# Modern Family 02/15/2012 "Aunt Mommy" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052 "2012-02-16T19:15:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/21 "2012-02-18T02:14:16Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > No idea about the reality, but this is the second reference I’ve seen in a sitcom. It was also mentioned in an episode of Arrested Development (with the same joke – both guys were a differenct race). I saw an episode of a reality series called “One Born Every Minute” about a maternity hospital, that follows the labor and delivery of a variety of patients. In this episode, there was a couple, both black women, who had used artificial insemination on 2 consecutive days, with 2 sperm donors, one white and one black, and they were having twins, a girl and a boy. It turned out each of the babies was fathered by a different donor. So, not quite the “swirl”, but the same principle. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/22 "2012-02-18T02:23:24Z")
i think they’re wealthy even for sitcom standards. jay’s house is a flat out mansion and he’s been in early retirement paying alimony while still living like a millionaire. both kids’ families are single-income households living a pretty lavish lifestyle in a rather expensive part of the nation. i wouldn’t be surprised if the kids go to a private school considering the environment (and the same school as manny). not a hoity toity 40k/year private school but still a private school. it’s a little distracting at times. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/23 "2012-02-18T02:36:24Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > No idea about the reality, but this is the second reference I’ve seen in a sitcom. It was also mentioned in an episode of Arrested Development (with the same joke – both guys were a differenct race). _Glee_ used the same joke as well; one of the main characters is the daughter of a gay couple who used this method. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/24 "2012-02-18T02:52:06Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > i think they’re wealthy even for sitcom standards. jay’s house is a flat out mansion and he’s been in early retirement paying alimony while still living like a millionaire. I think it’s supposed to be “upper middle class” but the sitcom perfection to everything makes it seem a little silly. Mitchell is a midtier Biglaw attorney and Phil is a succesful realtor. I think both of their household incomes are probably supposed to be in the $100-200k range. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/25 "2012-02-18T02:58:14Z")
If I remember right, don’t Mitchell and Cam rent? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/26 "2012-02-18T03:01:40Z")
He may be a successful realtor but based on what we’ve seen of his technique, his commissions seem to come through happenstance and hijinks as the latest episode shows or pure pity if his 6 steps to owning a home seminar is any indication. Clearly, he must be good if he can afford that house and the cars and Claire not working but man, do we not see his A-game in the workplace. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/27 "2012-02-18T03:24:04Z")
Not being snarky, but if you can’t get into a series where the person has a nicer house (or is better looking or has a greater job or more sex or whatever) than you have, that pretty much leaves _Sanford & Son_, _Good Times_, _Roseanne_ and _Shameless_. Most TV shows have time/wealth pornography, especially sitcoms. Plus TV families _have_ to have large houses for technical reasons. It’s a very boring show in which the characters sit around talking and don’t move very much, there needs to be constant motion, which means that unlike the arrangement in probably 95% of U.S. houses where the sofa is going to be against one wall, usually with the TV against another, the sofa is in the middle of the room so that characters can walk behind it or around it for the shot. The same is true in most stage plays that are set in a house; you’ll rarely see a set that has furniture arranged in a style most people would arrange furniture in, and it’s for the same reason of there having to be action around it, and also most stage plays regardless of how wealthy the characters are or aren’t will depict a huge room for this reason. Small houses, even if more realistic, would be too claustrophobic by far to film in. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/28 "2012-02-18T03:28:01Z")
Yes the kids all go to the same private school. Luke and Manny have fought on the playground. And it’s not only their big Southern California houses that indicate their wealth. Their entertainments and other leisure expenses are fairly pricey. They’re not movie star rich but Phil and Mitchell must make well into six figures. I know people who make $200,000 and their lifestyles are downscale next to the Pritchards and Dunphys. So I’m thinking closer to half a million. Of course in TV land they’re typical middle class. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/29 "2012-02-18T04:14:51Z")
Once again Luke kills it: “Or maybe we’re all dead!” ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/30 "2012-02-18T04:17:09Z")
Sampiro - you are right - I am usually able to suspend disbelief but for what ever reason, the wealth of these families takes me out of the show. don’t know why it doesn’t for me on other similar shows. but it does on this one. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/31 "2012-02-18T04:19:49Z")
Huh. I’ve never had the thought that the Modern Family families were living that far beyond their means. This certainly isn’t a Friend’s level of sit com real estate. (Maybe that has a good explanation, too. I have only seen a few episodes.) Jay owns and runs a business and it is mentioned relatively often how rich he is, so his palatial estate makes plenty of sense. Cam and Mitchel, as mentioned, rent. (This is mentioned in the episode in which James Marsters is living in their backyard.) And, Phil is successful enough that when the other guys left his firm they called him to join in starting a new place. So, he had to be doing something right. As they showed in the episode in which he was an emcee, in the Modern Family unvierse everyone but Claire finds him really funny! So, we must just not understand his talents. Also, I never got the idea that it was anything but a public school. The two families just live close to each other, so it happens to be the same school district. I mean that boyfriend? Nothing about him screamed private school to me. And, the whole dropping off process just seemed more public to me than private. I’m certainly much poorer than all of them, but their economic status never rung false to me. Plus. Funny, so I probably wouldn’t care if it did. As far as this episode my favorite interchange was probably. “I found a new drinking game. Take a drink every time you are depressed!” “That’s called alcoholism” Well. Maybe Luke’s dissing of Lilly was my favorite. I love how they have built Luke into this character that has all sorts of opinions that don’t have much to do with the show. He doesn’t trust the police, doesn’t like Lilly, there’s probably other stuff that I forget. But, he brings these non sequiturs up all the time and they always crack me up. I think they should do a few webisodes featuring Luke doing some Video Blogs of his various opinions. Guaranteed funny stuff. Funny episode. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/32 "2012-02-18T04:22:28Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > If I remember right, don’t Mitchell and Cam rent? Yes, we learned that when the Reiki guy was living in Lily’s playhouse and they mentioned that the landlord didn’t say anything about someone moving in upstairs when they first saw him in the hot tub. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/33 "2012-02-18T04:28:01Z")
> [@pricciar](#): > > Huh. I’ve never had the thought that the Modern Family families were living that far beyond their means. This certainly isn’t a Friend’s level of sit com real estate. (Maybe that has a good explanation, too. I have only seen a few episodes.) The big apartment (Monica/Rachel and sometimes Phoebe’s) was originally rented by Monica’s grandma many many years ago (40ish maybe). It’s still technically in her name and due to rent control laws in New York have kept their rent at something like $200 a month. As for Chandler and Joey, they have a small apartment that really doesn’t need explaining, but it was hinted at several times that he makes pretty decent money. Considering they were supposed to be right around 30 years old, I would guess he probably made around 75K-100K. He was also supporting Joey who was usually out of work. Also, they (Joey and Chandler) did go through hard times. They had a chunk of time where they had nothing but lawn furniture and a canoe. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/34 "2012-02-18T06:01:05Z")
> [@pricciar](#): > > Well. Maybe Luke’s dissing of Lilly was my favorite. I love how they have built Luke into this character that has all sorts of opinions that don’t have much to do with the show. He doesn’t trust the police, doesn’t like Lilly, there’s probably other stuff that I forget. But, he brings these non sequiturs up all the time and they always crack me up. He has amazing comic timing for a kid- better than many adult actors on sitcoms. I like his scenes with his 85 year old homeboy next door. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/35 "2012-02-18T06:06:11Z")
**Sampiro** , I agree. I was just saying the sit com round up how good I think he is. Oh, **JoeyP** , thanks for the Friends heads up! ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/36 "2012-02-18T12:40:00Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Yes, we learned that when the Reiki guy was living in Lily’s playhouse and they mentioned that the landlord didn’t say anything about someone moving in upstairs when they first saw him in the hot tub. That’s right! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/37 "2012-02-18T13:18:01Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > i think they’re wealthy even for sitcom standards. jay’s house is a flat out mansion and he’s been in early retirement paying alimony while still living like a millionaire. Nitpick - Jay isn’t retired. We’ve seen him at work several times. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/38 "2012-02-18T13:41:53Z")
I suspect he might be semi-retired. He spends a lot of time hanging around the house. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/39 "2012-02-18T14:57:11Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > What is with Luke’s hate-on for Lily? Is it because she’s the new youngest? Or is she really a worthless human being? [Hijack]I just have to say every time I read a Bob Ducca post, I hear it in Bahb Ducca voice, and it always makes me smile. Thank you, Bob Ducca. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052/40 "2012-02-18T15:24:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I suspect he might be semi-retired. He spends a lot of time hanging around the house. Jay works from home a lot I believe. In one episode Phil fixes a printer in Jay’s home office. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-02-15-2012-aunt-mommy/613052.md?page=3)