Modern Family/Cougar Town

Modern Family – Dance Dane Revelation

     Who hasn’t wanted to run after a scent-application specialist in the mall?  Especially one who has just sprayed you with cologne and blinded you or made your mouth taste of something you most likely don’t like enough to buy.  I know I am less likely to buy something if it’s been sprayed on me without my consent.  So, when Phil lost it and chased the cologne guy around the store, I totally understood.  Not to mention the fact that Jay had been all over him all day for letting people walk all over him.  Mr. Nice Guy Phil finally hit his breaking point and lost it, although maybe it should have been directed at Jay instead of the salesman.

     Gloria stole Claire’s thunder at the school dance, and I actually felt badly for both of them.  I saw both of their points of view, and could see why it was important to each of them that they succeed.  However, since I am far more a Claire than a Gloria, I would have to side with her on this one.  Gloria shouldn’t have come along and tried to put her stamp on the dance as co-chair, when it really was Claire’s thing.  There have to be other events at the school where Gloria could make her mark.

     I though the Lily being a biter storyline was pretty funny.  It was especially cute that they kept saying that she was biting when it was so incredibly obvious that the little actress wasn’t anywhere near biting at all.  My favorite line of the night was when Cam was belting Lily into her car seat, and after the second time she bit him, he said, “It’s like Twilight back here.”  That comment REALLY made me laugh.

Cougar Town – The Same Old You

     Where the hell is BARB???  Is she so busy on General Hospital she hasn’t had time to do her one-liner on Cougar Town?  I think this is the third episode in a row without a Barb fix. 

     I am SO glad it looks like they are going to address the chemistry between Travis and Laurie.  I know it’s probably a bad idea to put these two together, since there is a pretty big age gap and she is one of his mother’s best friends, but their banter and behavior really are forcing them to at least look at it.  The two actors have such great chemistry together, and it would be natural for Travis to at least have a crush on Laurie, so I really think they do have to at least look at it.  I am glad it came up in this episode, and look forward to them exploring it more.

     Where is Bobby going to live now?  Jules had a spare room after Travis moved out, but it’s a jam room now.  She does kind of owe him, since she was the one who sunk his houseboat.  I would guess it would also cause some fun tension between Bobby, Grayson, and Jules if Bobby moved into her house.  Maybe he will move in with Andy and Ellie.  Or maybe he will do well in the golf tournament he was qualifying for, and will be able to buy a house.

Modern Family/Cougar Town

Modern Family – Mother Tucker

     Cam’s mother was a little overly familiar with Mitchell, and invaded his personal space and crossed boundaries.  Haley broke up with Dylan again, and might start dating her math tutor.  Phil wore a sweatshirt that looked like it belonged to a girl, and when he saw a girl wearing it, he immediately threw it in the trash.  Jay didn’t feel well, Gloria was unsympathetic, and he ended up having to have an emergency appendectomy.

     This episode didn’t really make me laugh, except when Phil threw the sweatshirt away.  I did also laugh when Claire was trying to prove a point to Mitchell that he gets overly sensitive about his personal space; that was pretty funny, and a realistic brother/sister moment.  I was disappointed that it wasn’t an actual Thanksgiving episode, because my favorite scenes are when the whole family is together. 

     Cam’s mother WAS being inappropriate, and I didn’t find any of it amusing.  Cam being oblivious to it didn’t help, I know he is sometimes self-involved, but he knows Mitchell so well, and is usually pretty sensitive to when something is bothering him, it just seemed out of character.  Maybe he was just blinded by his love for his mom. 

     Where was Lily in this episode?  Her grandmother comes to town for a visit and we don’t even see a single scene of them together.  That didn’t feel right to me.

Cougar Town – When the Time Comes

     Andy being an optimistic thinker dancing around to the Reggae music in his head made me laugh.  I think Andy’s optimism is what keeps Ellie and him together, because she is much more negative.  They balance each other out, and that works for both of them.  I am a bit concerned about their son Stan, where the heck was he in this episode?  Usually it doesn’t bother me that we don’t see him much, but this was a holiday episode, there should have been some acknowledgement of his existence.

     Laurie changed outfits 9 times, and each one got farther and farther over the top, and it was excellent and funny, and she looked pretty in almost all of them,

     The group called Bobbie out on his mumbling and told him sometimes they don’t understand what he is saying.  I think it was also because of his Southern accent, at least in part, although no one said that.

     Jules told Grayson she loves him, but he didn’t say it back.  She then accidentally poisoned him with oyster stuffing; he is allergic to oysters.  She spent the ep stressing about whether she should ask him if he loves her too, but Andy convinced her not to, to let him come to her and tell her in his own time.  By the end of the ep he still hadn’t said, but she was okay with waiting until he is ready.

     I laughed a lot in this episode; at Andy’s optimism, at Laurie’s dresses, at Bobby’s muttering.  This cast has really gelled and I really like every one of these characters.  I do hope that Jules and Grayson can stay friends after they inevitably break up, because the whole group dynamic will change if Grayson isn’t around as much.  He is the straight man to this group.

A NOTE:  This blog is going to be quiet for the next several days.  There are no new episodes of anything I watch until The Event on Monday night, so I won’t have anything TV related to talk about.  I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my friends and readers a happy Thanksgiving, and hope that you all are able to celebrate the things for which you are thankful.

Modern Family/Cougar Town

Modern Family – Manny Get Your Gun

     It was Manny’s birthday and the whole family met at a restaurant for dinner.  Just as an FYI, I have been to that restaurant, and I am pretty sure that exact location, a couple of times and the food is really good.

     Phil and Claire decided to take separate cars, because they each had a different route and wanted to race to see which one was faster.  Luke thought when they said they were splitting up, they meant their marriage, and he wanted to go with his father.  When Claire realized the mistake, she asked him why he wanted to go with his dad, was it because he is the fun parent?  After a bit of a rant by Claire about why there can’t be two fun parents, Luke just said he thought his dad would need him more.  Meanwhile, in Phil’s car he, Haley, and Alex all ended up crying because the girls don’t want to go to family camp and Phil started crying because he felt they were outgrowing him.  Once he started crying, so did both girls, because their dad was crying.  It sounds really depressing, but it was actually funny.

     Cam and Mitchell were rushing around trying to get Manny a birthday gift, but Cam kept getting sidetracked and Mitchell was getting frustrated.  Then they ended up in the middle of a dance flash mob, and Mitchell was actually a participant in it, which is why he was trying to rush Cam.  He said it was his love letter to Cam, but Cam was upset that Mitchell did it without him.  All I could think about during the flash mob scene was my friend Andrea, because I know she loves those things, and I think both of us cry every time we see one on Youtube.  Andy, did you cry this time?  I loved it, but didn’t cry, probably because it was scripted instead of reality.

     Gloria lost her keys, and spent most of the episode looking for them while being teased and cajoled by Jay about it.  He ended up finding them in his own jacket pocket, after saying he didn’t have them, and he put them into Gloria’s purse.  She got him to admit he put them back in there, because he was trying to teach her a lesson; that she is scattered and needs to be more organized.

     Manny was afraid he missed is childhood, because he has always been mature beyond his years.  However, after watching all of the adults in his family act like children, he realized he still has plenty of time to behave like a child.

Cougar Town – Little Girl Blues

     Travis brought his new girlfriend home from college to meet the gang.  Jules was passive aggressive to the hilt, and even got kind of nasty to Kirsten, just not in front of Trav.  No one was saying her name right, everyone called her Kristen, and even Travis did it after a bit.  I felt sorry for the poor girl, because she seemed to really like Travis but Jules was pretty mean.  Finally, Jules sat her down and explained to her that she knows she can be weird about Travis, but she really loves him and just wanted him to be treated well.  I am afraid no woman is ever going to be good enough for Travis in Jules’ eyes.

     The most traumatic event of the episode was the death of Big Joe.  Well, not real death, since Big Joe was just a giant wine glass, but it was Jules’ favorite wine glass because it was like drinking wine out of a goldfish bowl, and Kirsten accidently broke it.  Thankfully, at the end of the episode, Jules introduced everyone to Big Carl, her new giant wine glass.  I actually think I like Big Carl better, it’s a very cool looking wine glass.

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.