The Daily Feather — It’s One Banana, Michael

“I mean, it’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost? Ten dollars?”

Lucille Bluth

One of TV’s most iconic characters, Lucille, is the out-of-touch matriarch of the Bluth family on Arrested Development. Known for zingers like this one—delivered in deadpan by the late Jessica Walter—Lucille is totally oblivious and hypercritical of everyone around her. This line comes from the sixth episode of the show’s first season, and Barbie Adler, the producer who wrote the episode, revealed that this joke was inspired by a real story. A wealthy television executive who she worked with once guessed that a loaf of bread cost $20. Adler found it so absurd that she banked the anecdote to include as a future joke. While the entire family on Arrested Development is wealthy and clueless, she felt that only Lucille could do the banana line justice. Though it first aired way back in 2003, it lives on today as an Internet meme that emerges whenever someone wealthy or politically powerful exhibits their detachment from the everyday life of average, working people.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price per pound of bananas was $0.498 when this episode first aired more than 20 years ago. As of this July, that price has climbed to $0.65—a 30% increase, though nowhere near the ludicrous $10 price tag posited by Lucille Bluth. As our wallets know all too well, it’s more than just bananas that have become more expensive with time. All else equal, nominal retail sales growth is to be expected with rising prices. But it’s the real sales picture that informs the underlying health of the consumer and their purchasing power.