Arrested Development is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the Fox network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Created by Mitchell Hurwitz, the show centers the Bluth family. The Bluths are formerly wealthy and a habitually dysfunctional family. It is presented in a continuous format, and incorporates hand-held camera work, narration, archival photos, and historical footage. The series stars Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter. In addition, Ron Howard serves as the series narrator and an executive producer on the show. The main characters of Arrested Development can be divided into the Bluth ( ) and Fünke ( ) families. Bluth family tree † denotes a deceased character Dashed lines denote adoption Cast table Primary characters Michael Bluth Michael Bluth (played by Jason Bateman) is the second oldest Bluth son and the main protagonist of Arrested Development. He is the father of George Michael Bluth and widower to Tracey Bluth. In season 3, it is revealed that there is a typo on his birth certificate, which reads Nichael Bluth. Michael's wife Tracey died of ovarian cancer two years prior to the first season. Possibly as a result of this, he is very close to his son, George Michael, which is shown partly because, whenever an opportunity to spend more time with his son presents itself to him, he will jump at it (although this time is almost always immediately interrupted). Michael is often reluctant to date, thinking that his son would disapprove, and most of his relationships have featured misunderstandings or outright deception. His wife's death is usually the subject of tasteless and unaware jokes made by his family members. His role in the story is that he is the one son who has no choice but to keep the family together, and he serves as the straight man in the comedy series. Throughout the original run of the show, Michael is consistently the de facto president of the Bluth Company after his father's arrest. He is the only main character who appears in every episode of season 4, making him the only character to appear in every episode of the series. Lindsay Bluth-Fünke Lindsay Bluth-Fünke (Portia de Rossi) is the adopted daughter of George Sr. and Lucille