CleoCaesar

But Sheldon is the butt of those jokes. He's the one being made fun of. He really does assume that women don't know about comic books when really Denise was perfectly knowledgeable, professional, and friendly. How is that sexist? The purpose is that it's his established character. He's a socially oblivious asshole. Why should a show intended for adults need to have role models for children as protagonists?

Acknowledge it how, though? To me, just showing us their hugely expensive vacations, etc. that happen so frequently for all of them is acknowledging that they're all very well-off. It's the classic advice of "show, don't tell". Same goes for Phil. They don't need to say "Phil is a very successful agent" - they show it by having him win realtor awards, referencing his many clients, and showing the multimillion-dollar house his family lives in. What more do we, the viewers, need? Cam and Mitch lived in half the duplex for most of the show, and only recently bought the upstairs floor (around the time Cam went back to work?). What's the other home they own? Their problems are fairly silly in how they're handled - Mitch switches jobs like he's playing musical chairs - but Mitch is the son of a rich CEO (who gave him the money for the house downpayment) and a practicing lawyer.

The show is Modern Family, not Average Family. I don't see the writers wanting us to view them as relatable and common at all. If that was their goal, they wouldn't be writing about three very well-off Californian families living in multimillion-dollar houses and going on lavish vacations. The families' problems aren't about money and I don't think there's any unspoken rule that they should be.

I tuned out the guys' plot and focused on the girls'. Loved Amy Riverdancing (Mayim was trying so hard not to break). I've always thought Amy could do so much better than Sheldon, but they do love each other and it's nice to see him be a little more normal with her.

It's Mitch's ridiculous job hopping that gets me more than anything. First he had a good job at a law firm... that he just up and quit when his boss was making him work weekends. Then he joined Charlie Bingham's office. Which he also up and quit. Then joined the non-profit run by Aisha Tyler's character. Left that too. And now he's going to be a prosecutor? What?

Any episode with no Manny is a good one for me. And no Alex and no Joe was nice too. The less focus on the kids, the better. Because none of them can act for shit. This one felt like old-school MF in some respects and the newer cartoonish MF in others. The Mitch and Cam stuff wasn't bad, but they should really give up on trying to make Mitchell's law career in anyway realistic. Because it's absurd. Why does Luke "have" to go to college? He's a terrible student and has no academic ambitions. American culture has been pushing the "college is a must" for so long that so few people even question it anymore.

Nothing about this episode worked for me. The British guy is utterly annoying and the actor is terrible. Tone it down, this isn't pantomime. Haley and Alex, or I guess I should say their respective actresses, look so much like mini Kardashian clones that it's actually kind of sad. Lip fillers, cheek fillers, pounds of makeup...I'm remembering the earlier seasons and both looked normal. Pretty sad. Eric Stonestreet and Julie Bowen's newly plastic faces are so distracting and have been all season. Don't know anything about baseball or who George Brett is, so that plotline was a miss for me too. I'm not one of those types who says "this show needs to be put out of its misery" (because the option of just not watching it still exists) but I do wish they'd tone everything down and make it less cartoonish.

I actually liked parts of the episode (Phil and Cam's dancing, Oprah's dress having healing powers, Stella being featured more) but the dead weight (Manny) continue to drag things down. Write off all the "kids". They're just not needed anymore and their endless presence needs more explaining than a simple "They're all away at college/out of town jobs".

I'm half convinced the actor is actually a very lifelike robot. The current pantheon of the worst actors on this show: 1. Dean Winters 2. The guy who plays Stone 3. Mariska Seriously, none of these people can even sort of act.

So after all of that, it just turned out to be the creepy piano teacher? That was my first guess and I wrote it off as too boring. I guess throwing in the inadvertent incest was a Hail Mary to make the episode interesting or something.

I think they could pull it off, but only if they cast an older teen Annie and a 20-something Annie and use the flash-forwards (which I like) wisely/sparingly. Downsides to this are that there are already a lot of versions of these characters at different ages, and the current Annie is too cute not to use more.

My money is on "her" in the finale being Annie. She's the ever-forgotten little girl, angelic-looking and -behaving. Tess was the one who ran away and Deja is the one with issues that Randall is very preoccupied with. When Randall and Beth were playing their "worst scenario" game, Annie's name didn't even come up as a possibility. I'm unspoiled, so this is pure speculation: Randall and Beth adopt Deja. They focus on her, and Tess and Deja grow close (to the point where Deja inspires Tess's future career). Annie becomes the middle child and starts to become a problem child for attention. Drugs, misdemeanors, alcohol abuse. Then she commits a felony and is sent to prison. The crime somehow impacted Tess to the point of not wanting to see Annie. My guess? Annie deliberately hurt Deja (or worse). In this scenario, Randall/Beth symbolically become the new Jack/Rebecca if only in how both couples neglected their two children after adopting a third.

I thought Halley wasn't the best choice because for the rest of her life she'll be correcting people from mispronouncing/misspelling it as Haley.

What trite, manipulative shit. (Should I just copy-paste that sentence every week?) I was watching old West Wing clips on YouTube today and saw the one where Donna calls her old teacher from the Oval Office and wondered what Janel Moloney was up to these days. Guess I have my answer. I'm sorry, did I just miss whatever gray ambiguity the show was going for? That scumbag surgeon deserved to lose her license and a multi-decades jail sentence for stealing people's organs without consent.

Same here. Randall's tiresome quest for sainthood has (or will) endangered Tess and Annie's well-being, and for what? A total stranger that Randall is creepily overinvested in. I'd be interested a storyline of how Deja's destructive presence destroys the fabric of their family. Especially its impact on Annie, who is the most adorable member of the show so far. (Who am I kidding, I'll never be interested in a Deja storyline.)

That's a good point (I'd forgotten about Howard's lack of a Ph.D.). The show doesn't seem to know what the guys' jobs are. Wasn't there an episode where they fight each other for tenure and there was a teaching requirement? So they do research, publish, and teach. (They also mentioned something about Sheldon or Raj being a "junior professor", which isn't even a thing. There's assistant professor, associate professor, and professor.) I was bored and went on Glassdoor to see faculty salaries at Caltech are. Assistant Professor $138,478 per year Associate Professor About $147k - $165k Professor About $155k - $166k

He's been a professor at Caltech for over a decade (and been to space for NASA, talk about having leverage during asking for a raise) - it would be highly unlikely for him not to be making six figures at this point.

Bernadette is such an abrasive, combative shrew that these days I find myself thinking that Howard could do better. He turned into a stand-up guy, loving spouse, and good father and she...just got worse. Everything with her is a conflict and everyone is somehow inconveniencing her. I used to really like Bernadette but I don't know why now. Both should keep working if they want. They make over six figures each, live in a free house, have Raj and Stuart as ready and willing babysitters, and no relatives who need financial support.

I made the mistake of being momentarily impressed that the show was actually showing a case of a deliberate false accusation. So of course they had to make the guy a real rapist.

My thoughts exactly. Haley's looks apparently are so incredible that every non-related to Haley man on the show has fallen for her. It's gotten very old. The only realistic relationship progression (acquaintances to friends to attracted to each other) was Haley and Andy (and even then, he was cheating on Beth and they were sneaking around).

Neil? I wish they'd stuck with Michael as his first name. Not a bad episode. But are they ever going to do anything with Penny? Or Penny/Leonard? They've been so static for who knows how many episodes. Can Kaley Cuoco say more than 50 words per episode?

That was some of the worst acting I have ever seen. Dean Winters is terrible. He spoke his lines like it was his first time rehearsing them. And no one was immune this episode. I've seen better acting in elementary-school plays. Mariska, stop whispering.

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon and the first movie is currently playing on HBO. I'm watching the whole thing and it's really...not that bad. I mean, it doesn't hold a candle to the original series, and the Charlotte subplot is boring, and Carrie is annoying, and Steve wouldn't cheat on Miranda, but on the whole, it's not terrible. (Unlike the second movie.) Also, the scene where Carrie interviews the drunk girl for her assistant job is kind of funny. "But I type like a motherfucker!"

They both seem like catty, tacky people from this exchange.

I seriously thought they were going to have Barba tell Olivia he was in love with her during his baffling speech at the end. He was all but groveling at her feet. Gross.