Modern Family - "Door to Door"

 

Some quick thoughts on "Door To Door" coming at you after the break... but first let me get through soccer practice with a thermos full of chardonnay.

"Door To Door" was not the strongest episode of the season thus far but, I still found myself enjoying most of the gags.  Anytime Cam and Gloria come together for one of their own mini adventures, you know you're going to keel over in laughter.  We started to get the sense that Cam was going to do a "Streetcar" scene as soon as we saw him in his white t-shirt and jeans calling out to Stella - predictable for Cam but, man was it funny. 

As usual for "Modern Family", the writers were very creative in the way all the story lines intertwined, involving the characters having to go "door to door" for some reason or another.  Manny and Jay were selling wrapping paper to raise money for Manny's drama club's trip to see "Les Miserables",  which gave us some great lines ("What do you mean you don't believe in wrapping paper? It's not Big Foot, it exists", "you'll never go broke playing into a rich mans ego. Write that down!").  Then we had Claire trying to get signatures for a petition to put up a stop sign at a dangerous intersection.  This was the weakest of the stories, as Claire's neurotic behavior is a little played out (as is Mitchel's) but it payed off with a flashback of Phil and Luke ordering pizza in their underwear, a video staring Clive Bigsby(!) and a great guest appearance from David Cross as the jackass councilman (Speaking of David Cross, there are fresh confirmed rumors of a new season of "Arrested Development" - Check back Saturday as I'll discuss that further in the Saturday Evening Post).

As a side to Claire's petition signing, the writers piled on a small story involving Phil and Luke trying to film a youtube video that, as Phil put it, "could be their double rainbow".  Ty Burrell does physical comedy so well, that seeing him get repeatedly hit in the face with a basketball could bring tears to your eyes and I'm definitely a big fan of anytime Phil and Luke are teamed up together ("I've always said that if my son thinks of me as one of his idiot friends, I've succeeded as a dad" - words to live by).

Strong episode or not, the jokes always land and what a great way to spend half an hour on Wednesday nights.  If you'd like a further analysis of "Door to Door", check out my friend Chris Pavone over at "Have U Heard" for his take.

What did everyone else think?  What were some of your favorite lines?