Starry Night (Modern Family)
Encyclopedia
"Starry Night" is the eighteenth episode of the first season
of Modern Family
. It premiered on ABC
on March 24, 2010. In the episode, Claire and Phil take rival approaches to keeping Haley and Luke focused on projects that are due the next day. Manny's ribbing of Mitchell during a trip with Jay causes tension between the three. Cameron tries to make amends with Gloria for past awkward encounters with a night out in her old neighborhood.
The episode was written by Danny Zucker and directed by Jason Winer
. The episode received positive reviews and was viewed by 9.05 million viewers with an 18-49 Nielsen Rating of 3.6.
Claire gives Phil the task of making sure Luke completes a project covering Van Gogh while she keeps track of Hayley as she has to cook cupcakes for a fund-raiser. While Phil demonstrates his ADHD (narrated in voice-over as Alex tries to convince her mother Luke suffers from the condition), Luke surpasses his mother's low expectations and completes the project. Meanwhile, Haley manipulates her mother into making the cupcakes for her - only to have Claire throw away all the cupcakes after she's shocked with Luke's success. Luke recites his planned presentation speech to Alex, who's impressed until Luke begins talking about how Van Gogh was warning us of aliens about to attack and Alex calls for her mom.
Jay and Manny tease Mitchell during the star gazing; Jay is trying to get Manny to overcome a severe disappointment earlier in the week and encourages him to treat Mitchell as a brother would - teasing, joking, camaraderie. Jay asks Mitchell to encourage Manny to not focus on other children calling him "weird" and the two bond. At the same time, Cameron takes Gloria to one of her favourite little eateries, where he tries to bond by eating very spicy food, to which he has a bad reaction. The two end up finding their similarities lie in fashion, shopping and things of that nature.
At the close, the family tries cupcakes that Hayley has managed to cook while they celebrated Luke's success. Once Hayley is sent to school, they immediately start scrambling to get the horrible taste out of their mouths, as Claire wonders what the phone number for Poison Control is.
".
The episode got mostly positive reviews. Robert Canning of IGN
gave the episode a 9.5 saying it was "Incredible" and that ""Starry Night" was a near perfect episode of Modern Family. The storylines were great and tied together in very entertaining ways. The characters delivered what we would expect, while still being able to develop deeper connections between each other. And it was also fall-off-the-couch hilarious. Add the patented Modern Family touching ending and you've got one of their best episodes of this debut season". Jason Hughes of TV Squad gave "Starry Night" a positive review, saying the changed dynamics "worked better than anyone could have expected." He admired Ty Burrell (Phil)'s "stellar physical comedy" as Phil demonstrated his obvious ADHD. In the end, Hughes stated "these characters still ring more true and real than most families you see on television." Lesley Savage of Entertainment Weekly
gave it a positive review saying that the episode was "so fantastic". She really enjoyed Cameron's performance in the episode, citing his zingers and stating "...if I had to pick one to take home to watch TV with me every night, it would be Cameron." Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club
gave it an A- with readers giving it a B+. She noted that the episode "impressed with the way it all fit together." The episode wasn't a "laugh riot" but was a "well-integrated episode".
Modern Family (season 1)
The first season of the television comedy series Modern Family aired between September 23, 2009 and May 19, 2010, on ABC in the United States. The season was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Lloyd-Levitan Productions with series creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan as executive...
of Modern Family
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...
. It premiered on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
on March 24, 2010. In the episode, Claire and Phil take rival approaches to keeping Haley and Luke focused on projects that are due the next day. Manny's ribbing of Mitchell during a trip with Jay causes tension between the three. Cameron tries to make amends with Gloria for past awkward encounters with a night out in her old neighborhood.
The episode was written by Danny Zucker and directed by Jason Winer
Jason Winer
Jason Winer is an American director, producer, writer, actor and comedian. He is best known for being one of the directors on the award-winning series Modern Family on ABC.Winer was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland...
. The episode received positive reviews and was viewed by 9.05 million viewers with an 18-49 Nielsen Rating of 3.6.
Plot
In the Dunphy household, Luke and Haley both have projects due and Claire and Phil are responsible for ensuring their children get their work done on time. In the second plotline, Mitchell and Cameron hang out with Jay (and Manny) and Gloria, respectively. Mitchell and Jay have a tradition of watching meteor showers together and Jay brings along Manny to get him out of the house. Cameron attempts to make up for slight offenses over the past couple of weeks with Gloria by inviting her to a fancy restaurant.Claire gives Phil the task of making sure Luke completes a project covering Van Gogh while she keeps track of Hayley as she has to cook cupcakes for a fund-raiser. While Phil demonstrates his ADHD (narrated in voice-over as Alex tries to convince her mother Luke suffers from the condition), Luke surpasses his mother's low expectations and completes the project. Meanwhile, Haley manipulates her mother into making the cupcakes for her - only to have Claire throw away all the cupcakes after she's shocked with Luke's success. Luke recites his planned presentation speech to Alex, who's impressed until Luke begins talking about how Van Gogh was warning us of aliens about to attack and Alex calls for her mom.
Jay and Manny tease Mitchell during the star gazing; Jay is trying to get Manny to overcome a severe disappointment earlier in the week and encourages him to treat Mitchell as a brother would - teasing, joking, camaraderie. Jay asks Mitchell to encourage Manny to not focus on other children calling him "weird" and the two bond. At the same time, Cameron takes Gloria to one of her favourite little eateries, where he tries to bond by eating very spicy food, to which he has a bad reaction. The two end up finding their similarities lie in fashion, shopping and things of that nature.
At the close, the family tries cupcakes that Hayley has managed to cook while they celebrated Luke's success. Once Hayley is sent to school, they immediately start scrambling to get the horrible taste out of their mouths, as Claire wonders what the phone number for Poison Control is.
Production
"Starry Night" was directed by Jason Winer, marking his twelfth-directed episode of the series. The show was written by Danny Zucker.Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Starry Night" earned a 3.7 rating among adults 18-49 and was viewed by 9.05 million households. The episode dipped slightly from the previous week's numbers.The episode ranked 22nd in the weekly viewership ratings and 13th in the 18-49 rating. Danny Zucker is currently nominated for writing for an Episodic Comedy at the 2011 Writers Guild of America Awards facing six other programs including the Modern Family episode, "EarthquakeEarthquake (Modern Family)
"Earthquake" is the third episode of the second season of the American Broadcasting Company American sitcom, Modern Family and the 27th episode overall. The episode originally aired October 6, 2010. The episode was written by Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh and directed by Michael Spiller...
".
The episode got mostly positive reviews. Robert Canning of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the episode a 9.5 saying it was "Incredible" and that ""Starry Night" was a near perfect episode of Modern Family. The storylines were great and tied together in very entertaining ways. The characters delivered what we would expect, while still being able to develop deeper connections between each other. And it was also fall-off-the-couch hilarious. Add the patented Modern Family touching ending and you've got one of their best episodes of this debut season". Jason Hughes of TV Squad gave "Starry Night" a positive review, saying the changed dynamics "worked better than anyone could have expected." He admired Ty Burrell (Phil)'s "stellar physical comedy" as Phil demonstrated his obvious ADHD. In the end, Hughes stated "these characters still ring more true and real than most families you see on television." Lesley Savage 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...
gave it a positive review saying that the episode was "so fantastic". She really enjoyed Cameron's performance in the episode, citing his zingers and stating "...if I had to pick one to take home to watch TV with me every night, it would be Cameron." Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club
The 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...
gave it an A- with readers giving it a B+. She noted that the episode "impressed with the way it all fit together." The episode wasn't a "laugh riot" but was a "well-integrated episode".
External links
- "Starry Night" at ABC.com