Modern Family/Cougar Town

Modern Family – Chirp

     Cam wanted Lily to be in a local commercial, but Mitchell said no.  Cam took her anyway, and all was going well until Mitchell showed up on set and saw what was being filmed.  It was two Asian babies trapped in a city of high prices being demolished by Godzilla, which represented the story.  Mitchell saw immediately that it was racist, but it took Cam a bit longer to see it, and pull the plug on Lily being in the ad.

     Jay and Manny had a conflict over an employee who was nice to Manny but a screw up while working for Jay.  He let Manny drive a fork lift, and Manny had an accident, so Jay fired the guy.  Manny wanted him rehired, and Jay refused saying the guy put his kid in danger.  It was the first time Jay ever referred to Manny as his son, and all was forgiven.  Manny even helped Jay get to a date he had with Gloria, by telling Jay where he was supposed to meet her.

     Claire was ill and spent the day sick in bed, while Phil waited on her, and did the things around the house Claire had been planning to do.  Haley was also sick, and after Phil picked her up from school she spent the day.  Claire spent the day trying to convince Haley that Haley’s boyfriend is kind of a doofus without actually coming out and saying it.  Haley thought Claire was talking about Phil, and did her best to get her mother to give her father another chance.  It was silly, but funny.

     At the same time, Phil also spent the day trying to figure out which of the smoke detectors in the house was chirping.  He changed every battery, and then knocked all of them down after the chirping still didn’t stop.  Eventually he figured out it was an old smoke detector that Luke had put in the attic.

     This was a silly episode, fun and funny, but not up to some of their better episodes.  Being the first one of sweeps, I kind of expected more.  My favorite episodes of this show are the ones when the whole family gets together, and that didn’t happen this week.

Cougar Town – Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)

     It was Jules’ birthday, and apparently every year she has held a best birthday gift contest, which Ellie has always won.  Laurie has always wanted to win, but Ellie is the gift whisperer, who pays attention to little things around the house, small off the cuff remarks, and insignificant moments, and then capitalizes on them by getting an amazing gift.  She proves this skill when she gives Grayson a gift, which is absolutely perfect, just to show him what an amazing gift giver she is.

     Laurie and Grayson decided to team up and outdo Ellie this year.  They planted a keychain in Jules’s house, which lead Ellie to believe Jules likes Asian art, and Ellie totally fell for it.  She gave Jules a miniature Asian gong, which Jules didn’t like at all, because she doesn’t really like Asian art.  Laurie and Grayson decided to get Jules cooking lessons and cookware, since she was always talking about wanting to host more parties.  Grayson gave her the cooking lessons, and even suggested they could go together, but she didn’t like that either.  When she saw the cookware box from Laurie she got even more upset, until Laurie told her to open it.  Inside the box was a charm bracelet which Jules loved.  Laurie tricked Ellie AND Grayson, so she could win the best birthday gift contest, and she was successful.

     Bobby complained to Travis that he had a stuffed nose, and Travis suggested Bobby use his neti pot.  When Bobby attempted to use it, he somehow ended up pouring the whole pot of water into his lungs and had to go to the hospital, because he almost drowned.  After he got back home he had water coming out of his nose ever time he bent over.  It sounds kind of gross, and it was, but it was also hysterical.  He confessed to Travis he wanted to use the neti pot because he thought of it as one of Travis’ “college things” and he was afraid as Travis spends more time in college he will have less and less in common with Bobby, because he will be too smart.  Travis understood, and eventually helped Bobby use the neti pot correctly, so Bobby felt like he understood one of Travis’ college things.

     Andy wanted to go dancing for Jules’ birthday celebration, and I thought this was the weakest of the storylines this week.  For reasons that still aren’t really clear to me, Andy faked a twisted ankle, which eventually led Jules to agree that the group go dancing for her birthday.

     The best part of this part of the storyline was what I bet will become another recurring theme (like Penny Can!):  Gun to your head.  If someone puts a gun (made from their fingers) to your head, you have to tell the truth. It was a fun running gag throughout the episode, but the best was at the very end this week.  Ellie, Andy, and Grayson were all in the kitchen, and eventually Travis joined them.  They all had both hands in gun shapes and were pointing them at each other.  I was laughing so hard I had tears.  It’s not easy to describe but I will try:  Ellen pointed her gun at Andy, Andy pointed his gun at Grayson, Grayson pointed one gun at each of them, Travis walked in and Andy and Grayson pointed both guns at Travis, while Ellie pointed one at Travis and one still at Andy.  Travis pointed one at Ellie and one in the general vicinity between Grayson and Andy, with no idea what was even going on, it was just his natural instinct. Then they all started crossing their arms, pointing them in different directions, all the while with this action movie music playing over them.  Ellie told them to stop, everyone put their guns away, and Travis said “Ellie’s still packing” and they all whipped out their guns again.  Then they all acted like they had been shot, with Travis even squirting ketchup as blood and slow-motioned onto the floor, except Ellie who slumped in her chair but eventually took a sip of her wine.  It sounds stupid, but was hysterical.