S08.E10: Ringmaster Keifth

[kat165]

Cam wants to throw a New Year's Day feast for the family; Phil's father arrives with his new
girlfriend, who happens to be Phil's childhood baby sitter; Gloria and Jay must decide who
will look after little Joe if something should happen to them.

[voiceover]

Okay.  Was it supposed to be a meta thing that they were doing a retread of the Ronnie/Martin story on Frasier & having Kelsey guest-star?

And a retread of the "Who Gets Lily?" sl?

And I've even stopped watching the reruns of this mess.

[Misslindsey]

I did not love this episode. I did like the brief scene with Claire and Joe on the swing set, but the whole episode wasn't very memorable for me.

Black-ish had the storyline where the eldest daughter said she would watch her siblings in case of her parents death. I think it was last season or so. When Manny said he would look after Joe it felt very similar. I preferred the Black-ish version because you saw her helping out with her siblings with their problems during the episode in a flashback.

[Artsda]

I liked the opening scene of the family by the pool. It reminded me of my favorite holiday episode when they have the Express Christmas.

Loved seeing the Margaritaville Margarita Maker. LOL I have one just like it.

Since when is Phil afraid of rides at a theme park? In the Disneyland episode he was the roller coaster king or something he called himself. It seems like the writers don't remember their own characters anymore. 

Manny is more mature than the adult options for Joe. So I think he should have been the obvious choice. I would pick Manny over Cam or Claire. 

[Trick Question]

Let it be said for the millionth time how perfect the casting was for Fred Willard as Phil's dad.  He and Ty Burrell even look like they could actually be father and son.

It's too bad Kelsey Grammer is a jerk in real life, as he has the most amazing speaking voice.

1 hour ago, voiceover said:

Okay.  Was it supposed to be a meta thing that they were doing a retread of the Ronnie/Martin story on Frasier & having Kelsey guest-star?

Also seemed like that Frasier episode when he hires the incredibly resourceful butler, played by Victor Garber

[ItCouldBeWorse]

6 hours ago, Artsda said:

Since when is Phil afraid of rides at a theme park? In the Disneyland episode he was the roller coaster king or something he called himself. It seems like the writers don't remember their own characters anymore. 

I think Phil did say that as he was growing older, his tolerance for crazy rides was diminishing.  Wasn't there also an episode with Luke with the same theme?  I'm not sure.

6 hours ago, Trick Question said:

Let it be said for the millionth time how perfect the casting was for Fred Willard as Phil's dad.  He and Ty Burrell even look like they could actually be father and son.

Very true, but he looked extremely thin.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Gloria's $40,000 stash will almost cover tuition in a California state college, but probably not any other 4 year school, and certainly not room & board.  When she was a single mother (and probably would have qualified for financial aid if there were no savings) Manny attending a CA state college and living at home was an entirely reasonable and admirable goal. Now, Gloria should know better to think that $40,000 would cover Manny's aspirations, although, for the sake of the show, I would not be surprised to find Manny living at home and attending a local college next season.  Or perhaps, he will take a gap year in order to stretch out his time at home.

[seacliffsal]

I was a bit surprised that they presented Phil as risk adverse.  I felt like the writers didn't really know how to include the kids, so the festival it was with a bag of money.  

The episode seemed like it had potential, but just felt flat to me.  It was a cute idea that a concierge service could find a replacement pig, but the whole premise of digging a hole in the backyard to cook a pig was just a bit extreme (although it did feel very 'Cam').  

[vibeology]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Gloria's $40,000 stash will almost cover tuition in a California state college, but probably not any other 4 year school, and certainly not room & board.  When she was a single mother (and probably would have qualified for financial aid if there were no savings) Manny attending a CA state college and living at home was an entirely reasonable and admirable goal. Now, Gloria should know better to think that $40,000 would cover Manny's aspirations, although, for the sake of the show, I would not be surprised to find Manny living at home and attending a local college next season.  Or perhaps, he will take a gap year in order to stretch out his time at home.

Still, it's a nice chunk of savings that will go a long way. I am surprised the topic hadn't come up before considering Manny will need to pay for school soon. But it did make for a very funny scene with Haley and Alex so I can't be annoyed. One time, after a charity event, I had several thousand dollars that I had to bus to the bank. I have never been more nervous in my entire life so I totally got their stress.

[sadiegirl]

34 minutes ago, vibeology said:

Still, it's a nice chunk of savings that will go a long way. I am surprised the topic hadn't come up before considering Manny will need to pay for school soon. But it did make for a very funny scene with Haley and Alex so I can't be annoyed. One time, after a charity event, I had several thousand dollars that I had to bus to the bank. I have never been more nervous in my entire life so I totally got their stress.

But why were they walking, looking for a bus stop?  Didn't they drive there?  Instead of 'enjoying' their stress, I was wondering where their car was.

I laughed only once, when Mitch was describing Frasier (something like 'stupidly-named' clown).  Other than that, not funny and not very interesting.   And I don't think I saw Luke at all (not that I miss him).

[DrSpaceman73]

Kelsey Grammar is always good as a guest star.  I didn't realize he had a real life reputation that was poor. 

And I agree Fred Willard looked very thin, different. 

I thought the babysitter was going to turn him down, say no to the proposal

Agree about the girls and the money, why didn't they drive?  And were those really "90s" clothes?  I have never thought there was anything too distinctive about clothes beyond the 80s.  50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, all pretty distinct, beyond that, not much

Also it is a cliché, "who gets the child" episode that so many sitcoms do and this series did as well once already with Lilly

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I think Phil did say that as he was growing older, his tolerance for crazy rides was diminishing.  Wasn't there also an episode with Luke with the same theme?  I'm not sure.

 

When they went to Disney Phil got sick on one of the rides and he thought he was getting too old for them.  But it turned out he had the flu or some illness, it wasn't the ride at all

[meep.meep]

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Gloria's $40,000 stash will almost cover tuition in a California state college, but probably not any other 4 year school, and certainly not room & board.  When she was a single mother (and probably would have qualified for financial aid if there were no savings) Manny attending a CA state college and living at home was an entirely reasonable and admirable goal. Now, Gloria should know better to think that $40,000 would cover Manny's aspirations, although, for the sake of the show, I would not be surprised to find Manny living at home and attending a local college next season.  Or perhaps, he will take a gap year in order to stretch out his time at home.

If he goes to the California State University system it would cover it:

"The cost of tuition and fees is reduced dramatically for residents of California. Tuition for these students is set at $5,472 for the 2015 - 2016 year, a discount of 60.2%. Fees are $1,906, bringing the total yearly cost for these full-time undergrads to $7,378."

It's gone up this year but not to $10K.  The University of California fees are much higher.

But he was applying to Julliard previously and it's probably not even enough for one year there.  No Bulldogs for Manny.

[indeed]

At first, Gloria being able to raise enough money for college as a single mom cutting hair (and driving a cab), paying for her own apartment (that she still owns, right?), and all the other expenses that would have gone with supporting herself, her child, and maintaining her "Gloria-ness" all before the tender age of 9 for Manny (I think that's how old he was when she married Jay) seemed a bit far-fetched.  Then it was revealed it's only $40,000.  Still seems far-fetched (especially with Manny's tastes) and naive of Gloria to think she really has it covered, but whatever.  Maybe he'll get a scholarship somewhere (please not Julliard).  LOL

Yes, it seemed pretty obvious that Manny would raise Joe if needed (*spit, spit, pluck*).  Maybe he could've been a little hurt, though, that they didn't even consider him?  That might've required too much range...

Really, Jay and Gloria shouldn't have even bothered giving that eBulter card to Mitch.  We all knew who would be using/benefitting from it.  (I was hoping that Jay would've made a reference back to how much he liked making custom t-shirts, but I guess the vision of Cam's apron coming to him in a dream was close enough; as a legit callback, it seems too subtle for this show lately).

Thought Kelsey being on would've been funnier. Not his fault.  Yes, reading the episode description, I did think Frasier storyline retread - but then, that happens frequently enough.

Edited January 5, 2017 by indeed

[MaryMitch]

I kept laughing at those bells on Cam's apron. I've never seen anything so silly - so, perfect for Cam!

[AriAu]

Maybe I was just tired, but why was the name "Keifth" supposed to be funny? Did not get it at all.

And I hate to harp on this, but why exactly are Cam and Mitchell together. I get that Mitchell wasn't very jealous, but given the bizarre back story and Cam's (as usual) over-the-top reactions, I am surprised he was sooooo calm about the whole thing.

I agree that Fred Willard did not look well-way too thin. He is 77, but he has really aged.

Edited January 5, 2017 by AriAu

[TheLastKidPicked]

51 minutes ago, AriAu said:

Maybe I was just tired, but why was the name "Keifth" supposed to be funny? Did not get it at all.

I think it's to show the character as always feeling very put upon.

"I'd like you to meet Keifth"

"Keith?"

"No, Keifth"

"Keif?"

"No, Keifth"

And knowing this happens every single day of his life!

True story about your friend, TheLastkidpicked, in my younger and bolder days:

Standing in line during the lunch rush at a fast food place.  

Cashier:  What's your name, so I can call you when your food is ready?

Customer:  Aubree

Cashier:  RB?

Customer:  No... Aubree

Cashier:  Audry?

Customer:  No... Aubree

Cashier:  Aubree?  Is that A U B R Y?

Customer:  No, It's A..U...

Me:  Her name is Jane.  J A N E.  Jane.  Just call for Jane and she'll know.

I had to get these people moving or we were all going to starve.

[estellasmum]

I know this would have made no sense, but I really wanted Longines (sp?) to be in an episode with someone named Keifth. 

Fred Willard WAS looking really frail in this episode. I had to do a double take toward the end when he was kind of in a side profile because he looked so thin.

Edited January 5, 2017 by estellasmum

[AbsoluteShower]

7 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Very true, but he looked extremely thin.

I did not think Fred Willard looked well at all.

[Michel]

Eh.  About the only thing I liked was Haley and Alex with Gloria's bag of money.  Sarah and Ariel played their suddenly-stressed reactions to the hilt.

Well, wait.  I also did like Jay's reactions to Gloria's contingency plans -- the money and the tape claiming he was trying to kill her.

That was pretty much it, though.

[Nordly Beaumont]

3 hours ago, estellasmum said:

 

I know this would have made no sense, but I really wanted Longines (sp?) to be in an episode with someone named Keifth.

Along with Jeaux, J'Michael and J'Marcus.

[biakbiak]

9 hours ago, sadiegirl said:

But why were they walking, looking for a bus stop?  Didn't they drive there?  Instead of 'enjoying' their stress, I was wondering where their car was.

Given that Haley took a pitcher of margaritas to go on the way to the music festival I assumed they did not drive.

[mojito]

Poor Alex. No one gave a second thought to her peanut allergy. I love when the characters give that blank stare into the camera (or in Haley's case, a shift-eyed stare). 

[needschocolate]

13 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

 I felt like the writers didn't really know how to include the kids, so the festival it was with a bag of money.  

I agree - them having the bag really did nothing to advance the story line.  It could be left out of the episode completly - they could have had Gloria find the bad somewhere in the house - and it wouldn't have affected the plot at all.  

12 hours ago, sadiegirl said:

But why were they walking, looking for a bus stop?  Didn't they drive there?  Instead of 'enjoying' their stress, I was wondering where their car was.

Why didn't Gloria go pick them up? Or call uber.  

Too contrived.

[qtpye]

Not to be mean, but the actor who plays Manny is not very good.  At the end when he showed up to say that he would take care of Joe, it really messed with the flow and he was so awkward.  You could almost feel him recite memorized lines and it did not seem like a spontaneous conversation at all.

I would like one day to see Cam make a real sacrifice for Mitchell.  I feel like we have seen Mitchell have to help Cam get out of a mess or plan something sweet for Cam and it is never reciprocated.

Also, when Cam tries to do over the top gestures for the family, it always seems to come from a place of pathetic neediness, instead of love.

[readster]

26 minutes ago, qtpye said:

Not to be mean, but the actor who plays Manny is not very good.  At the end when he showed up to say that he would take care of Joe, it really messed with the flow and he was so awkward.  You could almost feel him recite memorized lines and it did not seem like a spontaneous conversation at all.

I would like one day to see Cam make a real sacrifice for Mitchell.  I feel like we have seen Mitchell have to help Cam get out of a mess or plan something sweet for Cam and it is never reciprocated.

Also, when Cam tries to do over the top gestures for the family, it always seems to come from a place of pathetic neediness, instead of love.

I'm agreeing on all that, I think the writers with Manny have shown how much he hates having a little brother. It's been beaten over the head how Joe screws up things for Manny from girls to his projects. Then when he tries to a brother, he doesn't know what to do. Having him say he would take care of Joe was a bad attempto have Manny say: "He annoys me, but I love him." It was badly delivered and came out of nowhere. I have to agree, Cam is always and I do mean 98% of the time having Mitch do things for him. Not that Mitchell doesn't do very stupid things or makes bad decisions. But really, when was the last time Cam did something for Mitchell? Sorry, letting the Fizbo costume finally be accidentally donated doesn't work. Since Cam blew all of their Hawaii money on the weird Thanksgiving party. Plus, the fact he thought Mitchell would never know the money was gone. Which made zero sense. Same goes for the girls missing car and bus situation. I mean, it is up there with the doctor who had his car told and needed Phil to lend him money. He then just goes back to the same park and is asking for money from another guy? In the same place? After he got his car back? He was a OBGYN, I can see him not having cash on him, but he didn't after getting his car back, go grab some money from the ATM or go someplace else when he was at the park for a quick stop? 

Contrived oh yes. 

[qtpye]

7 minutes ago, readster said:

"He annoys me, but I love him." It was badly delivered and came out of nowhere. I have

I agree the actor was not good enough to pull it off.  Also, it feels very contrived.  I sometimes feel if Gloria and Jay were not around, Manny would happily drop kick Joe into the pool.

It does not help that the the only reason for the Joe character is that the other actors are aging out of the cute part of childhood (which is not a tragedy, we all have to grow up).  See Olivia from the Cosby Show or Cousin Oliver from the Brady Bunch.

[readster]

that's the thing too. I mean, it was the easy out for the writers/producers to get a "cute kid" on the show again. Plus, they thought it was clever to show how Gloria parents a kid before the teen years, how Jay now in his 60s having a kid again and giving Manny a sibling. Yet, it backfired completely. Manny comes off so hateful towards Joe at times, it was right up there with Eve and Boyd during season 2-3 of Last Man Standing. Where she came off as the jealous big sister who did some horrible stuff to her nephew. Gloria comes off like a twit and poor Jay is trying to handle everything. WHat did Claire do? She talked about how fat Gloria was going to get or how having baby now would destroy Gloria's pretty image. Does Mitchell act with his little half brother much? No. Yet, he was thought of possible guardian when you look at Lily? Story line that was trying to get the "new young kid" and it backfired big time. Last show that did that right was Nicky and Alex on Full House, because their arrival made sense. Joe was forced on us after Cam and Mitch's adoption went out the door and just doesn't work for any of the characters. 

[PaulaO]

I realized I hate Alex and Haley.  And Luke.  And Manny.  Send them all off to college.  They won't be missed.  And of course Jay is going to pay for Manny's college.  Why wouldn't he?  He considers Manny his son.

Cam will always make me laugh.  And Fred Willard looks not well. 

[indeed]

I was half waiting for some kind of comment from Manny like "Besides, being Joe's guardian will mean I'll be in control of his purse strings until he's an adult.  Dance little monkey, dance!" (to the camera only or not - sometimes Manny isn't very subtle).

Yes, bad mouthful of lines delivery from Manny actor - par for the course.

(Why didn't Cam activate the non-Dunphys Alliance this time to save his derrière with the pig?  Surely, Phil and Gloria would've understood his predicament. Easier to use up Mitchell's gift to introduce Keifth and pretty much waste Kelsey.)

BTW, that's the second time Cam has accidentally almost killed one of the Dunphy kids due to food allergies - Luke with fake bacon made out of soy IIRC - watch out Haley!

[DrSpaceman73]

With the way the episode was written, I am guessing Kelsey Grammar shows back up at some point, when they need the concierge's assistance again. 

[indeed]

Dare we hope six hours of Keifth butler interactions will be enough time for them to fall back in love and for Cam to run away with Keifth this time?  Unfortunately, they wouldn't go far - probably to the upstairs apartment so Cam can still co-parent Lily, and Cam and Mitch can divide their possessions equally.  Then we could get the added bonus of Mitch awkwardly entering the dating scene again (with help from Pepper and Ronaldo) and each family member taking a turn at trying to set him up.  That way might also lead to the return of Fizbo so NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[biakbiak]

11 hours ago, indeed said:

Why didn't Cam activate the non-Dunphys Alliance this time to save his derrière with the pig?  Surely, Phil and Gloria would've understood his predicament. Easier to use up Mitchell's gift to introduce Keifth and pretty much waste Kelsey.)

Didn't see anything weird about this, he was worried about disappointing/being judged by the whole family not just the adult Pritchetts. 

Edited January 7, 2017 by biakbiak

[indeed]

Well, I didn't find it weird, only a possible missed opportunity for a callback.  We just had an Alliance episode and this seemed like the perfect type of scenario for it since the non-Pritchetts should be sympathetic.  Supposedly, Cam would be more worried about disappointing certain family members than others (something about being a "pork tease"?).  Of course, Phil and Gloria had their own (déjà vu for some) storylines they were involved in at the time.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, indeed said:

Well, I didn't find it weird, only a possible missed opportunity for a callback.  We just had an Alliance episode and this seemed like the perfect type of scenario for it since the non-Pritchetts should be sympathetic.  Supposedly, Cam would be more worried about disappointing certain family members than others (something about being a "pork tease"?).  Of course, Phil and Gloria had their own (déjà vu for some) storylines they were involved in at the time.

The entire point of the Alliance was that they disappointed their partners.

[indeed]

Excuse me for not remembering the exact details.  My takeaway was the non-Pritchetts didn't want to disappoint/look foolish/lose to the Pritchetts.  I don't see how scheming for a trip to Italy was a way to avoid disappointing their spouses.

[PaulaO]

Barkley and Rebarka could have been in this episode somehow (although Barkley went to the thrift shop), as well as the shaving butler and the non-shaving butler from the Vegas episode.  Has MF even done a clip show?

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Wasn't there a Barkley in Claire's office in a recent episode?

[jhlipton]

On 1/5/2017 at 2:14 PM, AriAu said:

Maybe I was just tired, but why was the name "Keifth" supposed to be funny? Did not get it at all.

Brooklyn 9-9 has done it much better with everyone but Jake being able to correctly pronounce the name of Boyle's son, Nicolai.  No, Nicolai.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, jhlipton said:

 

On 1/5/2017 at 2:14 PM, AriAu said:

Maybe I was just tired, but why was the name "Keifth" supposed to be funny? Did not get it at all.

Brooklyn 9-9 has done it much better with everyone but Jake being able to correctly pronounce the name of Boyle's son, Nicolai.  No, Nicolai.

 

But in Brooklyn 9-9, I thought the joke was that only Boyle could hear the difference in how others pronounced Nikolaj, whereas "Keifth" is almost impossible to pronounce because to get from the "f" directly to the "th",  you would have to touch your teeth to your lip, and then immediately put your tongue between your teeth, all in one syllable, which is not done in English (technically, you would be going from a voiceless labiodental fricative to a voiceless dental fricative, I believe.) Linguists, feel free to correct me.

[indeed]

Fifth?

[jhlipton]

Just now, ItCouldBeWorse said:

But in Brooklyn 9-9, I thought the joke was that only Boyle could hear the difference in how others pronounced Nikolaj, whereas "Keifth" is almost impossible to pronounce because to get from the "f" directly to the "th",  you would have to touch your teeth to your lip, and then immediately put your tongue between your teeth, all in one syllable, which is not done in English (technically, you would be going from a voiceless labiodental fricative to a voiceless dental fricative, I believe.) Linguists, feel free to correct me.

Not quite -- it's kind of the opposite joke because everyone but Jake can say it right.  As for MF, just say thr Rolling Stones member with a lisp: "Keef" Thrichards!  LOL

[ItCouldBeWorse]

17 hours ago, indeed said:

Fifth?

You are correct.  I think that "fifth" is also  somewhat difficult to pronounce, but you are right!

[aemom]

I think that Kiefth is harder than fifth because of the syllable in Kiefth before the f. It's more awkward (at least to me. )

[love2lovebadtv]

On 1/5/2017 at 9:33 AM, seacliffsal said:

I was a bit surprised that they presented Phil as risk adverse.  I felt like the writers didn't really know how to include the kids, so the festival it was with a bag of money.  

The episode seemed like it had potential, but just felt flat to me.  It was a cute idea that a concierge service could find a replacement pig, but the whole premise of digging a hole in the backyard to cook a pig was just a bit extreme (although it did feel very 'Cam').  

It was totally Cam lol. 

[Hanahope]

On 1/5/2017 at 10:48 AM, DrSpaceman73 said:

And were those really "90s" clothes?  I have never thought there was anything too distinctive about clothes beyond the 80s.  50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, all pretty distinct, beyond that, not much

Grunge is about the only "90's clothes" I can come up with.  Jeans, open flannel shirts over another t-shirt with a Seattle band name.  Longish, unkempt hair.

But I would have no clue as to clothes for 00's.

[DBarg]

In this episode Phil's dad is dating Phil's old babysitter Lorraine and Phil says to Claire 

"I mean, did he always have a crush on her, even when my mom was around? It's one thing for a 13-year-old to position his babysitter in front of an open refrigerator so that he can enjoy the backlit contours of her beautiful body in the silk blouse he stole from Randall's mother."

So Phil stole a blouse from Randall's mom. Who is Randall and who is Randall's mom? 

Thanks!