The Dunphys: Phil, Clare, Alex, Haley, and Luke

[jmonique]

On 12/6/2018 at 6:11 PM, msrachelj said:

wow, just saw a segment on the talk: sarah hylands cousin tragically passed away and she went on social media asking for money to pay for the funeral! according to the segment she was told by most of her followers that she should be paying for it since she makes $100,000 an episode. she posted back something like "you don't know how i feel".... which has nothing to do with it.... they are correct! how dare she beg her followers, most of whom make less in a year , i'll bet, than she makes in a week , for money to cover the funeral? the nerve! 

Sarah’s gone through two kidney transplants and almost committed suicide as a result of the guilt of her family donating kidneys to help her live.

But sure, she’s the one who has a lot of nerve.

[ljenkins782]

On 11/28/2018 at 1:48 AM, Aryanna said:

I love that scene at the end where he gives that elevator speech. That's one of my favorite scenes and is the reason I watch that episode in reruns. When this show first began, I thought Phil was gonna be one of the least likeable and annoying characters but he is consistantly my favorite character. He can do some things that ge on your nerves but he has such a big heart and means well in all he does.

One of my favorite Phil episodes is the one where he accidentally makes a date with Matthew Broderick. His demeanor in that entire episode is just so appealing and friendly, MB: "I don't know why I brought spinach dip" Phil: "Because it's delicious and you're an awesome guest!" He seems like one of those guys you'd just want to be around. 

I never like the episodes that drive him into dipshit caricature territory, I prefer him when he's shown as a capable realtor and an outgoing, approachable guy. 

Quote

 

Since we know Haley is keeping the baby, I wonder if it will be acknowledged that Claire treats Dylan the way Jay treats Phil. I'd love to see Haley reference that "I don't want you to spend the next 25 years acting like Grandpa does to Dad!".

We all know Claire isn't going to react well to this....

 

They've gone to that well before, like the Dude Ranch episode where Phil tells Claire how much it sucks to have an in-law who doesn't think you're good enough and later confronts Jay about how Jay treats him.

I see they're trying to draw the parallels by having Claire reveal that Phil didn't have it together when they got pregnant with Haley, but I kind of doubt Phil was ever as dumb or as completely rudderless as Dylan. Phil sounds like he spent his youth participating in stuff and went to college, Dylan is (somehow) in nursing school now, but he's had some majorly out there occupations in the past. Also, Phil came from a strong family background, where Dylan was kicked out of his house (I think)? 

[Aryanna]

4 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

He seems like one of those guys you'd just want to be around. 

I never like the episodes that drive him into dipshit caricature territory, I prefer him when he's shown as a capable realtor and an outgoing, approachable guy.

I agree a hunnert percent.

I've said it before, I've never cared for the character of Dylan. I don't know if it's just that he's a bad character or it's the actor or a combination of both. But yeah, I doubt Phil was ever that brain dead. I'd say Dylan getting into nursing school and becoming a nurse is pure fiction but after listening to the podcast Dr. Death, I'm not as confident in the healthcare system.

[msrachelj]

On 12/12/2018 at 8:26 AM, jmonique said:

Sarah’s gone through two kidney transplants and almost committed suicide as a result of the guilt of her family donating kidneys to help her live.

But sure, she’s the one who has a lot of nerve.

if they donated kidneys,, she kinda owes them if she afford to. no?

[anna0852]

That is disgusting. 

And for the record, the kidneys came from her father and brother. Her cousin had nothing to do with it.

[jmonique]

3 hours ago, msrachelj said:

if they donated kidneys,, she kinda owes them if she afford to. no?

I don't really know what you're trying to say, as you left out half the words I think you were aiming for. But  I'm going to agree with anna0852 on this and move on.

RANDOM SPECULATION TIME: I do tend to wonder if Sarah's health issues have impacted Haley's storylines. It might be easier to keep her where she's at than to give her too many challenging storylines regarding moving out, building a career, etc.
On the other hand, given what the writers have done with Alex, I'm not convinced they're capable of complex storylines for the young adults.

Edited December 13, 2018 by jmonique

[jhlipton]

On 12/6/2018 at 5:38 PM, Nordly Beaumont said:

No issue for me either. I don't know her life or her family's life. I only wish she would have considered the possibility people would be jumping all over her for tweeting about the GoFundMe because it sucks she had to go through that when she's already grieving.

I'm sure she knows that haters will jump on her for ANYTHING she does, because that's what haters do.  I'm also sure she has people who read the Tweets and only pass on the good ones.

[ljenkins782]

On 12/13/2018 at 1:11 PM, jmonique said:

RANDOM SPECULATION TIME: I do tend to wonder if Sarah's health issues have impacted Haley's storylines. It might be easier to keep her where she's at than to give her too many challenging storylines regarding moving out, building a career, etc.
On the other hand, given what the writers have done with Alex, I'm not convinced they're capable of complex storylines for the young adults.

I tend to think that they didn't impact her storylines all that much since they don't seem to be terribly imaginative with the kids' storylines. Personally, it doesn't bother me too much since I find the adults more interesting, but it does seem like the writers have very few ideas when it comes to the kids.

[readster]

10 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

I tend to think that they didn't impact her storylines all that much since they don't seem to be terribly imaginative with the kids' storylines. Personally, it doesn't bother me too much since I find the adults more interesting, but it does seem like the writers have very few ideas when it comes to the kids.

Truth, even though Manny in real life is at college too, when he shows up, it's like: "Umm... what do we do with him?" With Luke, they did more with him last season with working and realizing he needs to get a degree to have a life. However, he's been just there acting like he wishes he was still in high school. Joe's stories make sense, but with Haley, I feel they are throwing every unplanned pregnant girl chiche they can think of.

[Lupi11]

Can you pls help me find this episode where Claire said to Hayle, you are the most beautiful girl...( something like this) and Alex said Thanks mom. Thank youu

Edited June 20, 2019 by Lupi11

[tribeca]

I like all the Dumphys.   I would really like to see Alex have some good things happen.   A good paying Job.   A marriage proposal.  Her family appreciate her for who she is. 

[Mystery]

I'm watching the rerun episode where Alex's band plays in a little coffee shop and they're really good. I'm sad for what the show did to her. When she was younger, she noted that she had her fans (who someday, Haley's fans were going to work for) and in this episode she's singing and has her friends in the band. How did she turn into that dark (literally: what was with that horrible flat black hair dye) and friendless person? 

I definitely won't be watching the final season. Even the reruns make me sad. 

[ljenkins782]

On 9/24/2019 at 3:12 AM, Mystery said:

I'm watching the rerun episode where Alex's band plays in a little coffee shop and they're really good. I'm sad for what the show did to her. When she was younger, she noted that she had her fans (who someday, Haley's fans were going to work for) and in this episode she's singing and has her friends in the band. How did she turn into that dark (literally: what was with that horrible flat black hair dye) and friendless person? 

I definitely won't be watching the final season. Even the reruns make me sad. 

I just watched that one too. Frankly, I was just excited to see a rerun that wasn't one of the same 15-ish episodes that they rerun constantly. I don't get their syndication schedule, I have my DVR set to pick up all showings of it and it's the same damn episodes over and over and over. 

The reruns make me a little sad too, the show used to be genuinely great. It happens to most long-running shows so I get it, but the way each character has become such an over-exaggerated caricature of the original character is so glaring when you see the old shows.

[MaryMitch]

Ariel Winter (Alex) was on "Law & Order: SVU" last night (October 3) in an episode titled "The Darkest Journey Home".  I don't normally watch it, but I saw her in a promo so I thought I'd check it out.

She played a girl who got drunk and was raped but couldn't remember the details. During the episode she slowly started remembering.  I thought she did a good job. Also, her hair was lightened and looked pretty good.

You can see a picture of her and read about it here:

https://www.eonline.com/news/1079421/how-law-order-svu-and-mariska-hargitay-changed-ariel-winter-s-life

[Literata]

Watching some reruns tonight, I’m reminded that the only episodes in which I liked Haley were the Andy episodes.

I’ll never stop wondering what happened to that arc, as it was clearly meant to be endgame for Haley. The character’s name was Andy BAILEY, after all. Haley Bailey — clearly the writers’ intent from Day One was that they’d be together. He was Phil 2.0, after all.

So what happened? My guess is that Adam Devine simply became less and less available, and the writers had to scramble to bring back Dylan in a way that somewhat made sense.

[ljenkins782]

On 10/18/2019 at 10:59 PM, Literata said:

Watching some reruns tonight, I’m reminded that the only episodes in which I liked Haley were the Andy episodes.

I’ll never stop wondering what happened to that arc, as it was clearly meant to be endgame for Haley. The character’s name was Andy BAILEY, after all. Haley Bailey — clearly the writers’ intent from Day One was that they’d be together. He was Phil 2.0, after all.

So what happened? My guess is that Adam Devine simply became less and less available, and the writers had to scramble to bring back Dylan in a way that somewhat made sense.

That's the most logical reason. Adam Devine certainly has more going on career-wise than the guy who plays Dylan and seems to do at least a couple movies per year, so it was probably tough to commit to a sitcom shooting schedule. 

I didn't really care for the Andy character (well, sometimes I did like him, but they went so over the top with the Boy Scout aspect of him most of the time), but I agree that Haley was at her best in that era. They dialed back the ditz factor by a lot, but then they dumbed her down again with the return of Dylan.

Regarding Andy being Phil 2.0 (which he was), it kinda doesn't work for me that they insinuated that they were Phil and Claire 2.0 because Haley is nothing like Claire. Even if Claire did have her party days, there's no way that she just suddenly developed her extreme Type A ways later in life. There's always an insinuation that Claire was majorly driven even as a child (like Jay telling the story of Claire selling more Girl Scout cookies than anyone else, even though she was even a Girl Scout, etc.) If anything, Alex is Claire 2.0.

[BlancheDevoreaux]

On 10/18/2019 at 9:59 PM, Literata said:

Watching some reruns tonight, I’m reminded that the only episodes in which I liked Haley were the Andy episodes.

I’ll never stop wondering what happened to that arc, as it was clearly meant to be endgame for Haley. The character’s name was Andy BAILEY, after all. Haley Bailey — clearly the writers’ intent from Day One was that they’d be together. He was Phil 2.0, after all.

So what happened? My guess is that Adam Devine simply became less and less available, and the writers had to scramble to bring back Dylan in a way that somewhat made sense.

I agree with you about Haley. I never liked her with Dylan and him being back has been a disappointment for me. Plus, I hate how she is written with him. I quote Doug from Descendents: "Not a lot of 'there' there." I don't mind them making her ditzy, but when she was with Andy, and even the professor, she was more complex. Now she is so stupid your wonder how she remembers to feed herself. And Dylan? What an obnoxious character.

[readster]

11 hours ago, BlancheDevoreaux said:

I agree with you about Haley. I never liked her with Dylan and him being back has been a disappointment for me. Plus, I hate how she is written with him. I quote Doug from Descendents: "Not a lot of 'there' there." I don't mind them making her ditzy, but when she was with Andy, and even the professor, she was more complex. Now she is so stupid your wonder how she remembers to feed herself. And Dylan? What an obnoxious character.

That's why I never liked Dylan since the get go. He was portrayed as being a moron from the start. More than Haley ever was and when he was around her, Haley got dumber and dumber. Now, it's the blind leading the blind and how Dylan ever got into AND completed Nursing School makes no sense. I get Haley's career, because she wanted that and they all are people with low IQ that found people stupider than them to create a business over and then you have celebs endorsing it and you wonder why these people are making millions. 

[Babalu]

On 10/21/2019 at 9:25 PM, BlancheDevoreaux said:

I agree with you about Haley. I never liked her with Dylan and him being back has been a disappointment for me. Plus, I hate how she is written with him. I quote Doug from Descendents: "Not a lot of 'there' there."

Doug was probably paraphrasing Gertrude Stein (about Oakland): “There is no there there.” I agree that Haley’s character - and every other character, for that matter - has been reduced to its most obvious and superficial traits. I don’t think I’ll look back on this show fondly, which is a shame, since it was so good during its first several seasons.

[AncientNewbie]

On 10/23/2019 at 6:38 PM, Babalu said:

I don’t think I’ll look back on this show fondly, which is a shame, since it was so good during its first several seasons.

 

I feel, sadly, much the same. I still get sucked into early-season marathons when I run across one. But I've stopped watching most of the new ones, unless it happens to be on in the room when I'm around. 

There was a natural progression to the Dunphys where the kids would grow into mostly-functional adults, like their parents, with some sage sitcom wisdom about Phil being a good and Clare being intense, but being good parents. Instead the writers went the (too often tried) route of cardboard characters in order to pad out the run with extra syndication fodder. 

[chediavolo]

Just watched "The Last Movie Star" which starred Burt Reynolds and Ariel Winters. She was watchable if not likable on Modern Family but now that I see her in something else, come to realize she is a terrible actress.