S10.E21: Commencement

[paulvdb]

Quote

Cam finally gets a chance to shine when he is asked to preside over the high school graduation ceremony at the last minute; Jay gives the commencement address; Claire runs into her former high school rival who brings out the worst in her.

Airdate: May 1, 2019

[Utpe]

I don't believe Dylan can be an Uber driver with that clunker of his.

[NUguy514]

2 hours ago, Utpe said:

I don't believe Dylan can be an Uber driver with that clunker of his.

And Cal Arts doesn't cut half (or any) of its sophomore class every year.

And the 1 = 0 proof has been extant (and summarily debunked) for so long that Alex couldn't not be aware of it and Cal Tech wouldn't have a random actual proof of it hidden in its library.

The bottom line is that writers never let facts get in the way of a good story.

Unfortunately, this was a fucking terrible story.

[abc123]

Why on Earth would ANYONE in the family need to attend the graduation ceremony that Cam was in charge of?  Such a dumb storyline... 

Didn't realize Alex was ready to graduate.  Wow.  This show needs to wrap up.

[DrSpaceman]

4 minutes ago, abc123 said:

Why on Earth would ANYONE in the family need to attend the graduation ceremony that Cam was in charge of?  Such a dumb storyline... 

Didn't realize Alex was ready to graduate.  Wow.  This show needs to wrap up.

I guess because Jay was giving the speech?  Not sure

Cam again at his most irritating.  Just not funny, annoying anymore. 

Yes that 1=0 thing is a fairly simple explanation I think of using division by 0, its not much of a trick for college age, or even high school or middle school age, geniuses. 

[Latverian Diplomat]

4 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

And the 1 = 0 proof has been extant (and summarily debunked) for so long that Alex couldn't not be aware of it and Cal Tech wouldn't have a random actual proof of it hidden in its library.

Yes there's a famous non-proof of this, that stealthily slips in dividing both sides of an equation by zero, it is often used for instructional purposes, I don't think it was ever viewed as a valid proof by any mathematician.

However, one of the consequences of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems is that any logical system strong enough to do arithmetic cannot prove the logical consistency of arithmetic. So, a proof that the whole system has some deep contradiction embedded within it remains a (remote, IMHO) possibility. A short story by Ted Chiang  (who also wrote the story that Arrival was based on) called "Division by Zero" is an intelligent handling of just such a proof being discovered. The story is, AFAIK, well regarded in mathematical circles.

So, I think that's what the writers were stealing from paying a compliment to here.

It was, in general, a terrible episode though.

[abc123]

45 minutes ago, DrSpaceman said:

I guess because Jay was giving the speech?  Not sure

Lol I forgot about that - thanks. Makes sense...still a dumb episode though. 

[seacliffsal]

This was just horrible.  In my opinion it's one of the worst episodes ever.  Why would Jay be a speaker at a high school graduation?  Yes, he was a successful business person, but he has been retired and the location of this show is in an extremely wealthy area of southern California and there would be many, many potential speakers if the high school wanted one.  Also, I have never attended a high school graduation that had an "outsider" as a speaker.  Valedictorian(s) and other student speakers (remember when Alex was competing to be the sole valedictorian and being able to give the speech?).  Cam, again, was so over the top.  It is very seldom that I can even tolerate him any more.  And, on top of that, there has been a lot of news lately about various states prohibiting the release of celebration balloons due to the environment damage they cause (and the harm to many species of sea-life).  True, California has only banned the release of mylar balloons at this point, but I would think the writers would be aware of the controversy surrounding large balloon releases outdoors.  Why Mitch would even agree to play the trumpet is beyond me-just say "no" instead of ruining what was left of the graduation ceremony.

[readster]

37 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

This was just horrible.  In my opinion it's one of the worst episodes ever.  Why would Jay be a speaker at a high school graduation?  Yes, he was a successful business person, but he has been retired and the location of this show is in an extremely wealthy area of southern California and there would be many, many potential speakers if the high school wanted one.  Also, I have never attended a high school graduation that had an "outsider" as a speaker.  Valedictorian(s) and other student speakers (remember when Alex was competing to be the sole valedictorian and being able to give the speech?).  Cam, again, was so over the top.  It is very seldom that I can even tolerate him any more.  And, on top of that, there has been a lot of news lately about various states prohibiting the release of celebration balloons due to the environment damage they cause (and the harm to many species of sea-life).  True, California has only banned the release of mylar balloons at this point, but I would think the writers would be aware of the controversy surrounding large balloon releases outdoors.  Why Mitch would even agree to play the trumpet is beyond me-just say "no" instead of ruining what was left of the graduation ceremony.

There is NO WAY any school board, or any superintendent (you do know what those are right show?) would have allowed a graduation like this. Outsiders coming in who aren't well known? That happens, but it's not like in the World of Modern Family that there are other successful people out there who would do a speech. Even a respected board member. The show has pretty much outside of being a football coach shown that Cam is a HORRIBLE administrator because he makes it all about himself. Are their admin like that? Oh yes, but there is no way on top of Alex graduating would the entire family need to be at their own high school. 

 As for Dylan, no way would Uber have allowed that kind of a car to be used. Has to be made in the last 5 years and be very reliable and insurance back drops, ect. These writers, want another season to "wrap up" the show but this episode showed they SHOULDN'T get another year. 

[biakbiak]

24 minutes ago, readster said:

Has to be made in the last 5 years and be very reliable and insurance back drops, ect.

Actually in LA because of the high demand it can be up to 15 years old.

[Lizzing]

Claire's old high school nemesis (or whatever she was) was a story potential that went no where.  And why were the nemesis & her husband at the graduation anyway, if their daughter ran off and joined ISIS?  And, really, is joining ISIS a hilarious thing?  (OK, ISIS jokes might work on something like Veep, but not this show.)  And why is Gloria taking so much Ambien that she is sleep-shopping?  Why not just send the watches back?  Turn off one-click purchasing?

This episode was chock full of stupid.  Even Phil annoyed me with the helium voice (how does that even happen if all the balloons floated away?) and the Alex plotline (better discussed above than I could) seemed like a mere footnote at the end of the episode.

[biakbiak]

One thing I found funny about the Gloria bribes everyone for her family to get ahead story was that the show wrapped for the season just a few days after the college admission scandal broke so this planned before it happened.

[Aileen]

What the actual fuck was this episode. Why would Jay give a commencement speech? Why was the whole family there when they had to be at their daughter's graduation later in the day? What has happened to this show??

[Snow Apple]

9 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

One thing I found funny about the Gloria bribes everyone for her family to get ahead story was that the show wrapped for the season just a few days after the college admission scandal broke so this planned before it happened.

I was wondering about that. I actually didn't make the connection until the next day so suspected it wasn't planned. If it was planned in response to the real life scandal, it'd be more obvious and over the top. The days when MF was subtle and clever are long over.

[tennisgurl]

I always wonder what it must be like to be the random extra characters in episodes like this. Your all excited to watch your kid graduate from high school, and the whole thing is ruined by the apparent hijinks of these random people who you dont know and have no clue why they're even here. 

Some of the owl jokes were weirdly funny, but that was about it, I was mostly bored and confused. 

[biakbiak]

It would not surprise me if the HS graduation plot line was bandied about when Luke and Manny were graduating but they went in a different direction and just decided to shoehorn it in here and didn’t care that it didn’t make sense for everyone to be there front and center. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by biakbiak

[zillabreeze]

47 minutes ago, Aileen said:

What the actual fuck was this episode. Why would Jay give a commencement speech? Why was the whole family there when they had to be at their daughter's graduation later in the day? What has happened to this show??

I bailed in 10 minutes.  I can't even remember what a good show this was.

I'm embarrassed for the actors and wish someone would put them out of their misery.

[Aryanna]

Does anyone else think that Jesse Tyler Ferguson is not a very good actor? I really can't see him doing anything else besides Modern Family. I think he's probably just playing himself more or less.

I've noticed he does a lot of the same actions or reactions over and over. I notice this when watching episodes back to back on USA. Like that thing where he scratches or rubs his forehead. Somewhere along the way someone told him that was acting.

[TheLastKidPicked]

Funny thing about this show.  The worse it gets, the more I appreciate Ed O'Neil and his ability to underplay his scenes to make them funny.

When they were protesting his speech. . .

"It feels good to hate hippies again."

And 

"Sure-- everybody talks about the owls that were wiped out, but does anybody talk about all the mice I saved?"

Bwhahahaha!  I admit it took me a minute to get that one.

I think 22 minutes of Jay cutaways would have been funnier than this episode.

Edited May 2, 2019 by TheLastKidPicked

[AnimeMania]

Best scene for me was when Cam walks by and knocks over the mic stand to stop Mitch from playing. Was Mitch playing "Three Blind Mice"?

[hula-la]

I've always wondered, do American schools typically have their commencement ceremonies on the school lawn? This isn't the first time that I've seen this, and always wondered. We have ours at a theatre in the city, so that we can fit lots of family members.

[partofme]

Just now, hula-la said:

I've always wondered, do American schools typically have their commencement ceremonies on the school lawn? This isn't the first time that I've seen this, and always wondered. We have ours at a theatre in the city, so that we can fit lots of family members.

I think so, mine was on the football field.  

I don't understand why anyone would want to listen to Jay give a speech.  Cameron is extra annoying when he gets in a power mode.

[Latverian Diplomat]

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I always wonder what it must be like to be the random extra characters in episodes like this. Your all excited to watch your kid graduate from high school, and the whole thing is ruined by the apparent hijinks of these random people who you dont know and have no clue why they're even here. 

Some of the owl jokes were weirdly funny, but that was about it, I was mostly bored and confused. 

Somewhere out there may be some person who dated George Costanza, was yelled at by Ross Gellar, got bad advice from Frasier Crane's call in show, and attended this commencement.

[Snow Apple]

50 minutes ago, hula-la said:

I've always wondered, do American schools typically have their commencement ceremonies on the school lawn? This isn't the first time that I've seen this, and always wondered. We have ours at a theatre in the city, so that we can fit lots of family members.

I think it depends on the school. Mine was in the school gym.

I think perhaps tv shows and movies have graduation scenes outside because they're mostly filmed in California? Unless a school is part of the show (like Glee or Saved by the Bell), why bother building a set to hold a hundred extras?

Of course I could be wrong since I don't know much about the technical side of show biz.

[meatball77]

4 hours ago, hula-la said:

I've always wondered, do American schools typically have their commencement ceremonies on the school lawn? This isn't the first time that I've seen this, and always wondered. We have ours at a theatre in the city, so that we can fit lots of family members.

Depends on the school.  Generally the more rural the school the more likely that graduation will take place at the school (in a gym/on the football field/auditorium).  Our town does graduation on the HS football field.  My high school graduation was at the convention center downtown which had a graduation every hour for a week.

[Robert Lynch]

Was this the finale? 

[paulvdb]

1 hour ago, Robert Lynch said:

Was this the finale? 

No. Season finales for ABC's Wednesday comedies are next week.

[ljenkins782]

On 5/2/2019 at 12:17 PM, Lizzing said:

Claire's old high school nemesis (or whatever she was) was a story potential that went no where.  And why were the nemesis & her husband at the graduation anyway, if their daughter ran off and joined ISIS?  And, really, is joining ISIS a hilarious thing?  (OK, ISIS jokes might work on something like Veep, but not this show.)  And why is Gloria taking so much Ambien that she is sleep-shopping?  Why not just send the watches back?  Turn off one-click purchasing?

The description under this episode on Hulu was "Claire runs into her high school nemesis." and then that portion of the episode was about one minute long, wtf? The running theme of them being so thrilled that Alex was graduating from Cal Tech was also dumb. It's one thing for them to be proud of their kid graduating, but why were they running around acting like other people were going to be blown away or jealous, or whatever? 

[PradaKitty]

Guys? It’s a sitcom. Suspend belief.

[PradaKitty]

Oh, forgot to add that my high school and college graduations were both on the football field and I live in a large city. I do not recommend it though. Sitting in the sun while wearing a dark cap and gown is not fun. 

Law School graduation was indoors, thank goodness! 

[sheetmoss]

If he's been on before I missed it--the guy who fired Phil was Matt Roth  from the orig Roseanne - Jackie's boyfriend  who beat her

Edited May 5, 2019 by sheetmoss

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 5/2/2019 at 12:45 PM, hula-la said:

I've always wondered, do American schools typically have their commencement ceremonies on the school lawn? This isn't the first time that I've seen this, and always wondered. We have ours at a theatre in the city, so that we can fit lots of family members.

On 5/2/2019 at 5:33 PM, meatball77 said:

Depends on the school.  Generally the more rural the school the more likely that graduation will take place at the school (in a gym/on the football field/auditorium).  Our town does graduation on the HS football field.  My high school graduation was at the convention center downtown which had a graduation every hour for a week.

It really depends on the school, how many students there are, how nice their campus/facilities are, etc. My high school was in a very nice suburban area of San Diego. My graduating class was the smallest in four years with only 600 students. Our football stadium held 6,000 (it was renovated so it now holds over 10,000) so we were each allowed ten tickets for our familes to attend graduation. The guests sat in the stands and all of the graduates were seated on the field. All of the high schools in our district did this because we all had large stadiums (and why spend $5K+to rent a place for graduation?).

When I was in high school, it was very common for the high schools in San Diego to have their graduations on campus so I just assumed that's what everyone did. Then I moved 500 miles north to Berkeley and learned that in northern California, many schools do not have a theater/gym/football stadium big enough or nice enough to accommodate graduation so it's much more common to use the Greek Theater or Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley for high school graduations. Some schools rent smaller theaters in the area. All of the theaters in San Francisco get rented for high school graduations in May and June, which is just crazy to me. I can't imagine sitting in traffic for over an hour just to watch my kid walk across the stage for ten seconds.

College graduations in California vary (I have attended A LOT of college graduations at different schools). Many of them are outside, and that's often just because there are so many students attending. Sometimes there will be a larger graduation outside and then a smaller graduation for individual departments or specific schools within the college, and because there are less people those ceremonies can be held indoors at the theater or the gym.

Whenever I see tv shows with graduation scenes, I always think about what a pain in the ass it must be to wrangle that many extras.

[Robert Lynch]

How can this show survive at all?

[hula-la]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

It really depends on the school, how many students there are, how nice their campus/facilities are, etc. My high school was in a very nice suburban area of San Diego. My graduating class was the smallest in four years with only 600 students. Our football stadium held 6,000 (it was renovated so it now holds over 10,000) so we were each allowed ten tickets for our familes to attend graduation. The guests sat in the stands and all of the graduates were seated on the field. All of the high schools in our district did this because we all had large stadiums (and why spend $5K+to rent a place for graduation?).

When I was in high school, it was very common for the high schools in San Diego to have their graduations on campus so I just assumed that's what everyone did. Then I moved 500 miles north to Berkeley and learned that in northern California, many schools do not have a theater/gym/football stadium big enough or nice enough to accommodate graduation so it's much more common to use the Greek Theater or Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley for high school graduations. Some schools rent smaller theaters in the area. All of the theaters in San Francisco get rented for high school graduations in May and June, which is just crazy to me. I can't imagine sitting in traffic for over an hour just to watch my kid walk across the stage for ten seconds.

College graduations in California vary (I have attended A LOT of college graduations at different schools). Many of them are outside, and that's often just because there are so many students attending. Sometimes there will be a larger graduation outside and then a smaller graduation for individual departments or specific schools within the college, and because there are less people those ceremonies can be held indoors at the theater or the gym.

Whenever I see tv shows with graduation scenes, I always think about what a pain in the ass it must be to wrangle that many extras.

Thanks for the info. It’s always interesting to see differences among schools in different countries. I don’t know of a single school in Canada that has a football stadium, much less one that can hold thousands of people. We had a student who moved to Silicon Valley a few years ago and were amazed to hear stories of football and soccer stadiums. My school where I taught in Australia had a cricket oval, so that was new for me too. 

[SoMuchTV]

4 hours ago, hula-la said:

 It’s always interesting to see differences among schools in different countries.

I know this is getting into small talk territory, but I couldn't find a better place to take it.  In the US, there's definitely not a one-size-fits-all standard.  My kids happened to graduate  HS in a suburban city with about a dozen high schools (and lots of sudden storms in June), and graduation ceremonies were scheduled back-to-back over several days in the city's convention center.  I've been to college (UG & Grad) ceremonies in football fields, on the quad in folding chairs with or without a tent overhead (depending on the size of the class), and in a concert hall.  The outdoor ones generally had rain plans that involved backup indoor venues and herding the overflow audience into spaces with streaming of the ceremony.  So the answer is, it depends, and I can't say the one in the show seemed unlikely (eta:  as opposed to pretty much everything else).  Be sure to bring a hat & sunscreen 🙂

Edited May 5, 2019 by SoMuchTV

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On paper, Haley and Luke don't sound that bad. She's married to a nursing student who works part time, has her own job and is expecting her first kids. Luke works part time and is attending community college.  It could be a lot worse without joining ISIS.

Edited May 6, 2019 by ItCouldBeWorse

[xander874]

I think I'm just confused as to why Claire's nemesis was there. Did they have another kid graduating? Maybe I missed that. I don't have a problem with family coming to see Jay speak - it's a big deal for him so that's nice. The issue is it's the same day as Alex's graduation. I would think Phil and Claire would want to be there early to help her get ready/take her to lunch or whatever. 

[readster]

10 minutes ago, xander874 said:

I think I'm just confused as to why Claire's nemesis was there. Did they have another kid graduating? Maybe I missed that. I don't have a problem with family coming to see Jay speak - it's a big deal for him so that's nice. The issue is it's the same day as Alex's graduation. I would think Phil and Claire would want to be there early to help her get ready/take her to lunch or whatever. 

That's exactly it. Plus, Jay would want to see at this point time, his own grandchild who WENT to college and is actually graduated. Verses Haley who doesn't know up from down and has fallen up to success her ENTIRE life. Or Luke who at the best will open his own business some day. But of course, it was about keeping Cam happy because he wants to show WHY he is important. Any other school district would have given him his walking papers by now considering how much stuff he has screwed up for the school. Even before he was winning state championships. 

[Shermie]

Quote

Guys? It’s a sitcom. Suspend belief.

I'm willing to suspend belief, but I'm not willing to suspend my sense of humour while watching a comedy. Gawd, this was awful. 

I totally thought Haley would go into labour before Alex graduated, because Alex always gets the short shrift from her family. 

[readster]

5 hours ago, Shermie said:

I'm willing to suspend belief, but I'm not willing to suspend my sense of humour while watching a comedy. Gawd, this was awful. 

I totally thought Haley would go into labour before Alex graduated, because Alex always gets the short shrift from her family. 

Right that's when a show especially a sitcom has gone out the window. It's painful and not funny at all. It makes the characters look horrible and the jokes are so cheap you think it was written by an 8th grade watching a video about a dog with his head caught in the garbage. 

[possibilities]

15 hours ago, xander874 said:

I would think Phil and Claire would want to be there early to help her get ready/take her to lunch or whatever. 

But it's Alex. The show has decided she's an after-thought at best.

I was thrilled that Haley did NOT go into labor. Sad, isn't it? It shouldn't be that much of a tv pattern that NOT having it happen would be a big deal.

[Aryanna]

Watching old episodes on USA and seeing Haley with Andy reminds me how much I hate her ending up with Dylan. I just don't buy their chemistry at all. Andy was perfect for her and they had great chemistry together.

[docmatt]

On 5/2/2019 at 1:17 PM, Aryanna said:

Does anyone else think that Jesse Tyler Ferguson is not a very good actor? I really can't see him doing anything else besides Modern Family. I think he's probably just playing himself more or less.

I think a lot of these actors are pretty limited, or like Sophia Vergara aged out of their wheelhouses. Other than Ty Burrell I have a hard time imagining many of them doing much after Modern Family ends.

[ljenkins782]

20 hours ago, docmatt said:

Quote

Does anyone else think that Jesse Tyler Ferguson is not a very good actor? I really can't see him doing anything else besides Modern Family. I think he's probably just playing himself more or less.

I think a lot of these actors are pretty limited, or like Sophia Vergara aged out of their wheelhouses. Other than Ty Burrell I have a hard time imagining many of them doing much after Modern Family ends.

I do think Jesse Tyler Ferguson is playing fairly close to his real self as Mitchell, but I still think he's a decent actor. I especially like Mitchell and Claire together, they have a very believable adult sibling relationship. 

He already does Broadway shows in his off time, so I imagine he'll continue with that after MF is over. Eric Stonestreet is the one that I feel will struggle with different roles after this show. His character is so over the top and recognizable, it's hard to imagine him playing something else.

Quote

I think I'm just confused as to why Claire's nemesis was there. Did they have another kid graduating? Maybe I missed that. I don't have a problem with family coming to see Jay speak - it's a big deal for him so that's nice. The issue is it's the same day as Alex's graduation. I would think Phil and Claire would want to be there early to help her get ready/take her to lunch or whatever. 

I can believe that the nemesis had another kid in school, but that entire plot line went nowhere. It felt like maybe there was a larger arc that was cut out, otherwise that was a waste of time.

And yeah, I don't see Phil and Claire screwing around with some random graduation on the same day of their actual daughter's graduation. 

[Angeleyes]

Why was Alex’s boyfriend not at her graduation? I don’t think they even mentioned him this episode. 

[readster]

10 hours ago, Angeleyes said:

Why was Alex’s boyfriend not at her graduation? I don’t think they even mentioned him this episode. 

Most likely other actor obligations, wasn't in his contract or they forgot. 

[Lukeysboat]

On 5/4/2019 at 12:48 AM, PradaKitty said:

Guys? It’s a sitcom. Suspend belief.

I think you mean to suspend disbelief. 😉

[msrachelj]

On 5/2/2019 at 12:17 PM, Lizzing said:

Claire's old high school nemesis (or whatever she was) was a story potential that went no where.  And why were the nemesis & her husband at the graduation anyway, if their daughter ran off and joined ISIS?  And, really, is joining ISIS a hilarious thing?  (OK, ISIS jokes might work on something like Veep, but not this show.)  And why is Gloria taking so much Ambien that she is sleep-shopping?  Why not just send the watches back?  Turn off one-click purchasing?

This episode was chock full of stupid.  Even Phil annoyed me with the helium voice (how does that even happen if all the balloons floated away?) and the Alex plotline (better discussed above than I could) seemed like a mere footnote at the end of the episode.

Yes. It's just as hilarious as Jay wiping out the endangered owls but cutting down all the cedar trees. Fuck him, I wish they did make a mockery of him at the graduation. He deserves it. But this is reality. Do anything to make a buck, live the good life and actual good people live paycheck to paycheck.