"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):