"To Study Or To Play" (First Impressions - "In Your Head" - Season 9, Episode 13)

One final post to ring out 2017 - actually I'm surprised I'm doing one right now, since I didn't think there would be a new episode on January 17th, but, here it is.

And, believe it or not, there's a story happening at CalTech during one of Alex's classes.

However...

"Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun(?)" (First Impressions - "He Said, She Shed" AND "Dear Beloved Family" - Season 9, Episodes 11 and 12)

Two press releases at almost the same time:

He Said, She Shed

Dear Beloved Family (Episode 200)

Neither one mentions Alex in particular, so that's disappointing (hence the question mark in the post title¹).  I do think she'll have more than a little bit to do in the 200th episode though, since Phil is facing a serious health concern (worse than "Up All Night" by the sound of it).  It looks like they're playing this one more seriously than usual (which is not a bad thing, IMO).

The first episode, OTOH, could very well be Alex-less episode #3.  Not a lock, by any means, but I didn't see Alex in the promo commercial for it either so the possibility is very much there.

[12/28 UPDATE: Never mind the fear of another Alex-less episode - there are some sneak peeks added to the "He Said, She Shed" link, and Alex is in the first of them.]

(BTW, I'm still holding out hope for a Stella story, even though the "She Shed" part revolves around Claire and Phil).
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¹OK, I cheated a bit this time - that snippet is actually from a commercial jingle (an old one for Doublemint Gum).

“Now It's Wednesday I Don't Know What He's Thinking”

With not much going on right now, I figured it was random note time, folks:

“Ooh Ooh That Smell” (“No Small Feet” Recap)

I wish I could say this recap was on time because Alex's story was so fantastic I couldn't wait to say something,


I also wish I could hit the lottery – and that hasn't happened either.

“I Said To Myself, I've Got One Shot Left”

One quick personal scheduling note: One of my co-workers asked me to switch mid-week shifts this week, so I won't be home tonight when “No Small Feet” airs, but I will be watching it about 2 hours later. So I probably won't be posting a recap at the usual time, unless I feel like I don't have much to say about it, or possibly even a lot to say about it. Basically, to a point, the better Alex's story turns out to be, the more likely I'll hold off on the recap, unless it turns out to be really, really good (i.e. approaching “Under Pressure” level of good), then I'll want to say how good right away.

I'll let you all know if there will be a delay, and when I'll have the recap up if so (probably either Thursday morning or late evening).

Now that that is out of the way:

“Walking In A(n Ariel) Winter(less) Wonderland”

In case you were still wondering, yes, tonight counts as an Alex-less episode (hence the slightly altered holiday themed lyrical title).

“It's (Not) The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”

Tonight's episode is called “Tough Love”. For Alex fans, it might very well end up being called “Tough Luck”:

“Not Enough Love And Understanding” (First Trimester Recap)

When I last posted to this blog, I said I was already close to writing this season as a lost cause for Alex. So why am I already so pessimistic about a season that still has 14 episodes left?

“Closing Walls And Ticking Clocks” (“Brushes With Celebrity” Recap)

Actually, I'm not sure I can call it a recap, since it was a one-and-done night for Alex¹. And, just like “Ten Years Later”, she had almost nothing to do (except for a couple of words in a shared private scene with Claire)².

I suppose it could have been worse – we could have had a story where Claire brought Alex to that snooty book club to take the other members down a peg or two, only to have Alex either 1) blow it completely (maybe misusing “sanguine” herself), or 2) end up on the other members side.

No, wait, scratch that – even if that made Alex look bad (and the writers already seem to have been working overtime on trying to do that this season), I'd rather see that.

Alex's Line Of The Night: (concerning Claire's use of the word “sanguine”) ”You're not using it right.” Of course, I could say something similar about how the show uses Alex, but I don't want the local SPCA on my back, even if that horse is long since dead.

Oh, and I know I used a second lyric from Coldplay's “Clocks” for a post title tonight – usually I try to avoid using the same song more than once but it was just too fitting to pass up – not that I should be surprised but after only eight episodes this season is really starting to look like a lost cause for Alex already.
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¹ And, if you had watched Ariel's appearance on Steve Harvey's show today, you would have already seen most of that scene. Sadly, that was about the only thing of note about her appearance – no hints at all about what the show might do with Alex later this season. And, since I have to watch my sugar intake, even in the extremely unlikely chance I ever meet Ariel I'll never get to find out how good a baker of pies she is.

² And that wasn't the last of this episode's problems by any means – even beyond that this was probably the worst episode of the season, with only a couple of funny moments.

“Everything You Want's A Dream Away”

Once upon a time, there was a Modern Family episode which was heavily promoted because of several special guest stars, although truth be told, at the time I had hardly heard of any of them. But it didn't matter in the end, because they were all eclipsed by one story about Alex that got very little pre-show attention. You may vaguely remember it.

"Bah-Bah-Bah-Bah-Bah Humbug(?)" (First Impressions - "No Small Feet" - Season 9, Episode 10)

So much for a Christmas episode this season, apparently - while the other ABC shows on December 13th have holiday-themed episodes, it appears that Modern Family won't, based off what I see (and don't) in the press release for that night's episode.  (There is a potential spoiler in an Alex story in this episode that might portend something that might happen next week, and it might at least indirectly involve Alex so click the above link or "Read more" below at your own risk).  There is not one mention of any holiday stories or theme in it.

All is not lost though - as I said at least Alex has a story:

"I've Got A Feeling That's It's Gonna Be Alright" (Promo Commercial For "Brushes With Celebrity")

Well, I finally found a little something to be thankful for today.

"I Don't See You Every Day" (First Impressions - "Tough Love" - Season 9, Episode 9)

When I saw the title before reading the press release, I thought maybe this could be interesting for Alex.

Nope.

“But You Pretend Like I Don't Know” (“Winner Winner Turkey Dinner” Recap)

So Alex actually got away with one, tonight. I guess being the afterthought on the show does have its perks once in a blue moon.

“Everyone's Watching To See What You Will Do”

Chicken Turkey time folks, and with that comes this year's Thanksgiving episode, “Winner Winner Chicken Turkey Dinner”. As we know, the story tonight is about “everyone” having success during the holiday season (according to Jay, anyway), but not really.

But, as I noted a couple of weeks ago, just what is meant by “everyone” - does it include Alex, and if so, what might be her false success?

"When I Grow Up I Wanna Be Famous" (First Impressions - "Brushes With Celebrity" - Season 9, Episode 8)

The press release for this episode (airing on the 29th) is here.  Next week is a re-run of last years "Thanksgiving Jubilee" (where Alex had a brief fling with Dwight, the star football player on Uncle Cam's team).

No mention of Alex in this one, so it look like it's another underwhelming one.

“Life Is Too Short So Why Waste Precious Time” (“Ten Years Later” Recap, I Guess)

Begin recap.

Alex watched Phil and Claire rehearse his magic trick. She was not impressed.

We saw Alex in the background at the party a couple of times. She didn't even get to say anything.

End recap.

Seriously, that's all I've got. Even by my low expectations for tonight this was disappointing.

Alex's (Only) Line Of The Week: ”Just get on with it.” This is based on what the closed captioning said – I could barely hear her.

Or, as it turned out for the rest of the episode, barely see her.

Maybe we would've been better off with a repeat after all (the other two major networks did switch out new programming to avoid the big game so my question this morning wasn't that far off the mark).

“Here's A Toast To All Those Who Hear Me All Too Well”

Ho and Hum, meet tonight's episode, “Ten Years Later”.

Anticipation Level: Very Low. With not much for Alex (at least she'll be there) in the cards, I'm not really that excited about tonight (get ready for me to repeat that quite a lot in the next few weeks or longer - now that Ben's out of the picture it may be quite some time before Alex has another big story, unless something crazy happens in two weeks).

Emotional Moment Potential: Very Low. Like Mitch and Cam's wedding almost four years ago, the ceremony itself could have some emotion, but it almost certainly won't have anything to do with Alex.

Game Changing Potential: Almost None.

Are There Any Other Questions? With the World Series going to a Game 7 tonight, will ABC pull the plug on tonight's episode (and the rest of tonight's lineup) and air a re-run instead? It's possible (and if I hear anything I'll post ASAP – I even have a clever [non-lyrical] post title in mind) – some of the networks made switches last year rather than face last year's 7th Game (Modern Family and the rest of last season's ABC Wednesday lineup weren't affected – they were already pre-empted by that music awards show).

And ABC does have a history of shying away from big sporting events – even though it's in the middle of February sweeps they stay away from airing new episodes while NBC has the Winter Olympics (I'm expecting that to happen again this February).

So we'll just have to wait and see what happens (or doesn't).

"Great Expectations, Everybody's Watching You" (First Impressions - "Winner Winner Turkey Dinner" - Season 9, Episode 7)

So we're going to have another Thanskgiving episode this year, airing in two weeks - here's the press release.

“Open The Door And Let 'Em In” (“It's The Great Pumpkin, Phil Dunphy” Recap)

Yep, Mr. Ol' Reliable did it again, and it started happening less than a minute into the episode. The next time Alex gets a boyfriend, remind me to say every week that they're going to break up – maybe then she'll finally have a lasting relationship.

“I Am A Rock. I Am An Island”

It's almost Halloween, and with it comes tonight's “It's The Great Pumpkin, Phil Dunphy”. Excuse me while I try not to keel over from excitement. At least we know Alex will be there (she has a small piece of Phil's story), but I doubt we'll feel any happier than Charlie Brown¹.

“It's The Paradox That Drives Us On” (“Sex, Lies & Kickball” Recap)

I feel like making the old “tree falls in the woods” analogy, but I'm not sure if it really fits.

“I Thought You Were Special”

When I was younger, I loved snow (now not as much, but it's still exciting when the first one of the season is approaching, though that's still way off in the distant future right now) and there were few times more fun than when the weathermen would predict a heavy snowstorm was on the way.

But then, more than every so often, just as a storm was just about to approach, they'd pull the rug out from under me (and any other kid looking forward to a snow day) and say “sorry, it's not going to happen after all”.

At this point you may be asking, what does this have to do with tonight's “Sex, Lies & Kickball” with its potentially major Alex story?

"A Long, Long Time Ago" (First Impressions - "Ten Years Later" - Season 9, Episode 6)

Another surprise press release, as I figured there wouldn't be a new episode on November 1st (I expected either a re-run or music awards show pre-emption was coming - I'm assuming the latter will happen on November 8th) but there is one after all.

“I Don't Want To Talk About It”

I only have one thing to say about tonight: next week better be huge to make up for tonight's Alex-less episode #20.

That is all.

“Hook, Line and Sinker You Were Walking With Her Out The Door”

There's more than a small chance history will be made with tonight's “Catch Of The Day”, but it's not good history. Tonight is the first real chance this season for the 20th Alex-less episode.

You can probably guess from here what I think about tonight:

"And Everything So Unexpected" (First Impressions - "It's The Great Pumpkin, Phil Dunphy" - Season 9, Episode 5)

Well, here's one I didn't see coming - I figured we were going to see a repeat of last year's Halloween episode, since they usually run one every other (even-numbered) season, but, apparently, we're getting a new one again this year after all.

It doesn't look like it's going to be a big deal for Alex, even though she and Ben are both in it (Alex is in the only two promo photos, Ben's in the guest star list), as it looks like a "Phil/Claire want to celebrate Halloween but the kids don't" story.  Personally, I would've rather seen them go with the repeat and save an episode for something else later (OK, wishful thinking on my part that that something would involve Alex).

Hopefully they're still going to do a Christmas episode (typical for an odd-numbered season).

"It's Not What Good Girls Do" (First Impressions - "Sex, Lies & Kickball" - Season 9, Episode 4)

Remember I said that we could safely exclude one of the items from this title as a possible Alex story?  Well, guess what - one does get eliminated, and another is unlikely.

“Ain't Nobody Else To Impress” (“The Long Goodbye” Recap)

Maybe it's just my still being sick, but a lot of Alex's story tonight just didn't make a lot of sense.

“Ring The Bell - School's Back In”

As much as I'd love to really go deep with this preview of tonight's “The Long Goodbye”, physically I'm just not up to it – I'm still dealing with this illness that's bugged me for the past two weeks (thankfully it's only bronchitis and not pneumonia again), and I'm only now just catching up on all the sleep I've lost. Sad, because this one has quite a bit going for it, with a story about Phil and Claire visiting Alex at her dorm (again):

"Joy(?) To The Fishes In The Deep Blue Sea" (First Impressions - "Catch Of The Day" - Season 9, Episode 3)

As you can probably guess by the question mark I placed in the lyric snippet, there really isn't much joy to be found in this upcoming episode's press release.

“Sundown, You Better Take Care” (“Lake Life” Recap)

OK, it was an eclipse and not sundown, but the show used the most obvious song in the ending so I had to come up with something else.

“Oh, The Shark, Babe, Has Such Teeth, Dear”

Getting sick sucks. Getting sick just as vacation starts? Let's just say there isn't a straw big enough in the world...

(I suppose one good thing about it happening now – I don't have to worry about working sick. Yay.)

Anyway, that's why you haven't heard as much from me in the past few days as I planned, even as Season 9 is about to begin – the head stuffiness and coughing fits have simply sapped me (IOW, kind of how Alex felt during her mono bout last season – no I'm pretty sure I don't have that). I'm just hoping I start feeling better in time to salvage the last half of this vacation.

Did I mention Season 9 starts tonight with “Lake Life”? Well, it does, so let's get the first pre-show post of the season up and running, somewhere between the sniffles, sneezes and wheezes:

"I Can Take Care Of Myself" (First Impressions - "The Long Goodbye" - Season 9, Episode 2)

Not surprisingly, it looks like from the press release for this episode, the title mostly fits the story of Manny heading off for college.

But while Alex doesn't look like she's going anywhere (well, anywhere new, anyway), there is still a story for her, and unusually it's the first story mentioned in the release:

“Searching For A Perfect Ending That We'll Never Find” (Season 9 Predictions)

There's one quick scheduling update before I get out on that frail limb and predict what happens for/to Alex this season. It looks like “Lake Life” (the season opener) is the episode that was originally going to be called “Catch Of The Day”, since SpoilerTV's episode database now lists the third episode title as “TBA”. So scratch any thought of a two-parter for that trip.

Now, back to the main raison d'être of this thread:

"Near, Far, Wherever You Are" (First Impressions - "Lake Life" - Season 9, Episode 1)

As I thought might happen,  Season 9 begins with the family's trip to Lake Tahoe, although it is not named as such in the press release - it looks like it's just going to be a generic lake in the episode as the family looks to do some out of the house bonding (at Jay's insistence).

As for Alex, she will be involved in a story about the kids having a "quest for a good time (that) may not be as fun as they expected", but it's unclear if there will be a game changing situation for her  - Ben is in the episode, but, again, as he's also Claire's assistant I'm not sure if Alex will be with him this time (I didn't see him in any of the photos that accompanied the release - it could be he's only in a quick scene before the family heads out on the boat).  Will this be a "titanic" moment for the kids?  Well, on Reddit there is a picture of them in what looks like a life raft, but I'm pretty sure an iceberg will not be involved...

And so we're off and running (cruising?), sort of.  I'll probably have that prediction thread out on Wednesday.

"And Summer Became The Fall"

Sorry for the lack of posts lately (usually once we hit September I pick up the pace back to normal levels) - there hasn't been much news yet about what we can expect for Alex  this season.

I'll probably put up my predictions either Sunday or early next week (if Irma doesn't take a right turn and barrel up here to New England - as it is I'm hoping against hope she weakens a bit before slamming Florida), and hopefully the season opener press release comes out next week.

“Just Can't Wait To Get On The Road Again”

Well, actually, in this case, a (house)boat.

There's going to be a “Modern Family goes away on vacation” episode early this season, as the cast has been filming scenes in Lake Tahoe this past week. And it looks like the title of that episode (for now) will be “Lake Life”.

Although currently this episode is listed as the third episode of the season in SpoilerTV's database, it appears from this local (Lake Tahoe) article (which mentions the story mainly takes place on a houseboat on the lake) that it will actually be the season opener, so also look for some early episode switching this season as well (since Lake Tahoe is a summer vacation spot it would make perfect sense for this to be the season opener).

I suppose it's also possible this could turn into a two-parter with “Catch Of The Day”.

But getting back to the perpetual $64 dollar question of this blog, what does this mean for Alex?

"It's Not That Hard If You Just Turn The Key"

Happy Anniversary, again!  It's hard to believe it's been three years since I started this blog, and even harder to believe I'm still doing it (I don't exactly have a strong history at keeping projects going for long).

 Anyway, on to somewhat more important stuff:

Finally, a little bit of news about Season 9 has come out, in the form of titles for the first two episodes (actually, the first episode title was revealed last week but I missed it, then yesterday the second one was revealed).  But does either one give any hope for seeing much for Alex?

"I Should Run, On The Double"

Riddle me this, Batman - what is worse than re-running one Alex-less episode of Modern Family?

"Is It Asking Too Much"

So, you may be asking (but probably not), what are my questions for Season 9 about Alex?  Glad you asked (or didn't).  I'm not ready to answer them yet (probably when we get to September I'll guess on a few) but here's at least some of them:

"Answer, Answer Me Do"

Season 9 officially starts on September 27th.  It will probably still be a few weeks before we find out if Alex has any serious kind of role in it.

I'll probably start speeding up the posting frequency again in the next week or so.

"Hot Summer Nights" (?)

I'm almost to the point where I'm going to just type random words every couple of weeks (or just type "Alex" repeatedly)  - that's how little there is going on right now:

Ariel was overlooked again for an Emmy (not at all a surprise given how little she had to do this past season).

Nothing new at all about Dog Years (please don't this be going virtually straight to video).

And. strangely enough, no word on the date of Modern Family's Season 9 opening night (September 20th or September 27th are the two most likely, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that it could get pushed backed to October).

Finally, on the re-run front, there are doubleheaders (9:00 and 10:00) the next two Wednesdays, with some rather all over the place choices (in terms of episode order).  "Weathering Heights" and "A Tale of Three Cities" (again?!?) this week, "Grab It!" and "Snow Ball" next week.

At least August is almost here - news should pick up once filming resumes then.   And maybe I'll finally get ambitious enough to write that post I hinted about a month ago.

"That Summer Day That I Recall"

No, this isn't that post I hinted at a couple of weeks ago - I'm still trying to get motivated to do that one.

"So Hello From The Other Side"

OK, I'm not really at/in any other side right now, but since that song randomly popped up on my playlist today¹, I'd figured I'd use it for my yearly "it's June, there's no news but I wanted to let everyone know I'm still here" post.  So there's that.

I am starting to worry though about whether or not Dog Years will actually show up in a theater here any time soon, or even at all.  Since it made the film festival rounds a couple of months ago there's been no word whether or not it's going to be sent out nationally, and the Twitter account has been inactive for more than a month.

[EDIT - Hey! What do you know! My reverse psychology worked again! (Yeah, right.)  Mere minutes after I posted I found this article - apparently a small film distributor called A24 and DirecTV are co- distributing the movie in North America.  No details yet as to what they will do with it.]

As for Alex, the only thing I have is the next two weeks have re-runs with two of her stories - "Five Minutes" this week, then back to "A Stereotypical Day" next week.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks - I have something in mind but it's not a big deal.
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¹ Yes, I'll admit it - I have not one, but two Adele songs ("Rumour Has It" being the other, though I haven't played that one in years) on my iPod.  But in my defense I still have more than more than ten times as many Avril Lavigne songs on there.

“You'll Go Along With And Then Drop It” (Season 8 Wrap-Up Rant)

I feel like Season 8 for Alex can be summed up in two words:

Why bother?

“These Are The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking” (“The Graduates” Recap)

Yes, that's a weird lyric for this post, but I'll get to that later.

“Will We Still Remember Everything We Learned In School?“

Season 8 wraps up tonight with “The Graduates”. No, contrary to what Alex said to Jay the day she got accepted into CalTech she did not graduate in 2 years, so tonight isn't about her. I suppose we can hope that when Season 10 (and, in all likelihood, the series) ends she gets to go out with one last big commencement speech, but, hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves – back to tonight:

“If I Could Turn Back Time” (“Alone Time” Recap)

So, now that the future is settled, let's go back to the present (at least I don't need 1.21 gigawatts to do that...)

"We'll Fast Forward To A Few Years Later"

Well, two years, anyway - it will be at least that long before we have to wonder about how Modern Family ends.  How much we see Alex the next two years remains to be seen - this should take her through graduating CalTech hopefully.

“We're At Full Circle”

A longer clip from a scene at the Dunphy house from tonight's “Alone Time” has been posted to Twitter:

"Tell Me What's On Your Mind"

A couple of quick notes/thoughts:

Alex appears in the promo commercial for Wednesday's episode so no worries about her missing any more episodes this season.  My expectations are still pretty low but at least there's something.

I kind of gave it a glancing mention in my recap a few nights ago, but the more I think about "All Things Being Equal" the more unhappy about how sub-optimal Alex was intellectually portrayed in it.  They really made her out to be not her usual smart self.

Finally, also last Wednesday, several of the cast members (including Ariel) attended the  season ending episode/Emmy consideration screening.  At that screening, there seemed to be a cautious optimism that there would be a ninth season.  And Ariel mentioned she wanted to see Alex's role evolve more into life as an adult, so if there is a ninth season she does expect to be back.  I still wouldn't be shocked if things fell apart at the end (I would assume we'd find out this week or early next week what happens), but it is looking better.

“Who's Gonna Drive You Home, Tonight?” (“All Things Being Equal” Recap)

Well that was underwhelming, and that's being generous – if this somehow does turns out to be Alex's final story it barely will even rate as a “last yippee”.  She wasn't totally just a piece of scenery as has been the case a couple of times previously this season, but it was close.

“We're On The Road To Nowhere(?)”

I wish I could say that the past four weeks since the last new episode have flown by, but, not really.

Anyway, we're finally at the final three episodes, starting with tonight's “All Things Being Equal”. Sadly, it looks likely this will be last episode this season (if not ever) with any sort of Alex story, barring a hidden story in the final two, which seems highly unlikely¹:

"School's Out Forever(?)" (First Impressions - "The Graduates" - Season 8, Episode 22)

There are no real surprises to be found in the press release for the final episode of the season.  As expected the main focus will be on Manny and Luke, while there doesn't appear to be much going on for Alex (there is one promotional photo in that link that shows her and Haley getting a little emotional - I'm guessing it has something to do with whatever speech Luke gives as class president).

So the season is going to go out with a whimper for Alex after all.  There's still no word on whether or not I'll have to substitute the word "series" for "season" (hence the question mark in the post title).

"There Will Be No White Flag Above My Door" (First Impressions - "Alone Time" - Season 8, Episode 21)

That's because after seeing no mention of Alex in the press release for the season's (and series'?) penultimate episode, I've grabbed that flag and started waving it frantically.

Barring a surprise Alex story in this one, or a very unlikely to happen Alex story in the finale (which will have most of its focus on Luke and Manny graduating high school), I think this season can finally all but be written off as a lost cause.  I'll still watch and keep my fingers crossed that I'll be proven wrong, but...

"Ha Ha Ha Ha I Was Right" (First Impressions - "All Things Being Equal" - Season 8, Episode 20)

Heck, even I can be as good as a stopped watch once in a while - here's the press release and promo photos for the next new episode airing in two weeks.

As expected, this is the episode where Alex and the rest of the ladies attend a women's rights movement event.  Or try to, at least - the synopsis doesn't reveal much more, especially whether or not the car breakdown we saw in the clip last week stops them in their tracks or is just a bump in the road.

I don't have anything more to add to that, for now.

“And Who's To Say Where We'll Be Tomorrow”

[CAUTION: This post contains high amounts of potentially depressing but pure speculation, and I have absolutely ZERO official information as to what's going to happen next season. Please take all of this with as many grains of salt as you feel is necessary.]

There are times in life where even the best case scenario isn't particularly good. Sadly, the question about what happens to Modern Family and, in particular, Alex (and Ariel Winter, her real life alter-ego) after this season is one of them. I've been trying to shy away from this question (OK, questions) for most of this season (with only vague mentions), but now it's time to put bits and bytes to computer servers and get out on that fragile limb.

"He Was Really Saying Something(?)"

OK, maybe not, but I do have a couple of quick notes:

“I Heard Her Pray The Night Chicago Died” (“Frank's Wedding” Recap)

R.I.P., Alex Dunphy, Schoolteacher or Librarian (1898¹ - 1920something).  I'm still not sure exactly what she was supposed to be.

“Quicker Than A Ray Of Light”

Apart from the fact I don't have much to say about tonight's “Frank's Wedding”, my schedule is pretty tight today so I don't have much time for thinking about it (I had to take a last minute 9-to-5 shift at work on what was supposed to be my day off – at least I'll still get to watch the show tonight):

"If I Just Breathe" (Promo Commercial For "Frank's Wedding")

One fear I had about this Wednesday's episode will not come to pass:  the chance that Alex will go missing has thankfully gone from slim to none:

“No Time For A Gentle Rain” (“Five Minutes” Recap)

Didn't they say in the beginning that a lot could happen in 5 minutes? Because, honestly, Alex's story didn't feel that way. At least, not as much as it could've and probably should've been (it was better than OK though, thanks to Alex).

Maybe they should have just split this episode into two and given us 10 minutes of Alex/Ben/Claire/Phil and 10 minutes of Haley/Rainer¹. It certainly would've have helped Alex's story development more.

“It's Now Or Never(?)”

I know there will still be four episodes left to this season after tonight's “Five Minutes”, but the closer we get to it, the more it feels like tonight could be our last best chance for a big Alex story this season, and possibly period. We know not much is likely to happen next week^1,2, and given how little has happened with Alex overall this season, does anybody have any confidence in anything big coming up in the final three?

So a lot appears to be riding on tonight – do I think we'll get some sparks flying?

“All She Wants To Be Is A Modern Girl” (Third Quarter Recap)

For a quarter that had not one, but two Alex-less episodes (which has been par for the course for the last few seasons in the third quarter) it was a rather interesting few weeks for Alex. In fact, it was probably the most interesting quarter of the three so far, and (sadly) I may very well still be able to say that at the end of the season.

"I Ain't Ready For The Altar" (First Impressions - "Frank's Wedding" - Season 8, Episode 19)

Well, I was kind of right about this one - the title was pretty much self-explanatory, at least as far as the Dunphys are concerned (they're at Phil's father's wedding), and as far as there not being much going on with Alex (there is a joke about the family going in costumes - I have a feeling I'm going to dread what they'll do with Alex).

Unless Alex harbors some highly unlikely resentment about her grandfather getting married again because of her emotional connection with her late grandmother I doubt there will be much emotion here.

"Back To Reality"

[3/27 UPDATE: I finally found a video of this promo - I've added it after the "Read more" jump.]

At the end of tonight's repeat episode, ABC aired a promo commercial for next week's "Five Minutes".  In that commercial there was a quick shot of a scene which answers my earlier question about where Phil and Claire's surprise visit takes place:

"It's A Love Story, Baby Just Say Yes" (First Impressions - "Five Minutes" - Season 8, Episode 18)

Well it turns out I did get one thing wrong last week - I figured we were looking at a break of at least two weeks before the next new episode would air.  But that's not the case, as the next new episode will air next Wednesday.

And Alex will have a role in it, and it could get very interesting, but not necessarily in a good way:

“Is There Anything Left In This World That Will Satisfy Me?”

I'm never happy when Alex goes missing from an episode, especially when she was the only one not seen¹. Even when I all but knew it was coming.

But I'm really unhappy about tonight.

“Looks Like We're In For Nasty Weather”

OK, I pretty much already revealed the other night which ways I was going as far what I expect from tonight's “Pig Moon Rising” when I posted about the promo commercial. But, just to make it official:

"Here Comes Your 19th Nervous Breakdown(?)"

A promo commercial has come out for Wednesday night's episode, but it is far from encouraging:

"No Good To Be Alone(?)"

Tentative titles have been released for the final five episodes of the season:

“Here Is My Handle, Here Is My Spout” (“Basketball” Recap)

So did Alex and Cam's little scenes having tea (and being bored to the point of overfilling their cups at each other's stories) make me wish they had done a full tea party story together? Eh.

“Ooooh, It Seems I Don't Get Time Out Anymore”

Sorry, but this one's going to be another quickie – that cold I started with last week has escalated into pneumonia this week – not severe enough to leave me in a hospital room (though I did go the ER over the weekend) but still the coughing fits are wreaking havoc with my sleep so I'm pretty much in “let's get this over with” mode.

That, and this week's “Basketball” wasn't exactly motivating me to do much:

"Makin' Bacon Pancakes" (First Impressions - "Pig Moon Rising" - Season 8, Episode 17)

I'm really surprised that there's going to be another new episode on March 15th.  I figured they were surely going to take a break after next week's "Basketball" but I guess they had other plans.   

Another surprise is just how sparse the synopsis is so far - only one story is mentioned (of course Alex is not involved).  I guess we'll have to wait for any promo photos for any hints about Alex.

“Life Is Demanding Without Understanding” (“Finding Fizbo” Recap)

(CAUTION: This post contains whining paragraphs which some readers might find uncomfortable and could cause stomach discomfort and involuntary rolling of the eyes. And I use an Alex quote which contains the word “butt”. Guidance is suggested.)

This time, it turned out that the wild card was an Ace, as Ben's appearance (albeit only a second hand one) was about Alex's romance with him.

“That's How The Lost Get Found”

Another quickie pre-show post, for two reasons: 1) “Finding Fizbo” doesn't look all that exciting from Alex's standpoint, and 2) I'm sick as a (therapy?) dog right now.

And as a reminder, tonight's episode airs a half hour earlier than usual. Whether I'm awake or in a Nyquil-induced coma at 8:30 remains to be seen.

"I Believe I Can Fly" (First Impressions - "Basketball" - Season 8, Episode 16)

I was actually expecting no new episode for March 8th, so this press release for an episode to air on that date came as a surprise.

Unfortunately, it's not that happy a surprise, as there is no Alex story mentioned (on the bright side she is in one of the promo photos, so we will see her). 

Now I'm guessing there will be a lengthy break after that - there will only be six more episodes to go after this one airs and either 10 or 11 weeks to air them (depending on whether the season ends on May 17th or May 24th).

“(Like) A Sunday Morning, It Came Without A Warning” (“Heavy Is The Head” Recap)

A quick scheduling note: next week's episode “Finding Fizbo” will air 30 minutes earlier than usual, at 8:30. ABC is continuing an all-week mini-documentary series (“When We Rise”) that night at 9:00 and decided to move Modern Family up instead of pre-empting it (like they did with a mini-series last February sweeps). I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad sign about the future. If you're planning on recording you may want to double-check everything.

Anyway, back to tonight's episode that came out of nowhere with an actual Alex story:

“And There's A Little Green Man In My Head”

On the surface, tonight's “Heavy Is The Head” doesn't look all that interesting. Yes, Alex will be there but it doesn't appear she'll have a big role, unless somehow she gets involved with Ben again, and I don't think that's likely.

So what, exactly, am I worried about tonight?

"I Found Myself In Wonderland" (First Impressions - "Heavy Is The Head" - Season 8, Episode 14)

Another week, another almost last minute press release, another episode with no idea if Alex will even be in it big Alex story in it.

How far down the rabbit hole have we fallen?  Even seeing that Ben is in this episode doesn't seem to be a cause for optimism (I'm betting his appearance here will have nothing to with Alex - Claire is facing issues at her father's closet business) - in fact, my "glass half-empty" disposition right now has me thinking more and more that we've reached a dead end with that secret admirer story already.

And that may not be the last dead end.

[2/19 UPDATE: One piece of good news - Alex is in the promo commercial, so at least we're not getting back-to-back Alex-less episodes.  It's not a big enough deal for me to make a whole new post about it.]

“On The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams”

What is it that people say about why one should never assume?

Well, I can't speak for you, but as for me, “Hee Haw!”

“So I'm Gonna Walk Right Down Your Street”

According to ABC's press site, it looks like “Finding Fizbo” has been moved back to March 1st. There's nothing official about what happens to next week, but my satellite box guide shows “Heavy Is The Head” airing then, but no plot information.

Now, what about tonight's “Do It Yourself”?

"Disappointment Haunted All My Dreams" (First Impressions - "Do It Yourself" - Season 8, Episode 13)

The press release finally came out for next week's episode.  Unfortunately, my hope against hope that a big Alex story was being hidden from us went unanswered, again.

Or any Alex story, for that matter - she's not even mentioned.  All that's left to hope for is that at least she appears and this doesn't turn into Alex-less Episode #18.  My gut feeling is she will, as there is a story about her family dining on Sundays.  More on that in the Wednesday pre-show, but barring a crazy promo I doubt I'll have much more to say then.

That was definitely not worth the wait.

“Noticing The Days Hurrying By. When You're In Love, My How They Fly.” (“Do You Believe In Magic” Recap)

I was looking for a lyric from a 1926 song for my title (the digits of that year combining their 2 ages – more on that in a moment) and I found one that may be fitting from a song written that year (“Blue Skies”) that's been covered many times and thus wasn't totally obscure (full disclosure though: I'd never heard of it).

OK, now that I've totally bored everyone...

“Secret, Secret, I've Got A Secret”

[Update: Sorry, but I had to make several strike-throughs.  I completely forgot that we've seen Ben before - he works at Jay's workplace as Claire's assistant ("I Don't Know How She Does It").  My bad for being so Alex-centric that I missed that salient point.  It still looks like tonight will be interesting, though.]

It's been almost a month since the last time we saw Alex in a new episode – finally, tonight, “Do You Believe In Magic” airs. And Alex might finally have something to do for the first time in ages, as for Valentine's Day she gets a secret admirer (including at least one passionate kiss).

But will everything be as it seems for Alex?

"Like You're Living In A Circus" (First Impressions - "Finding Fizbo" - Season 8, Episode 14*)

OK, this press release¹ is for the episode that airs on February 22th, not next week.  As far as I know, for now "Do It Yourself" is still scheduled for the 15th, at least according to my satellite box on-screen guide.  As soon as I hear/see anything about that one I'll post it.

Anyway, getting back to the episode we now know about:

"Every Night, Before The Dawn Meets The Light" (Second Quarter Recap, Sort Of)

Actually, there's not much to recap - Alex had a brief flirtation with Dwight, the high school football player staying at Cam's house during "Thanksgiving Jamboree", and started her barista job at the coffee shop, although we have little idea how that's going (she did appear there twice during the past quarter but did little), and was briefly at another music festival with Haley (which ended abruptly when they found out they accidentally brought $40,000 of Gloria's money with them).  And that's about it (one episode, "Snow Ball" was Alex-less episode #17).

I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for things to get interesting for Alex in the third quarter (she does have a secret admirer about which we'll hear on Wednesday), but after last night's big game (did those last 20 minutes really happen) there's always hope for a miracle, I guess.

One quick schedule note - my on-screen guide lists "Do It Yourself" for next Wednesday (15th), but no story information is yet available.

"One Foot On The Brake, And One On The Gas"

I still have no idea what the plan is for Modern Family on February 15th - while there are press releases out for all the other Wednesday comedies that night, there's nothing for MF.  And ABC's press site has no mention on even a rerun for that night.  I don't want to think about the implications yet if it's going to be a repeat (or worse, a preemption), but if either happens I'm not going to be happy.  I\ll keep you posted.   (Hopefully I just got some of that reverse psychology stuff going and I'll hear something today).

On the other hand, there is a promo commercial out for next week's "Do You Believe In Magic":

"I'm Comin' Up So You Better Get This Party Started"

Well, since I couldn't come up with a decent lyric with the number 19 in it for my annual happy birthday post to Ariel, I finally figured, why not go with the other half  of Alex's famous valedictorian speech?  After all, birthdays are for parties, right?

So, Happy 19th Birthday, Ariel!

"Even Children Get Older" (First Impressions - "Do You Believe In Magic" - Season 8, Episode 12)

My first thought when I saw in the press release that this episode was going to be a Valentine's Day episode was "Ugh".  Alex has rarely fared well in these episodes - at most she's been a non-factor, at worst she's been practically or entirely non-existent (she only showed up in the credit scene in the first one, "My Funky Valentine", and didn't appear at all in the most recent one, "Valentine's Day 4: Twisted Sister").

"And The Cat's In The Cradle"

OK, this had to be a bit awkward for Ariel, given she's a dog person:

Well it's not a lot, but at least there's something with Alex to look forward to.  I'm surprised they don't just use Larry (Lily's white cat) if they wanted an Alex and cat story.

"How Long Must I Wait 'Til I See You Smile?"

Well, there's no new episode coming on February 1st - "The Alliance" will re-air on that date.

There is actually a logical reason for this, as I found out later - the February ratings "sweeps" period doesn't actually start until February 2nd.  Understandably it would be a waste to use a new episode the day before that important period starts. 

(Of course, if I was as smart as Alex, I would have known to research this a lot sooner than I did.)

The period ends on March 1st, which still gives us up to four chances to get a meaningful Alex story during sweeps (but I wouldn't be surprised if we lose one somewhere).  If we don't...

“Let The Spinning Wheel Spin” (“Sarge & Pea” Recap)

Unfortunately for Alex, that spinning wheel is her life stuck in something.

“There's Always A Chance, A Tiny Spark Will Remain”

[9:13 AM Jan. 11 - Updated to revise my prediction about the Emotional Moment Potential.]

We've come up to the final episode of the first half (and the final episode until at least the start of February¹), “Sarge & Pea”. Alex is part of a story evolving at her coffee shop job as Haley and Cam visit (the latter with a huge chip on his shoulder which is at the moment the main focus of that story), but will she be more involved than the last time we saw her there (“The Alliance”), or is she destined to just be part of the scenery again?

"The P.R. Transmissions Will Resume"

I just got my ABC station back on DirecTV, so it looks like things will be back to normal for next week's episode.  Now let's just hope for something big (I'll even settle for medium for now) for Alex.

“Top Coat, Top Hat” (“Ringmaster Keifth” Recap)

So after having to wait until this morning to download last night's episode from iTunes, putting it on my iPod then having to go through a lot more hoops than I feel I should have to get Apple's new “TV” app to let me watch it, I finally got around to seeing this 12 hours after it aired. But was it worth the wait?

“So Let The Sideshow Begin”

It looks like I'll be left out in the dark for tonight's episode (and I'd bet next week's as well at this point) – there's been no indication that this dispute between DirecTV and my local ABC affiliate's owner is going to be resolved any time soon – both sides are slinging mud on each other (without giving anybody any idea whether they're even trying to settle things), and trying (badly) to convince us viewers that they are on our side in this matter (I call total bull on that – each side is just being greedy and only caring about lining their own pockets).

Anyway, “Ringmaster Keifth” does air tonight in spite of all this, so on with the preshow. At least here things are a little bit brighter than they were at the start of the week:

"Static In My Attic From Channel Z"

So, in case you were wondering why the heck there is a test pattern in the spot where I normally put a screen capture of Alex, well, it's because DirecTV and the owners of my local ABC affiliate (WCVB) are being a bunch of chowderheads: