I doubt they'd go that far - they'd probably just have her transfer to a school out of state (MIT to reunite with Fig from the Christmas episode?) or possibly out of the country.

Promise me that those two or three Alex-centric episodes are at least within striking distance of "Under Pressure" in terms of quality (preferably at least one during November, February and/or May sweeps periods) and I'd actually buy into that. I'm not holding my breath for them to do that though.

Where Alex sleeps is one of those murky areas about her life that the show doesn't seem to give a hoot about clearing up - as best as I can tell she does still stay in the dorm with Maisie during the week (she did get Maisie a birthday present a few weeks ago - I doubt she'd do that if she was living at home…

1) He was on vacation.

I wish more was done with Manny and Joe this week - that had the makings of a cute little story that never really got fleshed out.

"Modern Family has still yet to find a way to integrate Alex into each episode."

Because if that's what the guy was going to do (i.e. try to fake out Phil and Mitch) I would think he'd have a harder time trying to convince them that a supermarket bag full of gummy bears would be drugged than if he just had the couple in a plain bag.

Was I the only one who thought the punchline to Phil and Mitch's story was going to be that the gummy bears would turn out to be placebos and that Phil and Mitch would just act weird only because they thought they were real?

If they keep under-utilizing Ariel I say more power to her if she gets a big check every week. (Not that I'd mind one bit if they'd give her more of a role and make her earn it…)

And Manny "stuck" him in the dog carrier…

She was probably referring to her community college (a/k/a a two-year school) stint (which she started in Season 5), not her brief time in a full four-year college she spent in Season 4.

Jay needs to install a stereo system that plays "Bad To The Bone" whenever he steps into his bathroom (with a newspaper tucked under his arm, naturally).

Come to think of it I like your choice better.

Alex saying "I don't matter" pretty much sums up her 6 3/4 seasons on the show, save for "Under Pressure" and the last part of last season when they actually gave her some focus. I'm not sure if that's what the reviewer is saying but if so I agree. It was actually a much sadder line out of context than in.

How unmemorable was this episode to me? The only thing of note was that Cam had a teacher named Mr. Kleezak - his first name didn't happen to be Walt, did it?

I guess if my computer freezes I'm screwed - mine doesn't have an "ew" key…

Too bad there isn't a Nobel prize for environmental excellence - because of their laudable efforts in recycling Modern Family's writers would be a shoo-in - just this week alone they recycled last week's power failure subplot and the frozen computer subplot.

OK, I'll admit I still haven't gotten over Phil killing Chickie a few weeks ago, but killing Phil is a little bit out there…

I'm about 99% sure that it was not a tape player - for one thing while it would be practical to have a radio that gets its power from turning a crank (so that one could get emergency information w/o electricity or batteries) it would be much, much less practical to use that form of power source for a tape player.

Oh, if something actually did happen they would not be let off the hook either - but it's Cam and Mitch who bear the brunt of responsibility (not just as parents, but as the hosts).