They had to come up with something - Judy Garland's been dead for quite some time now.

Agreed about how could they not know about Goodfellas, but, in fairness to them the other Ray Liotta movie references went over my head too.

The final scene in the restaurant saved this episode (barely) - it was pretty meh up until that point (though in fairness, 2016's first episode was nowhere near as bad as the disastrous "The Day We Almost Died" which started 2015).

I'm no expert, but does ABC really get that much money from syndicating this show? I would think 20th Century Fox and the show's producers get that money - the only benefit I think ABC would get is from any additional viewers who never watched the show before Season Five, saw it on USA or their local channel and…

Just under 80 degrees Fahrenheit (78.8 to be exact) in July is beautiful - in December, in the mountains (and with ridiculously warm coats like Phil's) though…

My best guess is next season - that gets them to Luke and Manny graduating from high school, and possibly finishing with the Haley and Andy wedding that seems almost inevitable now.

I'm not saying this in a "the show stinks now, time to wrap it up" way, but does Jay announcing his retirement start the countdown?

Jay's making some kind of an announcement in next week's Christmas episode - it's possible he could be retiring even sooner than you think.

At the time I thought it was a simple, giggle-worthy misunderstanding, but now the paranoid voice in my head (what?) is wondering if Haley knows something about Alex that we don't.

They should have gone to Alex's therapist (Dr. Clark) - he specializes in teenagers, and they were all acting like ones this week.

Fine - just don't hit me in the face with a lemon meringue pie :)

I doubt they'll write a college-themed story (or 1 at most) for Alex because it doesn't fit the show's structure to separate one character from the family for very long (i.e. they rarely let one character have much outside interaction without another family member present - the only long-term exception has been Haley…

He's the one who snuck up on and kissed Alex a couple of seasons ago in "Larry's Wife" (Luke was paying off a poker bet by helping him out), then later when Alex herself lost a poker bet to him she had to go out on a date with him.

She might have been dumbing things down a bit for Haley (based off Haley's blank stare it didn't work though) - according to CalTech's Newtonian Mechanics course website (http://www.its.caltech.edu/… free falling is discussed in an early lecture and the notes from the lecture are fairly involved.

Luke and Manny must have gone to visit Lily at that (seemingly on-going for a month now) sleepover…

Actually, I've never cared much for lemon meringue pie…

To me, the adult story played out a lot like the main theme of "The Breakfast Club" - a bunch of people forced to confront their feelings about each other (granted they are closer to each other than the kids started out in TBC). And like the movie, while it was OK it could have been much better - I give them credit…

"Get medical attention immediately if this sandwich causes you indigestion that lasts more than four hours…"

I'm about 98% sure Alex was being sarcastic when she called that meal a family tradition.

If Manny keeps stuffing Joe in the dog carrier I wouldn't blame him for turning out that way.