Modern Family, May 9, 2012 -- "DisneyLand"

So, what are your thoughts on last night’s episode?

I thought it was pretty average (which is still much better than the average sitcom). Surprised they even mentioned the “fat people on scooters” at Disney, though it is entirely accurate.

And Jay spent the episode dealing with women’s shoes. I predict next episode he either spends time at a nudie bar, or founds NO MA’AM.

I liked it, particularly the story Jay told about his first marriage.

I liked that Jay’s wife’s shoe problem became the Lilly solution.

Now there’s a weird sentence.

An ABC program taking place at Disneyland? How in the world did they pull that off? (Sarcasm Smilie Here)

I wasn’t crazy about the Manny story. They’re leaning a little hard on the 12-going-on-40 routine lately.

That was all I could think about last night as well.

The show is leaning way too hard on a few characterizations with Manny the Too-Mature-For-His-Age leading the charge.

It also occurred to me that both Dunphy girls are basically only shown being total cunts to each other, and always in the exact same manner, with Alex constantly calling her big sister a stupid slut, and Hayley telling her sister what a friendless, socially maladjusted loser she is. It’s also getting very tired.

“I haven’t been judged by so many people since I forgot the reusable canvas shopping bags at Whole Foods.”

Yeah, it is the same interaction over and over again. I wish they would have a few scenes with them actually having fun together, instead! I can’t remember the last time they did that.

Oh wait, there was the “Betty Luke” incident a few episodes back…

When I met him he was eating cereal out of a bucket.

Probably a fairly large bucket, too!

“… and the universe rewarded me.”

Indeed.

I loved Dylan in the Dork Quartet, then in the Little John costume.

“OK, that was my head.”

I was pleasantly surprised that they took some shots, of a sort, at the Disneyland “experience” - it didn’t come across as a gloss job…

They got some of the Disneyland geography wrong (there is no way to purchase corn dogs where they purchased corn dogs)! How dare they!

They ended up filming in the park on February 29 which was a day Disney decided (quite possibly after the filming had already been scheduled) to keep the park open for 24 hours. Just added to some crowd control issues for the day.

Let it be noted that I called The Return Of Dylan way back. Right after the Wyoming episode. As much as Claire hated him, I knew he had to come back.

I thought it was an average episode, and as is always noted in MF threads, still better than almost all other sitcoms on broadcast TV.

Can’t believe I didn’t catch that.:stuck_out_tongue: It’s a tribute to Ed O’Neill that nobody refers to him as “Al” in these threads.

Agree that it wasn’t one of MF’s better eps, but it’s better than the best of most other sitcoms.

Do they still have somebody dressed as Little John at Disney? That movie was 40 years ago and it’s nowhere near as well remembered as Snow White or Cinderella or most other Disney movies.

We spent one day at DisneyLand in 2010 and saw a grand total of one costumed character- Goofy, just inside the entrance. For what it’s worth, DisneyLand sucks sweaty donkey balls compared with its big brother, DisneyWorld. We happened to have free passes for that one day, but if I ever find myself with my family in Anaheim again, with free passes to the park, we’ll skip it. It’s just not worth it.

If you spent a day at Disneyland and only saw one costumed character, you weren’t paying attention.

Disneyland may suck donkey balls, but it does not lack for costumed characters. But no, characters from Disney’s Robin Hood aren’t commonly seen in the park outside of parades.

I thought it was one of the best episodes.

I like that Manny was a workaholic while Jay actually enjoyed himself more than anyone.

I like that we got to see a glimpse of how miserable he was in his marriage, and that it was robotic Lincoln who convinced him to stay in his marriage for the sake of his kids. Funny but poignant.

I like that Gloria wore heels to an amusement park, but I’d have liked it better had Jay lugged around a pair of her gym shoes instead of buying those over-the-top slippers. (Or maybe they could have worked it that Lily wouldn’t wear her Disney slippers until Gloria conveniently agreed to wear hers.) Like his speech about her not bringing a jacket, which always forced him to be cold and miserable.

I like that the hot guy liked Alex more than Hailey.

Are the Dancing Dans (or whatever they were - the singing dudes on the bicycle) for real? I mean, does Disneyland really have such a thing? Because they were really corny.

I like how they were one of those parents who leashed their kid.

“And the universe rewarded me.” line was awesome.

Yes, the Dapper Dans are real (as the line said, an institution since 1959). And they’re very good if you go in for Barbershop Quartets.

Plus, to a certain degree, “corny” is kind of the point of Main Street at Disneyland.