I’m a big fan of the show, was a little disappointed in both of last night’s episodes. They were enjoyable but nothing that was up there with the best of MF. I did like that Phil could handle a shotgun like a pro. Who was the ranch guy? He looked familiar. Liked Claire’s talk with Dylan. Have we seen the last of him?
Considering that a lot of people may have been watching the show for the first time due to it’s recent Emmy success, I was hoping for a really strong episode.
The ranch guy was Tim Blake Nelson. You might know him from either O Brother, Where Art Thou? or The Good Girl.
“i kill the baby!”
I like the new Lilly. “I kill the baby!” Hilarious!
I must admit, though, that I agree with the O.P. – they weren’t particularly strong episodes. Entertaining, but not the best stuff to lead with. Still, I am very glad to have the show back for a new season.
Ah, yes…O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
“i kill the baby!” Yep, that was very MF-y.
Gloria, or should I say Cactus Flower, certainly looked quite attractive in her cowgirl outfit!
(Manny) “And I’m the one on the no fly list.”
She filled that outfit so nicely with her generous curves. Yummy!
“Buffalo Phil…worth the wait.”
“Could you L. a little less O.L.? Do you see what I’m trying to do over here?”
“Die alone?”
Syriana too, in case anyone was still trying to place him.
I thought they were pretty good, not the best. I loved Phil’s reaction to finally getting a nick name: “Buffalo Phil, that was worth the wait.”
the benchmark of any good tv show is “yeah, i could have come up with better” and better doesn’t necessarily mean “more clever”. Modern Family is masterful in turning cliches into interesting, rewearding scenes, but I’ll have to agree that the premier wasn’t its best stuff.
In the first of two, The Jay-vs-the-cowboy stuff fell flat, as did both Dylan’s “stories” from proposal to ranch hand and alex’s budding romance. also, manny was criminally underused imo opinion. with so many storylines, that episode alone could have been the 1-hour season premier if they had just shown some follow through on the many storylines.
the 2nd one was much better but still there was an “oh, good i guess, but i expected more from you guys” vibe. a missed opportunity for sight gags of luke’s disgusting room (and alex’s reaction to moving into it), weird disconnect in logic between manny picking up a locket and the principal finding out (lazy writing), and i wish they had just let Luke stay up in the attic and have claire be wrong just once.
That kid that kissed the younger daughter was totally channeling Tony Soprano.
As a native, I’m just glad the Wyoming scenery looked great.
I thought the ending to Luke’s room was perfect. Claire was right, but she let herself be seen as wrong. Thats better than if she had been wrong. She took the hit, being perceived as wrong when she knew she was right, for Luke.
I was underwhelmed. I’m not a fan of location shoots for sitcoms because it always seems strained and even more contrived than usual. I think it may be that the actors have to talk too loud or something. Oh, and the kissing kid completely overacted to the point where I was hoping he was supposed to be faking his accent to impress Alex. Nope.
There were a few LOL moments, like when Cameron rushed to put up the banner after Mitch (is that his name?) spilled the beans on the 2nd baby.
I also liked how Phil finally stood up to Jay and said that he’d earned his respect after being a great husband and father for 20 years. Nice.
“There’s a line of ants going to a Halloween bag in my closet. I don’t want to be there when they get tired of eating candy.”
I loved that line!
Fun episodes. Great scenery in the first one and as funny as Dylan is I think making Haley single is a good idea. Opens up more stories.
Also Luke was on fire in both episodes “The living will envy the dead!”
Deaf Gloria.
Agree they weren’t on the short list of MF’s best, but still better than most sitcom episodes.
Cam: ‘I make the baby dead’
Mitch: I thought we decided not to share that one.
They need to have a good Mitch episode soon, though; his character’s becoming too bitchy and I think everybody’s joining Team Cam.
“All I did was go by the grocery store, ask your friend Jordan what security company they use, go to their office, fill out some forms, have them email it to me and burn it onto a DVD. Piece of cake!”
“It could never work between us. You’re a high school student and I’m a ranch hand.”
Other liked lines:
“Phyllis. PHIL…IS!”
“For what it’s worth, my second wife was in high school.”
“Can you keep the horse still when I’m trying to emphasize a statement?”
Yeah I don’t get why they couldnt convert the attic into a bedroom a la Greg Brady