The Russo brothers hid plenty of references in their new movie The Electric State, including a fan-favorite character from Arrested Development. The dystopian sci-fi features props and set pieces from the world as it once was, including tattered billboard for Barry Zuckerkorn, Attorney at Law. This is a clear call-out to the Bluth family’s attorney, played by Henry Winkler in the sitcom that helped the Russos make their name. It even includes the slogan: “He’s very good,” along with a website URL that doesn’t seem to be working at the time of this writing.
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The billboard would be easy to miss, but once you see it the reference is very clear. It features Zuckerkorn’s name in blue text over a yellow background, with the added words in black below. The URL “www.barrygood.biz” is printed below, but at the time of this writing, it doesn’t call up anything in my browser.
Barry Zuckerkorn is the Bluth family’s incompetent defense attorney on Arrested Development. George and Lucille refused to dismiss him or even second guess him in spite of his obvious failures during George’s trial that spanned much of the sitcom. Whenever Barry got something right or said something with convincing confidence, George and Lucille marveled: “Oh, he’s very good.” Some of his big foibles included telling the Bluths that a husband and wife couldn’t be charged for the same crime, and that George’s $20,000 bond would be refundable.
[RELATED: Avengers Directors Reveal Which Arrested Development Character Was the Most Difficult to Cast]
The Electric State is an alternate history sci-fi where robotics and artificial intelligence advanced much faster than in our world, and humanity found itself in an all-out war against robots in the year 1990. By the time of the main story, robots have been contained in an “exclusion zone,” but humans have been able to upload their consciousnesses into robotic bodies, meaning there are some automatons living among humanity.
The Russo brothers were just starting to build a reputation when they landed the job directing Arrested Development. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter this week, they cited this as the moment in their career where they were finally making enough money to live on as directors. The show was a critical darling, but it stumbled in the ratings and it was canceled after three seasons on Fox. However, it was later revived by Netflix for two revival seasons, bringing the Bluth family back together at last.
You can stream Arrested Development on Netflix now, along with The Electric State. The Russos begin production on Avengers: Doomsday next month, with a projected premiere date of May 1, 2026.
