A '70s Sitcom Character Inspired One Of Arrested Development's Funniest Running Jokes

"Arrested Development" featured some outrageous character pairings in its 84 episodes, but the wildest might be magician Gob Bluth (Will Arnett) and his Black ventriloquist's dummy, Franklin Delano Bluth. Franklin is Gob's mouthpiece for racial slurs and insults (often censored for broadcast and streaming), and gets the performer in trouble with his family and community groups. But according to Arnett, Franklin has an origin story that goes back decades.

In an article published by Vulture in 2013, Arnett said "I had always wanted to do a ventriloquist" and cited the characters of Chuck and his dummy, Bob, from "Soap" (Jay Johnson) as inspiration. "I worked for the producers of that show for many years, so I knew it very well, and I just always loved the idea," Arnett revealed. "So we gave Gob a Black puppet he would offend people with." While Arnett didn't adopt Chuck's delusion that his dummy partner was real, the rest of the Bluths sometimes addressed Franklin independently of Gob. It's one of many similarities between the two pairs of characters, and the throughline from "Soap" to "Arrested Development" is easy to trace.

Bob's dark skin and hair are a bit more ethnically ambiguous than those of the obviously and stereotypically Black Franklin, but both dummies have a keen ability to offend. In "Soap" Season 3, Episode 14, Chuck and Bob make an awkward dinner party positively cringe-worthy by insulting the Campbells' guests, Polly Dawson (Lynne Moody), and her family. Gob and Franklin consistently tread some of the same racially insensitive territory, including in the recording of "Franklin Comes Alive."

Chuck and Gob are each the black sheep in their respective families, with one key difference. Chuck's role as a fringe-dwelling weirdo is almost entirely due to his ventriloquism, while Gob's outcast status also stems from his bad magic act and womanizing ways. For both men, many of the offensive words that come out of their dummies' mouths lead to conflict with family members and the general public. Gob gets beat up outside a nightclub in Torrance in "Arrested Development" Season 2, Episode 16 because of Franklin's offensive racist language, while Bob's similar gaffes mostly lead to embarrassment for Chuck and his family. "Arrested Development" wrapped up in 2019, more than a generation after "Soap" paved the way for its irreverent comedy.

"Arrested Development" creator Mitch Hurwitz is candid about taking inspiration from "Soap" and its creative team of Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas, and Susan Harris. Hurwitz worked with the trio on "The Golden Girls" as a writer and producer and spoke of their influence at a 2013 panel discussion at the University of Southern California. Variety quotes Hurwitz as saying, "You want to be fortunate enough to have really talented people mentor you" and referring to the trio as "mavericks." He borrowed the serial parody format from "Soap," although "Arrested Development" was a send-up of traditional sitcoms instead of daytime soap operas. 

Both shows relied heavily on a dysfunctional family dynamic for laughs, and the Tate and Bluth families were each dominated by a powerful mother figure whose fondness for day drinking provided plenty of comedic fodder. Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) sipped so Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walter) could guzzle, and "Soap" was so far from the norm in its day, ABC canceled all scheduled promotional events after an initial audience screening. Helmond was aware of the controversy, and admitted it had some bearing on her approach to the series. Years before her death in 2019 at age 89, Helmond spoke with the Television Academy about her time on "Soap." She said she approached the role "in a fun, kind of joyous way. And because the show had been criticized so much before it came on the air, I thought, 'Well, better have a good time while this is on, because it's probably a few shows and it'll be gone.'"