episode in AD's new character-focused format, Smashed follows the analrapist as he administers therapy at Lucille 2's rehab centre. True to form, he soon gets sidetracked having his patients put on a Fantastic 4 musical.

While the show is in a new format, much of the episode harks back to the classic years. Tobias falling over in his chair is physical humour reminiscent of a similar incident in Bringing Up Buster (Richard Rosenstock co-wrote both episodes). Likewise, telling GOB "We're (bleeped)ed" continues the show's premise as being a story about losers, while simultaneously carrying on the bleep jokes. Surprisingly, I saw a fan recently asking why AD, now on Netflix, is continuing the censorship. Of course, the bleeps have always been part of the humour, clouding the profanity is hilarious ambiguity and satirizing TV censorship; it wouldn't do to have AD without them. There's the incest motif, this time a mention of Argyle and sister playing lovers in a play (Jason and Justine Bateman came close to doing the same, in real life, with AD season 3).

There are newer elements brought to the table, notably the awkwardness and absurdity of Tobias having to announce he's a registered sex offender, often in the most delicate of times. This helped satisfy my five-minute rule (a great comedy episode must have a good laugh within the first five minutes). The stuff about Tobias' lover Debrie, a physical wreck owing to drug abuse, is dark. Ron Howard can't and not wanting to approve the Fantastic 4 musical is right on the money (why would anyone want to?). And Tobias laughing at having until Monday to fix a problem, then the reveal he's laughing at something else and has no plan, shows him as the inept character he always has been. Smashed isn't the funniest episode of season 4, but is in moments a smashing good time.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 May 2013 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Imagine Television, The Hurwitz Company, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

34 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD