The Musical Man
Encyclopedia
"The Musical Man" is the nineteenth episode of the American comedy television series, Modern Family
' s second season
and the 43rd episode overall. It originally aired on April 13, 2011 on American Broadcasting Company
(ABC). The episode was written by Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh and was directed by Michael Spiller
.
In the episode, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet
) takes control of the spring musical at Luke (Nolan Gould
) and Manny's (Rico Rodriguez) school, while Jay's brother (Jonathan Banks
) pays him a visit, and Phil (Ty Burrell
) tries to get the family to be in his new real estate advertisement.
"The Musical Man" received mixed reviews from critics. According to Nielsen Media Research
, the episode was viewed by 9.6 million households and received a 3.9 rating/10% share in the 18-49 demographic marking a fourteen percent drop in the ratings from the previous episode, "Boys' Night
".
but that it was detected on time, these news affect Jay very much but his brother asks him to keep it a secret.
Phil has had a poster made with a picture of his entire family and has had the family van wrapped
in order to advertise his real estate business, saying that his best assets are his family and his teeth, both of which can be seen in an ad that reads "I cannot be satisfied until you are satisfied, let me make your dreams come true." Haley's SAT scores are posted on the Internet
; the scores turn out to be average, granting her possibilities at numerous colleges, but she shocks her parents by telling them that she does not want to go to college
, much to Alex's delight. Claire then arranges to have lunch with Haley and use the opportunity to talk her into going to college. As they climb into the newly wrapped van
, they fail to notice that the advertisement in its wrapped form shows Claire under the motto "I cannot be satisfied," while the side with Haley's photo reads only "Let me make your dreams come true." Claire uses the opportunity to talk very positively about college life, causing her to begin to wonder if her best years are past her. Meanwhile, Phil has had many calls asking about the ad, but he makes such general references about what he is advertising that his callers still believe that he is selling sex services. Alex lets him know about the true intention of the callers after receiving an e-mailed photo of the van. At that same moment Claire calls, and Phil realizes that she still has not seen the ad yet, so he runs to the school where he will be meeting Claire for Luke and Manny's show.
All the while Cameron is loving his role as interim music director at Luke and Manny's school, and he is taking on the upcoming spring musical performance with a little too much zest and fervor. After being pitched with the new songs that Cameron made for the show, Mitchell criticizes that they are too complicated for the children to learn by that night, which bothers Cameron. Mitchell then promises that he will always be supportive no matter what. During rehearsals Manny asks Mitchell to deal with Cameron and his overbearing production, but Mitchell refuses, but he does tell Manny what to say to Cameron, who at the end does not listen to the children and imposes his show on them. The closing of the show involves the children displaying letters that form the phrase "We love the world," and the letter "F" (representing Franklin Middle School) coming down from the sky. When the show starts, the children are exhausted but continue with it, but things start to go awry when Luke cannot land because the machinery gets stuck, and the props start to fail all over. During the show Donnie starts playing pranks on Jay, which infuriates Gloria in such a manner that she hits Donnie, but Jay asks her not to do so because Donnie has cancer. Donnie walks out the auditorium followed by Jay, who wants to apologize, Donnie tells his brother that the reason he did not tell him is because he did not want to be treated differently because he gets enough of it at home, so they go back to their old rough ways. Meanwhile, Mitchell goes outside of the auditorium to scream all the objections that he has on the show and recomposes himself to go back and support Cameron. The show still goes on with a number of mishaps, including an accident involving Joan of Arc
and a fire extinguisher
. As the finale comes up, the children rise their letters but since Luke is stuck still hovering over the world, the phrase reads "We love the word," which turns worse when the "F" comes down, ending with the phrase "We love the F word
." Among a shocked audience, the only one enthusiastically clapping is Mitchell.
As everyone leaves, Claire discovers that Phil has disappeared and has been trying to rip the wrapping off with no success, so she finally sees the reason why men have been honking at her all day long. Her her anger is somewhat appeased, however, when Phil tells her that out of 30 calls, about 20 to 25 were for the "hot blonde," assuring her that her best years are not gone yet.
his twelfth directing credit for the series. It features the first appearance of Jonathan Banks
as Jay's brother, Donnie. The episode was filmed between February 1, and February 2, 2011.
" and made it the lowest rated episode of the second season. Despite this, it became the second highest rated program on Wednesday after American Idol
. The episode also became the third highest rated scripted program of the week behind NCIS
and The Office.
s Rachel Maddux wrote that while two storylines were funny one felt "tacked on" commenting that it felt like "like a bad fake beard in a school play that you really want to watch but can't because two old dudes are fighting outside the gymnatorium". Christine Ziemba of Paste
wrote that the episode "tried to cram in way too much for its three storylines" and mainly criticized Cameron and Mitchell's plotline writing that "[the plot] was supposed to be the focal point of the episode, but it fell flat". She ultimately rated it a 6.7/10, calling it a "respectable" episode.
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 43rd episode overall. It originally aired on April 13, 2011 on American Broadcasting Company
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...
(ABC). The episode was written by Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh 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, 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...
) takes control of the spring musical at Luke (Nolan Gould
Nolan Gould
Nolan Gould is an American child actor best known for his starring role as Luke Dunphy on the ABC comedy Modern Family. He is the brother of Aidan Gould-Acting career:...
) and Manny's (Rico Rodriguez) school, while Jay's brother (Jonathan Banks
Jonathan Banks
Jonathan Ray Banks is an American actor in film and television.Banks was born in Washington, D.C. in 1947. His mother worked for the CIA. Banks attended Indiana University Bloomington where he was a classmate of Kevin Kline...
) pays him a visit, and Phil (Ty Burrell
Ty Burrell
- External links :*...
) tries to get the family to be in his new real estate advertisement.
"The Musical Man" received mixed reviews from critics. According to Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
, the episode was viewed by 9.6 million households and received a 3.9 rating/10% share in the 18-49 demographic marking a fourteen percent drop in the ratings from the previous episode, "Boys' Night
Boys' Night
"Boys' Night" is the eighteenth episode of the American comedy television series, Modern Familys second season. The episode was written by series co-creator Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman, and was directed by Chris Koch. It also featured the return appearance of Nathan Lane as Pepper Saltsman,...
".
Plot
At the Pritchett-Delgados', Jay is expecting Donnie, his brother, to arrive for a visit. He is preparing a prank involving a picture of his butt. When Donnie arrives the two get into a friendly fight because it foils Jay's plan involving his picture. All day long Jay is arranging heavy pranks on his brother over Gloria's protests that they do not know each other after Jay did not know who is Michelle, his brother's granddaughter or even where he lives. After being berated by Gloria, Jay tries to get closer to his brother but he assumes that his wife Irene opened her mouth letting him know that he had prostate cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
but that it was detected on time, these news affect Jay very much but his brother asks him to keep it a secret.
Phil has had a poster made with a picture of his entire family and has had the family van wrapped
Wrap advertising
Wrap advertising is the marketing practice of completely or partially covering a vehicle in an advertisement or livery, thus turning it into a mobile billboard. This can be achieved by simply painting the vehicle surface, but it is becoming more common today to use large vinyl sheets as decals...
in order to advertise his real estate business, saying that his best assets are his family and his teeth, both of which can be seen in an ad that reads "I cannot be satisfied until you are satisfied, let me make your dreams come true." Haley's SAT scores are posted on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
; the scores turn out to be average, granting her possibilities at numerous colleges, but she shocks her parents by telling them that she does not want to go to college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
, much to Alex's delight. Claire then arranges to have lunch with Haley and use the opportunity to talk her into going to college. As they climb into the newly wrapped van
Van
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
, they fail to notice that the advertisement in its wrapped form shows Claire under the motto "I cannot be satisfied," while the side with Haley's photo reads only "Let me make your dreams come true." Claire uses the opportunity to talk very positively about college life, causing her to begin to wonder if her best years are past her. Meanwhile, Phil has had many calls asking about the ad, but he makes such general references about what he is advertising that his callers still believe that he is selling sex services. Alex lets him know about the true intention of the callers after receiving an e-mailed photo of the van. At that same moment Claire calls, and Phil realizes that she still has not seen the ad yet, so he runs to the school where he will be meeting Claire for Luke and Manny's show.
All the while Cameron is loving his role as interim music director at Luke and Manny's school, and he is taking on the upcoming spring musical performance with a little too much zest and fervor. After being pitched with the new songs that Cameron made for the show, Mitchell criticizes that they are too complicated for the children to learn by that night, which bothers Cameron. Mitchell then promises that he will always be supportive no matter what. During rehearsals Manny asks Mitchell to deal with Cameron and his overbearing production, but Mitchell refuses, but he does tell Manny what to say to Cameron, who at the end does not listen to the children and imposes his show on them. The closing of the show involves the children displaying letters that form the phrase "We love the world," and the letter "F" (representing Franklin Middle School) coming down from the sky. When the show starts, the children are exhausted but continue with it, but things start to go awry when Luke cannot land because the machinery gets stuck, and the props start to fail all over. During the show Donnie starts playing pranks on Jay, which infuriates Gloria in such a manner that she hits Donnie, but Jay asks her not to do so because Donnie has cancer. Donnie walks out the auditorium followed by Jay, who wants to apologize, Donnie tells his brother that the reason he did not tell him is because he did not want to be treated differently because he gets enough of it at home, so they go back to their old rough ways. Meanwhile, Mitchell goes outside of the auditorium to scream all the objections that he has on the show and recomposes himself to go back and support Cameron. The show still goes on with a number of mishaps, including an accident involving Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
and a fire extinguisher
Fire extinguisher
A fire extinguisher or extinguisher, flame entinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations...
. As the finale comes up, the children rise their letters but since Luke is stuck still hovering over the world, the phrase reads "We love the word," which turns worse when the "F" comes down, ending with the phrase "We love the F word
Fuck
"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...
." Among a shocked audience, the only one enthusiastically clapping is Mitchell.
As everyone leaves, Claire discovers that Phil has disappeared and has been trying to rip the wrapping off with no success, so she finally sees the reason why men have been honking at her all day long. Her her anger is somewhat appeased, however, when Phil tells her that out of 30 calls, about 20 to 25 were for the "hot blonde," assuring her that her best years are not gone yet.
Production
"The Musical Man" was written by Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh. This episode marked their seventh script collaboration together. The episode was 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 twelfth directing credit for the series. It features the first appearance of Jonathan Banks
Jonathan Banks
Jonathan Ray Banks is an American actor in film and television.Banks was born in Washington, D.C. in 1947. His mother worked for the CIA. Banks attended Indiana University Bloomington where he was a classmate of Kevin Kline...
as Jay's brother, Donnie. The episode was filmed between February 1, and February 2, 2011.
Ratings
In its original American broadcast, "The Musical Man" was viewed by an estimated 9.608 million households and received a 3.9 rating/10% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This marked a fourteen percent drop in the ratings from the previous episode, "Boys' NightBoys' Night
"Boys' Night" is the eighteenth episode of the American comedy television series, Modern Familys second season. The episode was written by series co-creator Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman, and was directed by Chris Koch. It also featured the return appearance of Nathan Lane as Pepper Saltsman,...
" and made it the lowest rated episode of the second season. Despite this, it became the second highest rated program on Wednesday after American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
. The episode also became the third highest rated scripted program of the week behind NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
and The Office.
Reviews
The episode received mixed reviews from critics. TV Squad writer Joel Keller called the episode "one of the best episodes of the season" praising the show's use of character humor writing that "a show can slide into after almost two high-ly-acclaimed seasons." He also praised the ending featuring the kids holding up the sign "We Love The F Word" writing that it was "was one of those classic farcical moments where every little element came together to a really funny crescendo." New YorkNew York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
s Rachel Maddux wrote that while two storylines were funny one felt "tacked on" commenting that it felt like "like a bad fake beard in a school play that you really want to watch but can't because two old dudes are fighting outside the gymnatorium". Christine 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 the episode "tried to cram in way too much for its three storylines" and mainly criticized Cameron and Mitchell's plotline writing that "[the plot] was supposed to be the focal point of the episode, but it fell flat". She ultimately rated it a 6.7/10, calling it a "respectable" episode.
External links
- "The Musical Man" at ABC.com