First and foremost, last nights MODERN FAMILY has finally given this TV Addict an ally in our seemingly never-ending fight to stave off really obvious technical support questions from friends and family. Seriously. The next time they who shall not be named asks us how to operate their television, rather than dole out our standard eye-roll (which incidentally, would make PARKS AND RECREATION’s April Ludgate proud), we’ll simply refer them to last night’s episode and hand them our soon-to-be-designed “If Haley Can Do it…” sticker!
Both Chazz Palminteri as Jay’s possibly-gay-but-evidently-not best friend Shorty and Kristen Schaal as the slightly inappropriate online object of Manny’s affection (“Her name is Whitney. I met her in an online book club. We both like vampire fiction an the romance of eternal life.”) both served as prime examples of guest stars serving the story, not the other way around. Something that GLEE’s Ryan Murphy and his increasingly crowded roster of guest stars (Kristin Chenoweth! Idina Menzel! Neil Patrick Harris!) should probably take note of.
Leave it to Gloria — who always seems to see the best in everybody — turn around what started off as a uncomfortable and surprising send-up of DATELINE’S TO CATCH A PREDATOR into an unexpected opportunity for laughs and heartfelt moments when she decided to give the very-unlucky-in-love Whitney a makeover (“In my country there’s a saying, ‘Love is just around the corner.’ I come from a neighborhood with a lot of prostitutes.”) while Manny doles out relationship advice, as only Manny can, “You’re not stupid. Stupid is not following your heart and taking a chance on love.”
Although fans and critics alike have already professed how nice it was to see hapless Phil finally gain the upper hand in the never-ending battle that is marriage by successfully demonstrating to Claire that he could teach daughter Haley how to operate their home theater system’s ‘brain’ in less than twenty minutes. I think we can all agree — after joining Dylan in a very revealing look at Claire less than a year after actress Julie Bowen gave birth to twins in real-life — that Phil has always been a winner! Damn.
Car: “Enter a destination”
Mitchell: “Hell”
Car: “Mexican Food”
In our books, pretty much any show that can find laughs in a talking car gag was robbed of a Best TV Comedy Golden Globe. We’re just sayin’ 
