Modern Family: Difference between revisions

The Dunphys, traditional two-parent, three-child set with Ty Burrell as Phil aka the "cool dad", and Julie Bowen as Claire, an overprotective mom and [[Former Teen Rebel]]. Their kids are Haley, Alex, and Luke.

 

 

And finally, Mitchell & Cameron (Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet<ref>who won an Emmy for this role in 2010</ref>), a gay couple who recently adopted a baby, Lily (Jayden & Ella in seasons 1 & 2, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons from Season 3 onwards).

* [[Alpha Bitch]]: When Claire realizes in "Benched" that Alex has manipulated her fears that she's entering that phase of life where girls start not wanting to be seen with their mother into getting a twenty-dollar loan so she can blow off Claire and spend the afternoon with her friends instead, Claire pulls up next to them a short while later and loudly reminds her daughter that [[A Cup Angst|she needs to buy a new training bra]], among other things calculated to seriously embarrass her. Lampshaded immediately thereafter when Claire admits to herself in the car that her goal was to get some emotional retaliation.

* [[An Aesop]]: Most episodes have one.

* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Haley to Dylan. Of course, Dylan really isn't shown being all that bad, but he does have some of the traits associated with bad boys such as his hair, the way he dresses, and being in a rock band.

** If anything, he subverts the trope altogether. Haley's considerably more rebellious than he is.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Phil in S2 Ep22, "Good Cop, Bad Dog" where he and Claire decide to swap on being the stricter parent and the nicer one. When Alex and Haley don't clean the bathroom as he told them to, it results in him [[Understatement|getting a little upset]].

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaiWbVimKD4 "You poked the bear, girls! You poked him!"]

** Any time Manny refers to Claire or Mitchell as his sister or brother, they flinch briefly.

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: Some of Gloria's lines.

'''Jay''': Aw, I didn’t mean anything by that.<br />

'''Phil''': I think you did. I get that I wasn’t your first choice to marry Claire, but it’s been 18 years, and there hasn't been a day when I wasn't a loyal husband to your daughter and a great dad to your grandkids. So if we still got a problem now it’s your problem. }}

* [[Camp Gay]]: Mitchell and Cameron play with this trope. Cameron has the attitude of [[Camp Gay]], while Mitchell has the interests associated with [[Camp Gay]], so while Cameron is overly emotional, uses wide gestures and talks about art, he loves football. Mitchell has the more subdued [[Straight Gay]] Attitude but used to figure skate... (Incidentally, Cameron's actor is straight, and Mitchell's is gay. And both have at least some of the same interests as their characters.)

** In "Good Cop Bad Dog," Mitch tells the camera that the only gay cliche he allows himself is loving [[Lady Gaga]]. [[Hypocritical Humor|Then he immediately uncrosses his legs]].

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

** Dylan. Oh dear lord, Dylan.

* [[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

* [[The Comically Serious]]: Mitchell on occasion, as his serious, uptight personality is contrasted by Cam's more free-spirited, dramatic tendencies.

** 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]]."

** On a similar note, when Mitchell refers to Cam as "the sexy 8 year old I fell in love with" (Cam was born on a leap day) at an amusement park.

* [[Cutaway Gag]]: In the Season 2 finale, "See You Next Fall", Jay is talking about his Botox. He then mentions the doctor that tried to make his balance better. Cut to the Dunphy house, where Jay is trying to show Claire his new and improved balance, that is, until Phil bursts through the door and knocks him over.

* [[Cute but Cacophonic]]: As attractive as Gloria is, her singing and shouting voices are rather grating. A neighbor once even mistook her for a noisy parrot.

* [[Cute Shotaro Boy]]: Manny is a rare Western example.

** Played with in Cam and Lily's case, where it's pretty obvious that Cam is all but rearing her up to be one.

** To a lesser extent, Haley to Phil.

* [[Go to Alias]]: Clive Bixby for Phil, Juliana for Claire.

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

* [[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

* [[Hide Your Pregnancy]]: Julie Bowen was eight months pregnant with twins during the filming of the pilot, so they hid her behind laundry baskets and other assorted things.

* [[Hoist By His Own Petard]]: In the second-season finale, "The One That Got Away". Phil is shopping with Gloria, who has Lily in a stroller. He realizes everyone passing, particularly the men, think Gloria's ''his'' wife. Since he has seen an old college friend and romantic rival around, one he has always unsuccessfully tried to one-up, he does little to discourage the perception. But when the friend finally sees him with Gloria, {{spoiler|he says he'd always thought Phil would end up with Claire, whom he thought was the most beautiful girl Phil ever dated}}.

** Claire jokes on the phone with Mitchell about Cameron breaking down and crying when she told him he doesn't look good in bike shorts. Mitchell responds sarcastically that of course all gay men do that, only for Cameron to do just that off-camera.

** In "Leap Day", Gloria is trying to restrain Jay when the boat captain tells the extended family and cam and Mitchell's friends that they can't all get on the boat as the limit is 24. She reminds him that, contrary to what she'd suggested to him earlier in the episode, she likes that he is cool and rational. But when the captain refers to Jay as "grandpa" she punches him in the nose.

* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: Apparently Gloria can do some impressive things with a BB-Gun, and can do them [[Gangsta Style]]

{{quote| '''Gloria:''' [shoots an inflatable island Manny is lounging on]<br />

* [[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.

* [[Just Add Bitch]]:

* [[Karma Houdini]]:

** In "Regrets Only" Alex catches Haley faking having a job as a waitress, and convinces the family to have dinner at the restaurant. But she makes the mistake of gloating to Haley first, and {{spoiler|Haley is able to fake the job until an incident erupts that she claims got her fired}}. And ironically, she would have inevitably been caught without Alex doing anything; she'd made a deal with her parents to earn half the payment on a car, faking it by holding onto the same sixty dollars each day, and would have been screwed when the time came to produce all the money.

* [[Malaproper]]: Gloria (due sometimes to her accent) and also Haley.

* [[Man Child]]: Phil

{{quote| '''Haley:''' Dylan! Where are you?<br />

'''Dylan:''' Wyoming! }}

* [[Meganekko]]: Alex (although in the third-season finale, "Baby on Board", she makes a point of attending her first prom without her glasses).

* [[Menstrual Menace]]: Played absolutely straight in "Leap Day," to the point that some viewers called the show on [[Unfortunate Implications]].

*** 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.

** Mitchell.

{{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.'}}

* [[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.

* [[Of Course I'm Not a Virgin]]: Early in "Virgin Territory", Alex laughs out loud when she mistakes her father's words "Haley's aversion" for "Haley's a virgin", which leads Phil to the realization that his oldest daughter isn't.

** 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.

** In the [[The Stinger|stinger]] of "Egg Drop", Alex (in one of her rare scenes [[Meganekko|without her glasses]]) thinks she's having a deep sisterly chat with Haley about how she treated her mother in the episode. It turns out that Haley is talking to a boy on her phone.

** Phil sells a house in "Aunt Mommy" when the buyers, a gay couple who are friends of Cam and Mitchell, think Phil's phone conversation with Claire is with his office, leading them to believe the house will sell quickly if they pass.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Even though she's much younger, Lily appears to realize how insane everyone else in her adopted extended family is.

** Alex sometimes acts like this.

* [[Playing Both Sides]]: In "The Last Walt", Haley gets Gloria to let her have a pool party at their house while she and Jay are out by telling her her uncle will chaperone. When it's actually time for the party, Haley tells Manny he's the chaperone (It [[Out Gambitted|backfires]] somewhat when Manny takes that role seriously).

* [[Playing Sick]]: Cameron feigns a back injury after brunch at the Dunphys in "Virgin Territory" so he can search for a Tupperware bowl that hasn't been returned to him.

* [[Primal Scene]]: In "Caught In the Act" the Dunphy kids walk in on their parents having sex.

* [[Product Placement]]: Maybe. The show dedicated an entire episode to Phil's birthday quest for an iPad. Even though the episode aired two days before the launch of the iPad, all parties concerned swear no money or product changed hands over the placement.

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

** [[The Bus Came Back]]: Dylan returned in "Disneyland" at the end of season 3.

* [[Right Behind Me]]: Cameron makes disparaging comments about Ivy League schools Columbia and Brown at a family event. Gloria (from Colombia) overhears and misinterprets. Cameron tries to explain himself. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

** At the end of "Leap Day", Mitchell tells Cameron, who's been depressed about turning 40 and keeps saying it's only his tenth birthday, that "you're still the same 8-year-old I fell in love with" and then turns around to see a mother behind him hastily grab her son's arm and take him away.

** Fixed for about two seconds in Season Two;

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

*** It seems to particularly annoy Phil as he comments on it more than the others. Happens multiple times in the season 2 finale.

** Phil's crush on Gloria.

* [[Shaking Her Hair Loose]]: In "After the Fire", Alex undoes her ponytail and shakes her hair loose in front of a group older nerds who have crushes on her before she stops them from bullying Luke and Manny.

* [[She Cleans Up Nicely]]: Alex, occasionally. Easy to do for Type 2 [[Hollywood Nerd|Hollywood Nerds]].

* [[Shout Out]]: Maybe Mitchell and Cameron, in reference to Cameron Mitchell.

** Let's not forget [[Roots|Alex and Haley]].

* [[Skeleton Key Card]]: Gloria opening the locker in "When Good Kids Go Bad".

* [[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!"

* [[Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome]]: The infant twins who originally played Lily were replaced by four year old Aubrey Anderson-Emmons for season 3, due to their discomfort on the set. Less so than most cases of this since she only aged about six months.

* [[Spicy Latina]]: Gloria, natch.

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

* [[The Stinger]]: Often during the credits instead of after, but the same concept. Sometimes pertains to the plot but oftentimes is just an isolated joke (such as Lilly being dressed as Carmen Miranda).

* [[Twerp Sweating]]: Done unintentionally by Phil to Dylan in S1 Ep03, "Come Fly With Me". Dylan is sitting (uncomfortably) on the couch with Phil, waiting for Haley, watching baseball. Phil makes a comment about one of the players being "stuck at second base forever, and thinking about trying to steal third, which is just a terrible idea" then turns to him and asks how things are going with Haley. Claire, in the background, seems pleased to see Dylan squirm awkwardly.

* [[Twofer Token Minority]]: More than two. Mitchell and Cameron want to get Lily into an exclusive preschool and figure that they're shoo-ins because she's an adopted Vietnamese girl with two gay dads. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|They get beaten by an interracial lesbian couple, one of whom is Indian and disabled, with an adopted African baby]].

* [[Uranus Is Showing]] : Averted in the episode Starry Night, {{spoiler|Mitchell got sprayed by a skunk while star gazing with Manny and Jay}}. Any other eleven-year-old would made fun of him with a reference to Uranus, [[Wise Beyond Their Years|but what did Manny say]]?

{{quote| '''Manny''': Hey, Jay, is that Venus? Because I can smell the clouds of pure sulfuric acid from here!.}}

* [[Vignette Episode]]: The pilot seems to be one of these, until the reveal at the end.

* [[Waxing Lyrical]]: In "See You Next Fall" Haley tells Alex that the best way to give a speech is to use song lyrics and to use the lines "[[Journey (Music)|don't stop believin']]" and "[[Pink (Music)|get this party started]]".

** S1 Ep03, [[Frank Sinatra|"Come Fly With Me"]], has Phil trying to be friends with Jay at Claire's request, as well as be accepted by Jay. Jay responds by eventually [[Crowning Moment of Funny|flying a toy airplane into Phil's face.]]

** In the Season 3 premier, "Dude Ranch", Phil finally gets tired of Jay mistreating him and [[Calling the Old Man Out|stands up to him]]. Despite Jay finally seeming to get it and this being a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for Phil, he's [[Aesop Amnesia|immediately back]] to needing Jay's constant approval [[Snap Back|after the episode]].

** Everything's in slow motion and overlapped with Cam singing "Ave Maria" when Mitchell tries to kill a pigeon, unwittingly wrecking the living room.

* [[Wicked Stepmother]]: Claire occasionally feels this way about Gloria.

* [[Wise Beyond Their Years]]: Manny, to the point a woman online mistook him for an older guy. Alex believes she's this, but she is actually very immature.

* [[Wham Episode]]: The third season finale "Baby on Board" ends with {{spoiler|Gloria revealing she's pregnant.}}

** Mitchell and mice.

** And Manny and ''butterflies''.