Modern Family: Difference between revisions

* [[Absurdly Youthful Mother]]: Gloria, of the stepmother variety. She's actually 14 months ''younger'' than Claire.

** In real life, Sofia Vergara has a son in his twenties, so it's both a partial [[Actor Allusion]] and a serious case of [[Older Than They Look]] for Gloria.

** In "Fears" Phil speculates if there is treasure hidden under the porch and then if the Declaration of Independence is hidden in the attic, a reference to Ty Burrel's character in ''[[National Treasure]] 2''.

** Luke tells Claire it would be cool if their plane crashed like in ''[[Lost]]''; Julie Bowen appeared as Jack's wife in a few episodes (though she never appeared on the island).

* [[All Women Love Shoes]]: Deconstructed somewhat in "Disneyland." Gloria insists on wearing her usual very high heels despite all the walking the trip will require, and rebuffs Jay's suggestion that she at least bring another pair. Later when it's obvious that Jay was right, he asks her ("[[Spicy Latina|don't go all Latin on me]]") if part of the reason she gets angry so easily is that she's wearing such uncomfortable shoes. She admits it, and he gets her a pair of ridiculously oversized yet soft yellow slippers, which she wears for the rest of the trip. Later, Jay gets a pair of baby high heels for Lilly, which her fathers had sworn never to do, but have the effect of stopping her from her sudden runs much better than the leash ... ''cough cough'' child protective tether they had been trying.

* [[Aloha Hawaii]] A three-episode arc near the end of the first season

* [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny]]: Phil and Luke. Sometimes Haley. [[It Runs in The Family|It tends to run in the family]].

* [[Author Avatar]]: Luke tends to come across as this, even as [[The Ditz]].

** Also the bike shorts make a re-appearance several episodes later despite being the focus of the initial episode it was in.

*** They were in a montage it could have been chronologically at the same point. This Troper seems to remember him wearing the same shirt. (although this might be because it is part of a work out outfit)

** In "Dance Dance Revelation", Phil gets frustrated with the constant pressure with Jay questioning his masculinity, and ends up chasing and repeatedly spraying "Oasis for Men" perfume on a clerk who gave him an unprompted sample. Then, in the ending credits:

{{quote|'''[Cameron ends a sympathetic phone call]'''

* [[Brief Accent Imitation]]: Gloria puts on a deliberately terrible American accent after Jay points out one too many mispronunciations.

** In the 2nd season Valentine's episode, Jay does a spot-on impersonation of Gloria's exaggerated accent (which involves "Yay" and "Meeetch").

** Apparently imitating Gloria's accent is somewhat of a [http://youtu.be/Oqo4AiOLk20 behind-the-scenes pasttime].

* [[Bumbling Dad]]: Phil. Justified somewhat by his being allergic to many materials commonly used in home repair. He is, however, shown in "Fifteen Percent" to be competent with technology to a far greater extent than his wife or father-in-law.

** While Gloria is sometimes this to Jay, it should be noted that, depending on the issue at hand, it's fairly frequent that Jay is the one who's [[Closer to Earth]].

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Luke, and to a lesser extent, Phil.

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]: Lily lets one out at a wedding, thanks to Cam not being able to stop laughing at it.

* [[Cold Open]]: Almost every episode begins with an [[Establishing Shot]] of one of the three residences: Claire and Phil's bungalow, Jay and Gloria's larger modernist house or Cameron and Mitchell's Mission-style apartment. The action then shifts to inside where the plot gets underway. A similar establishing shot serves as a transition to another household. The end of the opening becomes a freeze frame which another one of the families then holds as a framed picture, starting the credit sequence

** Two [[Valentines Day Episode|Valentine's Day episodes]] ("My Funky Valentine" and its second-season sequel, "Bixby's Back", the highest-rated episode of the first two seasons)

** One [[Thanksgiving Episode]] ("Punkin Chunkin")

* [[Creepy Uncle]]: Manny, sort of. He has a crush on Haley, who is technically his niece. Of course, they're only related by marriage, close to the same age, and did not grow up together so how creepy Manny is will vary.

** Additionally, it's made very clear that Manny a) also has had interest in other girls and b) is all about the romance. Their scenes can still have some awkward moments, but it's not nearly as bad as it could be.

* [[Cringe Comedy]]: Cameron can be pretty clueless about how offensive he's being, the worst happening when he tries to pass himself off as Native American to get Lily into a high class preschool.

{{quote|'''Cam:''' So when I said brown people, I-I wasn't talking about your...uh, brown people... I was talking about people who go to a university... Um, not your people... Not that your people couldn't go to college... Okay, now I'm hearing myself saying "your people" a lot.}}

** There's also the time he talks on the phone to Manny, feeding him lines to give to his love interest. To the other customers in the bakery, he sounds like an internet predator, and it doesn't help when he then clarifies "[[Digging Yourself Deeper|It's not what you think; I'm talking to a little boy]]."

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: S1 Ep17, "Truth Be Told" Luke calls Alex a "dork-to-dork saleswoman," for which she actually fails to come up with a comeback to. That is, at least, until she proceeds to convince him that he's actually adopted.

** Another example is when, during a slumber party, Manny's friends doodled on his face while he was asleep. Jay suggested that Manny get even by pranking them back, and he did. How? {{spoiler|By setting his friend's bike on fire.}}

* [[The Ditz]]: Haley and Luke. And, to a lesser extent, Phil and Cameron. Gloria isn't too much of this, but she's definitely portrayed as such.

** [[Genius Ditz]]: Luke occasionally shows signs of this. Dylan, as well. Consider that he's able to write an [[Intercourse with You]] song about Haley [[Ear Worm|that's so catchy]] that he sings it ''for her entire family with her sitting right next to him'', that even though they're initially horrified, the next morning, they're all singing it to themselves.

** Though some viewers may not mind the last two ideas.

*** And neither did some of the actors.

* [[Face Doodling]]: Happens to Manny at a sleepover in "The Incident".

* [[Fake American]]: Gloria's weird attempt at reducing her accent in "Halloween".

{{quote|'''Claire''': Your kids don’t need to know who you were before you had them. They need to know who you wish you were, and they need to try to live up to that person. They’re gonna fall short but better they fall short of the fake you, than the real you. }}

* [[Future Loser]]: Haley is the butt of a lot of jokes that involve this.

* [[Gangsta Style]]: The way Gloria holds a BB gun in "Manny Get Your Gun".

* [[Generation Xerox]]: Quite a lot. Phil and Luke are this as are Claire and Haley, and Claire has mentioned she is specifically trying to prevent this with Haley. Jay has also shown similar traits to both Claire and Mitch.

** As of the middle of season 1, Alex is clearly winning.

* [[Girls Love Stuffed Animals]]: Lilly's Bunny. She keeps her dads up all night crying when he gets lost on the LA Subway in "Planes, Trains and Cars".

* [[Gold Digger]]: Subverted with Gloria but who is actually a very nice person who genuinely loves Jay.

** S1 Ep05, "Coal Digger" has this as a plot point. It's revealed Claire originally thought Gloria was a gold-digger when she started dating Jay but had come to realize Gloria's sincerity by the point the show started. Gloria wasn't aware of this until this episode, however, and Claire {{spoiler|still has to jump in the pool in her good dress to apologize}}.

* [[Good Is Dumb]]: Despite insistence from Claire that he's a rebel, Dylan is actually quite the good guy who is willing to do what it takes to ensure that Haley betters herself even if it's not best before him. And he's dumb as bricks.

* [[Grumpy Old Man]]: Mr. Kleezak, the Dunphy's next door neighbor, played by Phillip Baker Hall.

* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: Normally, Gloria is a very fun and amiable person. She can also go ''berserk'' at the drop of a hat.

* [[Hates Being Touched]]: Mitchell <ref>FORCE FIELD!</ref>

** Barry, the handsome {{spoiler|and homeless}} aspiring "Reiki" master in ''Slow Down Your Neighbors".

** While Mitchell and Cameron are certainly happy, they're not married, not even civilly united. This is confirmed in S2 Ep 11, "Slow Down Your Neighbors", where their disgruntled landlord tells them how happy they should be that they're not allowed to marry.

* [[Has Two Mommies|Has Two Daddies]]: Lily

* [[Interrupted Intimacy]]: Claire and Phil, by their children, at the beginning of "Caught in the Act'' during the second season.

* [[The Internet Is for Porn]]: Claire thinks Luke is looking at internet porn in "Not In My House".

* [[It Got Worse]]: Happens almost every episode. The season 1 finale has many examples:

** Phil's confession that makes Claire even more upset with him

** Mitchell attempting to kill the pigeon, which leaves his house in ruins

** Invoked in the third season episode "[[Leap Day]]"

* [[It Runs in The Family]]: Jay, Claire, and Mitchell have a habit of rushing everyone by shouting "Let's go!" repeatedly.

* [[Jail Bait Wait]]: Sort of. Manny meets an adult woman in an online book club who mistakenly believes he's much older than he is. After they've met, and she's lamenting about how she'll never meet the right man, he suggests they try again in ten years if they're still single.

{{quote|'''Mitchell'''(after the apparent reconciliation of his mother w/ Gloria): Okay, you see? We're all gonna move past this because of me, who's not a [[Momma's Boy]] but is a caring person with wisdom and emotional insights, so make a note, bitches!}}

* [[Karma Houdini]]:

** No, he's technically only had ten birthdays. He has still been alive forty years, making him forty years old. Mitchell tries repeatedly to explain this to him in the episode, to no avail {{spoiler|until the end.}}

* [[Lethal Chef]]: Haley's attempt at cupcakes.

*** At the end of the episode she makes a batch of cupcakes the family tries and as soon as she leaves the room they call for Poison Control.

* [[Light Feminine and Dark Feminine]]: As Alex's supposed tomboyish-ness is an [[Informed Ability]], Alex seems to be a light feminine (cares about grades, pleasing others, wants to buy a doll in one episode) to Haley's dark feminine (more interested in guys, popularity.)

*** The takes to the camera are inconsistent too - they're always filmed in the same location, but often a character will express a point of view that they don't endorse by the time they get back home to do a take to the camera. Of course, [[Rule of Funny]] is in place so it doesn't really matter.

** The original pilot script featured the man behind the camera as a character, which was quickly phased out.

{{quote|'''Cameron:''' There's a fish in nature that swims around with its babies in its mouth. That fish would look at Mitchell's relationship with his mother and say, 'That's messed up.'}}

** S3 Ep08, "After The Fire", shows that this also applies to Cameron and Gloria.

* [[Nerds Are Sexy]]: In S3 Ep08, "After The Fire", Haley is flabbergasted that a group of nerdy teenage boys worship Alex:

{{quote|'''Alex:'''''You have your fans...I have my mine. [[Future Loser|Someday, your fans are going to work for my fans]].''}}

{{quote|'''Cam''': Disabled interracial lesbians with an African kicker!

'''Mitch''': Did not see that one coming. }}

* [[No Periods, Period]]: Averted by "Leap Day", where Phil, Luke and Manny step gingerly around Claire, Haley and Alex when they realize [[wikipedia:Menstrual synchrony|it's that time of the month for all three of them]].

* [[Not Blood Siblings]]: Manny has been shown crushing on Haley and Alex, and Luke has been shown crushing on Gloria.

{{quote|'''Manny''': Wouldn't it be embarrassing if they put the camera on us and we had to kiss?

'''Alex''': We're related.

* [[Not What It Looks Like]]: In "Our Children, Ourselves", Mitchell sees an old girlfriend ([[24|Mary Lynn Rajskub]]), with whom he once had a tryst before he came out, in the mall accompanied by what appears to be a child with red hair. He frets that without realizing it he fathered a child by her, and Cameron persuades him to buy a gift and meet the boy. However, when they finally do, {{spoiler|it turns out that he's a [[Little People|little person]] who's married to the former girlfriend}}. This sets up more [[Cringe Comedy]] when the gift Cameron and Mitchell bought turns out to be {{spoiler|a baseball glove}}.

* [[Oedipus Complex]]: While they can manage to be civil, in general, Jay and Mitchell do ''not'' get along. This has gotten better in later episodes.

* [[One Dialogue, Two Conversations]]: This show's favorite trope. Notable examples include:

** Claire tries to convince Haley to break up with Dylan; her roundabout way of bringing it up makes Haley think Claire is contemplating divorce.

** A pair of vacation acquaintances have been told that Jay is going senile; when they ask Manny about it, he thinks they're talking about Jay's golf skills.

** Phil paints an ad for his retail business on the family van, with an unfortunate setup making it look like an escort service. This leads to a call about someone wanting the little one if the carpet matches the drapes.

** Another example is [[Right Behind Me]], below.

* [[The Other Darrin]]: Lily was recast for season three when it became clear the little girls playing her really didn't like acting.

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Cameron, where Lily is concerned.

** Comes up again in "Slow Down Your Neighbors" as Cameron's first reaction to potential trouble is "Let me grab my bat." Suffice to say, disregard Cameron at your own peril.

** Jay, as well; don't endanger Manny, mess with Mitchell or his grandkids....

* [[The Parent-Produced Project]]: Narrowly averted in "Starry Night" when Haley needs to bake some cupcakes for school and tricks her mother into making them by pretending to be incompetent in the kitchen. At the end of the episode, Claire catches on to the trickery and dumps the freshly baked cupcakes in the bin; telling Haley that now she has seen how it's done, she can do it herself. The ending subverts the trope, when everyone tries Haley's cupcakes and they're so terrible that Claire looks for the number for Poison Control.

** Inverted in another episode where the Dunphy parents decide NOT to help their kids for a change, since the kids have grown to take it for granted that the grownups will do all the work.

* [[The Pete Best]]: In "Travels With Scout", Cameron fills in for the drummer of Dylan's band when their old drummer is forced to leave the band after moving away. After an awesome show (and an extremely long drum solo), the former drummer returns, stating that he didn't have to move away after all and can stay in the band. Cameron, after several moments of awkward silence, leaves with the statement "Good luck following that, Ringo."

** "Dude, you really need to label those sticks!"

{{quote|'''Phil:''' The iPad is being released on MY birthday! It's like God and Steve Jobs got together to say 'Happy Birthday, Phil!'}}

** The show got this again in season 3, when Cameron & Mitchell went to see {{spoiler|a violent movie, only to accidentally end up in a theater showing}} [[The Muppets (film)|The Muppets]] (despite that movie not actually being out yet). Despite Disney producing the film, and Eric Stonestreet & Rico Rodriguez having cameos in it, the creators swear Disney did not pay them to promote the film <ref> however, an ad for the movie did air during the episode, so you be the judge</ref>.

** The episode "Send Out the Clowns" was the first new episode to air after Oreo's 100th Birthday. Briefly Phil takes some time out to talk to Luke about how to open and eat an Oreo. As with the ''Muppets'' example above, an Oreo commercial aired at the first commercial break.

** Most of the "Disneyland" episode takes place at that attraction, owned by ABC's parent company. And once again a themed commercial appeared within the program, this time for ''[[Cars]]'' ''World'', a new attraction in Disney World.

* [[Put on a Bus]]: Dylan takes a job in Jackson Hole in the season 3 premiere

* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: Alex plans on giving this to her classmates as her valedictorian speech at her grade school graduation {{spoiler|but decides not to at the last second}}.

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Any given pair among the main cast (whether married, siblings, or step-cousins), though sometimes the roles are switched.

{{quote|'''Phil:''' ''Seriously'', I just fixed that!}}

*** It's probably just a coincidence, but this also looks a lot like a [[Shout-Out]] to the ''[[Tintin]]'' comic, ''The Castafiore Emerald'', which had the exact same running gag a few decades earlier.

** Phil's crush on Gloria.

{{quote|'''Phil:''' "I got Gloria."}}

** Mitchell really hates birds.

** Manny's fear of butterflies.

** Luke's distaste for Lily.

* [[Screams Like a Little Girl]]: Cameron, generally when Lily is in trouble. Over the phone, he was mistaken for Mitchell's panicked ''wife''.

*** Alex and Haley could also be a [[Shout-Out]] to another movie dealing with [[The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry]], ''Wish Upon A Star'', where the sisters were named Alexia and Hayley.

** Jay's repeated "it's not fair" after his ebook reader is broken is a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' episode "[[Cruel Twist Ending|Time Enough At Last]]."

** Lampshaded by Phil when Dylan is playing his iPhone outside Haley's window in a scene clearly referencing ''[[Say Anything]]''. Dylan has apparently never heard of this movie.

** Mitchell destroying the house undercut by Cameron singing at a wedding is a parody of ''[[The Godfather]]''.

* [[Significant Reference Date]]: The episode ''Leap Day'' aired Feb 29, 2012.

* [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis]]: Luke begins to see Lily as this.

* [[Slasher Smile]]: Claire is horrified to learn that she gets one whenever she talks about death, and it causes some problems with the friends of her recently dead neighbor. "Please, I only just found out my face does this!"

* [[So Bad It's Good]]: [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]]; Phil and Claire love to watch B-movies.

* [[Stacy's Mom]]: "Send Out the Clowns" made it official for Gloria, as Manny's new "friend" was only interested in her.

* [[Standardized Sitcom Housing]]: The Dunphy house

* [[Strangers on a Train Plot Murder]]: "Strangers On a Treadmill". Mitchell even references the movie by name and suggests using the movie's plot as a solution for him and Claire to break bad news to their significant others. And much like the movie {{spoiler|one party doesn't go through with it.}}

* [[Straw Vulcan]]: In "Lifetime Supply", Jay and Manny go the horse track with Manny's father, Javier ([[Law and Order|Benjamin Bratt]]). Jay chooses his horses based on the information in the ''Daily Racing Form''. Javier bets on a horse because "I looked him in the eyes, and he told me this would be his day". Guess who wins? To add insult to injury, Jay chooses a horse this way and ''it'' wins ... only to be disqualified.