Mother's Day (Modern Family)
Encyclopedia
"Mother's Day" is the twenty-first episode of the American comedy television series, Modern Family
' s second season
and the 45th episode overall of the series. It original aired on the American Broadcast Company (ABC) on May 4, 2011. The episode was written by Dan O'Shannon and Ilana Wernick and was directed by Michael Spiller
.
In the episode, Claire (Julie Bowen
) and Gloria's (Sofía Vergara
) Mother's Day excursion outdoors with the kids turns into the mother of all disasters. Meanwhile, Phil (Ty Burrell
) and Jay (Ed O'Neill
) share an awkward moment after Jay finds a letter he wrote to his mom on a past Mother's Day when they stay home to prepare dinner for everyone; and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson
) attempts to show his appreciation for Cameron (Eric Stonestreet
) by bringing him breakfast in bed on Mother's Day; causing Cameron to worry about the gender roles in his relationship with Mitchell.
"Mother's Day" received positive reviews from critics with Alan Sepinwall, who is usually critical of the series, calling Ed O'Neill
's performance "terrific". The episode also marked a rise in the ratings from the previous episode, "Someone to Watch Over Lily
". The episode also ranked as the highest rated scripted program on Wednesday.
, his fourteenth credit for the series. "Mother's Day" featured guest appearances from Jean Villepique as Jennifer and Todd Weeks as Roy, Mitchell and Cameron's friends. Following the episode's airdate, ABC allowed fans to make a personalized Mother's Day E-card
. Modern Family co-creator Steven Levitan
called the
episode "one of our best this season" on Twitter
. The episode was later put in for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
along with "The Old Wagon
", "The Kiss
", "Halloween
", "Caught in the Act
" and "Someone to Watch Over Lily
".
". "Mother's Day" was the most-watched scripted show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49, and the twenty-first most-watched show among all viewers.
writer Joshua Alston called the episode "darn good 'Mother's Day' overall". He mainly praised the writers for changing the Phil and Jay's relationship, calling it "a welcome change." He ultimately gave the episode a B+. Aly Semigran of Entertainment Weekly
called the episode "funny and touching", writing that "This may not go down as one of the all-time greats of Modern Family, but a satisfying episode it most certainly was." Meredith Blake of The Los Angeles Times praised the writers on changing the Mitchell and Cameron's storyline, commenting, "I'm happy that this week, Modern Family delivered a Cameron-Mitchell storyline that was insightful, funny and maybe even a little brave.". TV Squad writer Joel Keller gave the episode a mostly positive review, but criticized the episode for not reaching its potential. He wrote: "it's one of those things that's hard to put a finger on; it could be that most of the plots were a series of funny events in search of an ending, but it was mostly because they simply weren't as funny as they could be."
HitFix
writer Alan Sepinwall wrote that while the episode didn't live up to the previous episode, praised Jay's outburst at the dinner table and the writers for playing the other plots of it and called O'Neill's performance "terrific". Christine N. Ziemba of Paste
wrote that while "Modern Family had some great one-liners in this episode" she concluded that "with such a loaded and promising premise, “Mother’s Day” was brought down a notch by a hiking storyline that was dead before reaching the trailhead." She ultimately gave it a 7.1/10 calling it "respectable".
Modern Family
Modern Family is an American television comedy series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, which debuted on ABC on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label...
Modern Family (season 2)
The second season of the comedy television series, Modern Family premiered September 22, 2010 and ended on May 25, 2011 on the American Broadcasting Company in the United States. The series is produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Lloyd-Levitan Productions with creators...
and the 45th episode overall of the series. It original aired on the American Broadcast Company (ABC) on May 4, 2011. The episode was written by Dan O'Shannon and Ilana Wernick and was directed by Michael Spiller
Michael Spiller
Michael Alan Spiller is an American cinematographer and television director.Spiller has directed on numerous series and has also served as a cinematographer prior to directing and worked frequently with Hal Hartley. He was a regular director on the HBO series, Sex and the City where he also served...
.
In the episode, Claire (Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen is an American film and television actress. She played Carol Vessey on Ed and Denise Bauer on Boston Legal. She is best known for playing Claire Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011...
) and Gloria's (Sofía Vergara
Sofía Vergara
Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara is a Colombian actress, comedian, television hostess and model.Vergara had been widely known for co-hosting two TV shows for Univisión in the late 1990s. Her TV career opened up for her a window of exposure to North American audiences prior to her first notable...
) Mother's Day excursion outdoors with the kids turns into the mother of all disasters. Meanwhile, Phil (Ty Burrell
Ty Burrell
- External links :*...
) and Jay (Ed O'Neill
Ed O'Neill
Edward Phillip "Ed" O'Neill, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the Fox Network sitcom Married... with Children, for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes...
) share an awkward moment after Jay finds a letter he wrote to his mom on a past Mother's Day when they stay home to prepare dinner for everyone; and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson is an American actor who portrays Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family. Previously he played the role of Richie Velch in the CBS sitcom The Class. He is openly gay.-Life and career:...
) attempts to show his appreciation for Cameron (Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet is an American actor, known for his starring role as Cameron Tucker on the ABC comedy Modern Family. Stonestreet has received critical acclaim for his performance in Modern Family and won the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his...
) by bringing him breakfast in bed on Mother's Day; causing Cameron to worry about the gender roles in his relationship with Mitchell.
"Mother's Day" received positive reviews from critics with Alan Sepinwall, who is usually critical of the series, calling Ed O'Neill
Ed O'Neill
Edward Phillip "Ed" O'Neill, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the Fox Network sitcom Married... with Children, for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes...
's performance "terrific". The episode also marked a rise in the ratings from the previous episode, "Someone to Watch Over Lily
Someone to Watch Over Lily
"Someone to Watch Over Lily" is the twentieth episode of the American comedy television series, Modern Familys second season and the 44th episode overrall...
". The episode also ranked as the highest rated scripted program on Wednesday.
Plot
Claire and Gloria want to spend this year's Mother's Day outdoors hiking with the kids, but the bickering and complaining drives Claire and Gloria to the edge. Meanwhile, Phil and Jay stay home to cook a nice dinner for the family, but things get really awkward when Phil witnesses an unexpected moment of weakness from Jay, and Cameron gets very self-conscious about being seen as the "mother" in his relationship with Mitchell.Production
"Mother's Day" was written by Dan O'Shannon and Ilana Wernick, marking the former's sixth writing credit and the latter's fourth writing credit. The episode was also directed by Michael SpillerMichael Spiller
Michael Alan Spiller is an American cinematographer and television director.Spiller has directed on numerous series and has also served as a cinematographer prior to directing and worked frequently with Hal Hartley. He was a regular director on the HBO series, Sex and the City where he also served...
, his fourteenth credit for the series. "Mother's Day" featured guest appearances from Jean Villepique as Jennifer and Todd Weeks as Roy, Mitchell and Cameron's friends. Following the episode's airdate, ABC allowed fans to make a personalized Mother's Day E-card
E-card
An e-card is similar to a postcard or greeting card, with the primary difference being that it is created using digital media instead of paper or other traditional materials. E-cards are made available by publishers usually on various Internet sites, where they can be sent to a recipient, usually...
. Modern Family co-creator Steven Levitan
Steven Levitan
Steven E. Levitan is an American director, screenwriter and producer of television comedies. He has created such TV series as Just Shoot Me!, Stark Raving Mad, Stacked, Back to You, and Modern Family....
called the
episode "one of our best this season" on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. The episode was later put in for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...
along with "The Old Wagon
The Old Wagon
"The Old Wagon" is the second season premiere of the American sitcom Modern Family and the 25th episode overall. "The Old Wagon" premiered on September 22, 2010.. The episode was written by Bill Wrubel and was directed by Michael Spiller...
", "The Kiss
The Kiss (Modern Family)
"The Kiss" is the second episode of the second season of the American sitcom Modern Family and the 26th episode overall. The episode aired September 29, 2010, and was written by Abraham Higginbotham and directed by Scott Ellis. The episode also featured guest starred Aaron Sanders as Jeremy, Alex's...
", "Halloween
Halloween (Modern Family)
"Halloween" is the sixth episode of Modern Familys second season. It originally aired on October 27, 2010 on the ABC network in the United States. The episode was written by Jeffrey Richman and directed by Michael Spiller and was based on an idea by cast member Eric Stonestreet...
", "Caught in the Act
Caught in the Act (Modern Family)
"Caught in the Act" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the American television comedy series, Modern Family and the 36th overall episode of the series. Co-creator Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman wrote the episode, and Michael Spiller directed it. The episode originally aired on...
" and "Someone to Watch Over Lily
Someone to Watch Over Lily
"Someone to Watch Over Lily" is the twentieth episode of the American comedy television series, Modern Familys second season and the 44th episode overrall...
".
Ratings
In its original American broadcast, "Mother's Day" was viewed by an estimated 9.90 million households and received a 3.9 rating/10% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 3.9% of all 18–49 years olds, and 10% of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This marked a slight rise in the ratings from the previous episode, "Someone to Watch Over LilySomeone to Watch Over Lily
"Someone to Watch Over Lily" is the twentieth episode of the American comedy television series, Modern Familys second season and the 44th episode overrall...
". "Mother's Day" was the most-watched scripted show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49, and the twenty-first most-watched show among all viewers.
Reviews
The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. The A.V. ClubThe A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
writer Joshua Alston called the episode "darn good 'Mother's Day' overall". He mainly praised the writers for changing the Phil and Jay's relationship, calling it "a welcome change." He ultimately gave the episode a B+. Aly Semigran of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
called the episode "funny and touching", writing that "This may not go down as one of the all-time greats of Modern Family, but a satisfying episode it most certainly was." Meredith Blake of The Los Angeles Times praised the writers on changing the Mitchell and Cameron's storyline, commenting, "I'm happy that this week, Modern Family delivered a Cameron-Mitchell storyline that was insightful, funny and maybe even a little brave.". TV Squad writer Joel Keller gave the episode a mostly positive review, but criticized the episode for not reaching its potential. He wrote: "it's one of those things that's hard to put a finger on; it could be that most of the plots were a series of funny events in search of an ending, but it was mostly because they simply weren't as funny as they could be."
HitFix
HitFix
HitFix, or the HitFix.com is an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information and providing reviews and critiques of film, music and television...
writer Alan Sepinwall wrote that while the episode didn't live up to the previous episode, praised Jay's outburst at the dinner table and the writers for playing the other plots of it and called O'Neill's performance "terrific". Christine N. Ziemba of Paste
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...
wrote that while "Modern Family had some great one-liners in this episode" she concluded that "with such a loaded and promising premise, “Mother’s Day” was brought down a notch by a hiking storyline that was dead before reaching the trailhead." She ultimately gave it a 7.1/10 calling it "respectable".
External links
- "Mother's Day" at ABC.com