"Good Grief" was directed by
Jeff Melman and written by consulting producer John Levenstein. It was Levenstein's sixth and final writing credit for
Arrested Development, and was the fourth episode of the
season to be filmed. to make references to
Peanuts in the episode. The scene of Buster throwing a vacuum towards a bus proved difficult to shoot, and required six takes before it was finished. Jason Tinero, who portrayed young Buster, later said that, during his time on the show, the scene was his favorite, but noted how tedious it was to get it right. The bus moved at a regular pace, and Tinero was required to throw the vacuum while it was in motion; however, his aim was not accurate enough, and the bus had to be slowed down with each new take so he could move closer and have a more precise throw.
Arrested Development had previously made several references to the
Peanuts franchise—particularly by using character names such as
Linus to refer to body parts—and so they were granted permission to do the episode by the estate of
Charles M. Schulz. Director Suzanne Makkos revealed in an interview with
The Hollywood Reporter that she stole the copy of Poof Magazine used on set after filming commenced. While filming the scene of George Sr. hiding from the family under the sand,
Jeffrey Tambor recalled "giggling" at the thought of it, wondering "Who gets a job like this?" "Good Grief" was first released on home video in the United States on October 11, 2005, in the Complete Second Season
DVD box set. The set includes
audio commentary for the episode from series creator
Mitchell Hurwitz,
Will Arnett,
Michael Cera,
David Cross,
Tony Hale,
Alia Shawkat, and
Jessica Walter. == Reception ==