"You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog" (First Impressions - "Man Shouldn't Lie" - Season 7, Episode 19)

It's not up on my usual source (SpoilerTV) yet, but I found the press release for the April 13th episode elsewhere.

“And All We Had Was A Moment” (Third Quarter Review)

The good news about the third quarter of Season 7? It didn't take nearly as long as the second quarter - it played out over just seven weeks.

“But In The End, It Doesn't Even Matter” (“Express Yourself” Recap)

Basically, just like last week, there isn't much to say about tonight's episode as far as Alex goes – she was basically doing her usual Alex thing, taking little jabs at the things Phil and Claire were saying about the quick Paris trip they planned (not that there's anything wrong with that – this blog wouldn't even exist if I didn't enjoy her sarcastic barbs).

But there was one line early on which rang more than a bit sad on a much larger scale:

"Don't Go For Second Best, Baby"

Yeah, right, as if tonight's "Express Yourself" has any chance to be even close to being the second best this season.  But the above lyric from Madonna's song of the same name is the closest I could find to fit for a post title, so...

"Second Verse, Same As The First" (First Impressions - "The Party" - Season 7, Episode 18)

It's not exactly being brought back from the dead, but "The Party" has re-appeared on the schedule.

“Precious Little” (“The Cover-Up” Recap[?])

Well, obviously there's not a lot to say about tonight, except I'm surprised that it took this long for an episode where Alex just gets in a couple of quick on the phone/on Skype scenes while at school. I was figuring there would be a lot more nights like tonight this season.

Oh, and why didn't Alex step in and help Jay find out who was trolling him? Surely she'd be smart enough to handle it – why have one of her fellow students do it?

It still beats an Alex-less episode, albeit barely. We may or may not have a comparison to check this theory out next week.

Alex's (Just About Only?) Line Of The Night: ”Yeah, I think I can find a few (computer nerds to help Jay locate his troll).”

"The Times Are Tough Now, Just Getting Tougher"

I was thinking of just copying and pasting most of my comments from my pre-show thoughts from two weeks ago, since really there's little difference in my expectations from then and now.  Well, maybe just one difference - I'm a little more optimistic about one thing about "The Cover-Up" than I was about "I Don't Know How She Does It":

"It's Just Another (Un)Manic Monday"

We're really in a dead zone right now - two probably lackluster (at best) episodes in the next two weeks, then another repeat ("The Verdict") to follow on March 30th.  And there's been no word on any titles or airdates beyond that yet.

There were promo pictures posted for those next two episodes, but, again, no Alex - in fact, she has not been seen in a promo picture since the Christmas episode.

Barring something crazy I'll be back on Wednesday with the pre-show thoughts for "The Cover-Up".  I know it will be difficult, but please try to contain your excitement until then.

"The Clock Is Always Ticking" (First Impressions - "Express Yourself" - Season 7, Episode 17)

I don't know if this is the episode that was earlier listed as "The Party" (which is not in SpoilerTV's list any more), but it might not be since the closest anything comes to a party story in the press release is some Haley and Andy shenanigans.

“Dirty Little Secrets, Dirty Little Lies“ (“I Don't Know How She Does It” Recap)

So it turns out that brief scene that I posted from Twitter earlier with Alex was actually partially in the promo commercial as well – had I been keeping a watch for it I would have known two days ago that Alex would be there. That's what I get for having so little belief in this episode that I couldn't bring myself to look for the promo commercial.

So, yeah, I dropped the ball again (surprise, surprise) – what can I say – I've always been clumsy. Luckily for me I'm not about to fire myself...

"'Cause These Are The Breaks" (Late Update About Tonight)

That 25% chance of an Alex-less episode? Forgettaboutit:

Hopefully you're in better shape than Hayley for tonight's new episode! pic.twitter.com/fCo1L1FbUm

— Modern Family (@ModernFam) March 2, 2016

 I'm still not optimistic about tonight being particularly interesting though.

"No Time For The Motivation"

It's about 8:30 in the morning, it's my day off, yet I feel like I have a million things to do, yet I'm not sure how much of a fig (no, not the Fig whom Alex met on Christmas vacation) I give about it.  The biggest reason for this antipathy?  Tonight's "I Don't Know How She Does It" looks so uninspiring from an Alex standpoint that it broke my "whatever" meter.