Arrested Development episode
"Fakin' It"
Episode No	1AJD10
Airdate	February 10, 2006
Writer(s)	Dean Lorey and Chuck Tatham
Director	Lev L. Spiro
On the next:	“Mock Trial with J. Reinhold leads to imitators. Michael Bluth discovers that he wasn't N. Bluth after all.”
Guest star(s)	Judge Reinhold as himself John Michael Higgins as Wayne Jarvis Bud Cort as Himself Carrie Preston as Jan Eagleman William Hung as himself John Fremont as Brian Peter Michael Goetz as Dr. Farmer Bronwen Masters as Adelaide
Arrested Development Season 3 September 2005 - February 2006 Arrested Development is a character-driven American comedy television series about a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family. ... Image File history File links Arrested_Development_-_Fakin_It. ... February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Judge Reinhold Judge Reinhold (born May 21, 1957 in Wilmington, Delaware) is an American actor best known for co-starring in movies such as Beverly Hills Cop and Ruthless People. ... John Michael Higgins (born February 12, 1963, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American actor whose film credits include Christopher Guests mockumentaries and the role of David Letterman in HBOs The Late Shift. ... This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ... Bud Cort, an American actor, was born Walter Edward Cox on March 29, 1948 in New Rochelle, New York. ... Carrie Preston, (born June 21, 19??), is an American actress on both stage and screen. ... William Hung on American Idol William Hung (Simplified Chinese: 孔慶翔, Traditional Chinese: 孔慶翔, Pinyin: KÇ’ng Qìngxiáng, Cantonese Yale Hung Hing Cheung) is a Chinese American college student and American entertainer who gained fame and notoriety in early 2004 as a result of his poorly received audition performance of Ricky... John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813-July 13, 1890), birth name John Charles Fremon [Harvey, p. ... Arrested Development is a character-driven American comedy television series about a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Cabin Show For British Eyes Only Forget-Me-Now Notapusy Mr. F The Ocean Walker Prison Break-In Making a Stand S.O.B.s Fakin' It Family Ties Exit Strategy Development Arrested
All Arrested Development episodes

"Fakin' It" was the fiftieth episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development. The Cabin Show was the fourty-first episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... For British Eyes Only was the forty-second episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Forget-Me-Now was the forty-third episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Notapusy was the forty-fourth episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Mr. ... The Ocean Walker was the forty-sixth episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Prison Break-In was the forty-seventh episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Making a Stand was the forty-eighth episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... S.O.B.s was the forty-ninth episode of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Family Ties was the 51st episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... An exit strategy is a means of escaping a very difficult situation. ... Development Arrested aka Harboring Resentment was the fifty-third episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... This is a list of episodes of the comedy television series Arrested Development. ... Arrested Development is a character-driven American comedy television series about a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family. ...

Synopsis

Michael had received a witness list for his father’s upcoming trial. The list included G.O.B.’s puppet, Franklin. The entire family was also on the list. Buster tried to pretend he didn’t know anything about the business, which was untrue because nightly, Lucille got drunk and told him everything. The list also included an N. Bluth, money having been found in an account under that name. Michael asked his father if he knew an N. Bluth. This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ... This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ... This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ...

George Sr. denied any knowledge of the man, and then told Michael that Jan Eagleman from Justice TV had agreed to help the family. And she wanted to put the family through a mock trial to prepare. Michael agreed, with an emphasis that nobody was going to lie on the stand. George Sr. then emphasized that nobody was going to betray the family. Buster was nervous. ... This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ...

So Michael met with Jan Eagleman, who was preparing for her new show, Judge Reinhold, a reality courtroom show starring Judge Reinhold. She wanted to conduct the mock trial on the set, which would give Reinhold some practice too. Jan told Michael that families that stick together fare the best in court, the suggested he handle the family’s defense. Then Michael got a call that Buster was in a coma. Judge Reinhold Judge Reinhold (born May 21, 1957 in Wilmington, Delaware) is an American actor best known for co-starring in movies such as Beverly Hills Cop and Ruthless People. ...

At the hospital, Lucille mentioned that she hoped Buster would coincidentally stay in a coma throughout the trial. Michael asked Lucille if she was responsible for this, but in fact, Buster got into G.O.B.’s forget-me-now pills. Coincidentally, Buster’s hospital roommate was a woman who had been in a coma for two years now, a fact her son, Brian, lamented. Lindsay, hearing Brian say he had the resources to support a long hospital stay, quickly saw a potential boyfriend. This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ...

In the lobby, Michael scolded his parents for putting Buster under this stress, and informed them he’d be playing their defense lawyer in the mock trial. Hearing the name Judge Reinhold, Lucille opened one of the talking magazine ads promoting the show, a technology G.O.B. immediately wanted to use for Franklin. A doctor then approached the family and told them that Buster was in a very light, possibly fake, coma. But since he was fully insured, the doctor was willing to see how it played out.

The doctor then asked George Michael if he wanted to volunteer at the hospital, suggesting he join a group that put on fake weddings for Alzheimer’s patients. He’d have to find a girl to do it with him, perhaps a cousin, even though it meant they would have to kiss. Suddenly, George-Michael was intrigued. This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ...

Later, Michael was preparing for the mock trial when Lindsay entered with the news that she had a date with Brian. Well, really she was joining him on a picket line demanding the right to pull the plug on loved ones. Then G.O.B. came down with Franklin 2.0, who had the talking magazine chip inserted in his body. Though he could only say “My name is Judge.”

Michael was more interested in the one bombshell the prosecution had, an undated blueprint of an Iraqi model home that matched their model home. Unfurling the blueprints, Michael noticed the Iraqi home had a secret room and wondered if his home had the same. While Michael searched for the room, G.O.B. took Franklin back to the hospital to swipe some more talking magazines.

Michael found that there was indeed a secret room, where his father had stored the family mementos, including a birth certificate for "Nichael Bluth." Michael worried that he was N. Bluth and was being set up to go to prison. Tobias stumbled into the secret room, which he seemingly knew about, judging from the stack of bodybuilding magazines in there. This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ...

In another room, George Michael was trying to convince Maeby to join his plan. She thought the kiss part was a little weird considering what they had been through, but eventually realized it would be a good twist on a wedding movie. At the penthouse, Michael showed his father Nichael’s birth certificate. George Sr. claimed it was all a coincidence, then accused Michael of not being able to handle the family’s defense. This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ...

Back at the hospital, Lindsay and Brian were protesting for the right to die. Tobias showed up and introduced Lindsey to a new friend he met at the gym, a Franciscan priest named Ben. Tobias and Ben were there to protest for the right to live on total medical support. And George Michael and Maeby were inside having their first mock wedding. Maeby did the thing she always thought was so corny and ran away.

Michael returned to his office to find G.O.B. with Franklin. Oh, and his desk was overturned. G.O.B. said he was practicing his outraged testimony. Also, he had a new trick for Franklin. Hearing a doctor speak instructions into a tape recorder, G.O.B. stole the recorder in put it inside Franklin. Michael took Franklin and headed back to the hospital, where he was visited by Wayne Jarvis, the real prosecutor. Jarvis warned him that, thanks to the Patriot Act, whatever was said in the mock trial was legally binding. Jarvis told Michael that if he didn’t get his father on the stand, the government was going after N. Bluth, whom they suspected was Michael.

Maeby was hiding in the secret room, where George-Michael found her. He tried to cajole her into the kiss, and just as he made some headway, Michael barged in looking for some evidence. At the hospital, Lindsay and Tobias argued over their marriage when Buster sat upright, yelled at them to fake it, then fell back into his coma.

The next day, the mock trial began on the re-named Mock Trial with J. Reinhold. The Bluths pretended to be a family that sticks together. Then Michael called a surprise witness to the stand, Franklin Delano Bluth. Touched, G.O.B. eagerly took the stand with his puppet friend. Michael announced to the court that he was approached by the prosecution and asked to implicate his family, then instructed G.O.B. to press play on the recorder inside Franklin.

G.O.B. did, and a tape of Wayne Jarvis telling Michael they would go after N. Bluth played. Judge Reinhold declared a mistrial. George Sr. asked Michael why he didn’t save it for the grand jury, and Michael said he was going to. Although truly, he didn’t know that’s what you’re supposed to do. Jan Eagleman complimented the family on their cohesiveness.

At the same time, George-Michael and Maeby were going through with the fake wedding for hospital patients. Not knowing that the doctor was called out and Father Ben had stepped in. And that's how the kids got married.

Episode notes

• This episode was the first of the four final FOX episodes that played on Friday, February 10 in a two-hour block.

References

"George Bush doesn't care about black puppets."

• Blue Velvet - "Why do there have to be puppets like Frank?" is referencing the line "Why do there have to be people like Frank?" in this 1986 film.
• Judge Judy - Judge Reinhold says that Judge Judy is the reason he decided to do the reality court room show.
• Kanye West - Kanye West's controversial quote, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," is mocked on Franklin's shirt, which says "George Bush doesn't care about black puppets."
• My Name Is Earl - The talking magazine ads closely resemble the ads used for this NBC show.
• Runaway Bride - Maeby says she doesn't want her mock wedding to have a corny bit similar to this movie in it. When she ends up running, she does so with similar mannerisms that Julia Roberts does in the movie.
• Terry Schiavo - Lindsay's love interest, Brian, has a brain-dead mother and wants to remove the feeding tube, a reference to the Terry Schiavo case. The protests mirror the ones made by Terry Schiavo's family.

Image File history File links 3AJD10Franklin. ... Image File history File links 3AJD10Franklin. ... Blue Velvet is a 1986 thriller mystery film directed and written by David Lynch. ... Judge Judy is an American syndicated judicial show. ... Edwin Ortiz (born June 8, 1977) is a six-time Grammy Award-winning American producer/rapper. ... My Name Is Earl is an American sitcom created by Greg Garcia. ... A runaway bride is a bride who runs away from the wedding chapel, usually shortly before the ceremony. ... Terri Schiavo before her 1990 collapse. ...

Callbacks/Running Jokes

• Buster's Hand - Lucille says that Buster did grow up to be Captain Hook as Buster's hook falls off his missing hand.
• Dr. Funke's 100% Natural Good-Time Family Band Solution - Michael finds a picture of this band while searching through the secret room.
• Forget-Me-Now - Buster is put in a coma by these, G.O.B.'s pills (actually roofies) that he uses to make people forget how he did a magic trick
• Franklin - G.O.B. says Franklin is redyed referencing the washing machine accident in The Righteous Brothers. The song "It Ain't Easy Being White..." from that episode is heard twice here, first when G.O.B. switches the tapes in the hosital (possibly using his tape of the song from Making a Stand), and later William Hung's Hung Jury plays an upbeat, rock version of the song as G.O.B. dances to the witness box.
• George Michael/Maeby Kissing - George Michael suggesting that they kiss and Maeby saying it would freak out their parents references the Pilot when they did the same.
• George's obsession with food - George caring more about food than his family affairs is first seen in Top Banana.
• "I've made a huge mistake" - Several characters are seen saying this line, first seen in Key Decisions.
• Misquoting Holy Books - George Michael misquotes the Torah to serve his own purposes is similar to G.O.B. misquoting the Bible in Altar Egos.
• "Read the patriot act" - First said by Wayne Jarvis in Sad Sack.
• The Trial of Captain Hook - Michael plays Peter Pan in this school play first seen in Altar Egos.
• Tobias is Gay - Numerous jokes are made about Tobias' questionable sexuality.
  • Tobias has a stack of body-building magazines in the secret room and mysteriously disposes of a plastic bag while entering.
  • Tobias' new "friend" is a hunky body-building priest that is protesting the rights for priests to marry, assumingly gay marriage.
  • To the question "Are you coming out?", Tobias says he's going to fight to keep his marriage alive (Michael was referring to the secret room but Tobias took it as meaning out of the closet).
  • When referring to a confusion between male and female Tobias says "in the dark it all looks the same."
  • When George says dry run Tobias looks interested. Tobias used this phrase in Ready, Aim, Marry Me.

This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters from the Fox television comedy series, Arrested Development. ... The Righteous Brothers was the fortieth episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Making a Stand was the forty-eighth episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Cover art Top Banana was a zany platform computer game with strange parallax scrolling which was important because without it, the foreground would not have stood out from the background. ... Key Decisions was the fourth episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Altar Egos was the sixteenth episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Sad Sack was a cartoon character created by Sgt. ... Altar Egos was the sixteenth episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... The expression being in the closet has been used to describe keeping secret ones sexual behavior or orientation, most commonly homosexuality or bisexuality, but also including transgender and transsexual people, paedophiles, and pederasts. ... Ready, Aim, Marry Me is the thirty-second episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development. ...

Hidden/Background Jokes

• Fox - This episode features a flashback to the previous episode S.O.B.s, with the caption "several weeks earlier" underneath. This is referring to the fact that Fox kept on stopping and starting the third season, resulting in several weeks' break between many episodes. Although they wouldn't have known whether or not this would happen at the time of making the episode, there was, in fact, over a months' break between S.O.B.s and Fakin' It.
• Mockery - William Hung is a mock pop star and his band, The Hung Jury, plays at the mock trial.
• Red Prawn - When Michael is talking to Wayne Jarvis inside the stair car, a sign reading "No Red Prawn Parking" is seen outside Michael's window.
• When Michael says "We don't (cut and run) in my family", Maeby is seen in the background doing just that.

S.O.B.s was the forty-ninth episode of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ...

Character Cameos

• Bronwen Masters makes her first appearance as Adelaide, the nurse Buster later falls in love with. Masters had previously been seen as the nurse in "A Thoroughly Polite Dust-Up," the fake british film in Notapusy.
• John Michael Higgins's character, Wayne Jarvis, returns to the show in this episode. This is his first of two appearances in Season 3.
• Judge Reinhold, William Hung and Bud Cort all appear as themselves in this episode.
  • Judge Reinhold also had a short visual cameo in the previous episode, S.O.B.s. He continues to be mentioned in the next episode.

Notapusy was the forty-fourth episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... John Michael Higgins (born February 12, 1963, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American actor whose film credits include Christopher Guests mockumentaries and the role of David Letterman in HBOs The Late Shift. ... Judge Reinhold Judge Reinhold (born May 21, 1957 in Wilmington, Delaware) is an American actor best known for co-starring in movies such as Beverly Hills Cop and Ruthless People. ... William Hung on American Idol William Hung (Simplified Chinese: 孔慶翔, Traditional Chinese: 孔慶翔, Pinyin: Kǒng Qìngxiáng, Cantonese Yale Hung Hing Cheung) is a Chinese American college student and American entertainer who gained fame and notoriety in early 2004 as a result of his poorly received audition performance of Ricky... Bud Cort, an American actor, was born Walter Edward Cox on March 29, 1948 in New Rochelle, New York. ... S.O.B.s was the forty-ninth episode of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ...

Foreshadowing/Future References

• "Faker!" - Lucille calls Buster a Faker which foreshadows his fake coma. Adelaide calls him this title continuously in Exit Strategy.
• N. Bluth - The next three episodes continue to discuss the mysterious identity of N. Bluth, which is mentioned first in this episode.
• Prostitute - When he hears that Jan Eagleman is giving her services to the Bluth family free of charge, Gob comments that he'll "like to see a whore that does that". In the next episode, Gob does get to see a prostitute, and becomes her pimp.

Exit Strategy was the fifty-second episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development. ... Family Ties was the 51st episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ...

Goofs

• Michael's birth certificate says he was born on December 14, 1967, which would make him 38 at the time of this episode. However, it is revealed later in Development Arrested that Michael is in fact 37. This episode may originally have been intended to air prior to December 14, 2005.

Development Arrested aka Harboring Resentment was the fifty-third episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. ...

Sources

• The-OP.com
• FOX
• IMDb