Tony Hale’s Parents Only Enjoyed One Episode of ‘Arrested Development’ Thanks to This Guest Star

The pre-Netflix era Arrested Development was obviously very, very funny. And a big reason why the show worked so well was the character of Buster. The overly-coddled Bluth sibling was played by Tony Hale. The future Veep star was tasked with playing a number of challenging scenes over the course of the show, including an unnervingly Oedipal romance with Liza Minelli’s Lucille II and a tragic incident involving a rogue seal with an appetitite for human flesh. 

While the show has a number of devoted fans, it turns out that Hale’s parents aren’t among them. 

Hale recently guested on Ted Danson’s podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, and revealed that his mom and dad didn’t have the best response to the cult series when it first was on TV back in the early aughts. “They said, ‘Our friends told us they love Arrested Development. We still don't get it,’” the Forky actor admitted.

But the elder Hales seemingly changed their tune, purely because of one guest star: Martin Short. The SCTV legend memorably popped up in Season Two’s “Ready, Aim, Marry Me,” playing the Bluth’s erratic Uncle Jack, an immobile former movie star/bodybuilder with deep pockets. He's just a family friend, not a blood relative, which makes his romantic interest in Lindsay slightly less creepy.

“When Martin Short was on, they were like, ‘Now he's funny,’” Hale recalled. “And I was like, ‘I’ve been on every episode, and he was on, I don't know, maybe two?’” — it was actually just one — “(My mom was) like, ‘Now that guy, that guy’s funny.’ I’m like, ‘Alright. Noted.’”

“He is funny, but come on mom,” Danson added sympathetically. 

Oddly, Arrested Development wasn’t the only beloved comedy series that Hale’s parents had problems with. “And (with) Veep I remember taking them to — again, they were very supportive — this screening in D.C. once,” Hale told Danson. “And we got back in the car and my dad had notes. He was like, ‘I think this was a little harsh.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I’m not a producer. I can’t change this.”

You might expect that the Hales have come around and view Arrested Development differently now that it’s widely considered to be one of the best TV comedies of its time. But as of 2021, Hale maintained that his parents “think Arrested is dumb” during an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “To this day, they think it’s a stupid show,” he explained. 

Although, to be fair, the show’s fifth season did kind of vindicate the Hale family’s opinion.