BREAKING: The TV Show Succession Is the New Arrested Development
People cannot get enough of the popular HBO television show Succession.
They thrill to the scheming of Logan Roy.
They laugh, laugh, and laugh at Cousin Greg!
And rightly so.
It’s a good-ass show!
What they may not realize, and which may have been pointed out many times already—I don’t know; I haven’t looked; I’m completely writing this from my own thoughts on the morning before Thanksgiving—is that Succession is essentially a remake of Arrested Development.
I’m telling you. It’s true.
I thought of it late in the night, when I have my thoughts.
Both shows are about members of a wealthy family whose business is in jeopardy and who make funny jokes at one another's expense. They gather in rooms and talk to one another.
Every character on Succession has a precedent in Arrested Development.
Cousin Greg = George Michael Bluth
Logan Roy = George Bluth
The James Cromwell uncle guy = Oscar Bluth
Roman Roy = GOB Bluth
Connor Roy = Buster Bluth
Shiv Roy = Lindsay Bluth
Gene Parmesan = the security guy who pretends to get rid of the cat
Tobias Funke = Tom
Tom even has a funny-sounding last name, like Tobias has!
And then, of course, you have Kendall Roy, who is the Succession rendition of Michael Bluth. On Arrested Development he works hard to keep everyone in his family together; on Succession he does the opposite.
There's no Lucille Bluth equivalent on Succession. But that's as it should be. You can't replace the iconic Jessica Walter.
Succession is a good show. And it’s a fascinating example of what you can do when you take the formula for a different show, recast it, dim the lights, and put it on HBO.
