Jay Strong News

So, guys. The dog ate my recap and I— nope. Just kidding. April Fool's. (Sorry… I had to do that, and that was the only thing I could think of!) Here's what went down with our favorite TV family this week:

So, as you probably already know, MODFAM covered a whole lotta ground this week, making progress in terms of plot and character, fleshing out this family we've come to know and love over the past six years. Here's what went down: Cam & Mitch's storyline follows the two of them attempting to alter Lily's choice of song for the upcoming talent show; as they explain in their confessional, they don't want her performing 'cause she's tone-deaf and can't sing. First off, glad to see Cam back at the piano! (These are the countries... these are the countries :p). Nice bit of continuity there. It's soon revealed that the whole scheme is not so much about Cam saving Lily from embarrassment as it is about him saving himself from embarrassment from his rival, Andrew.

It's an exciting episode of MODERN FAMILY this week — and this one takes the “modern” to a whole new level. Yes, as the much-hyped promos throughout the week have shown us, this episode was shot exclusively using the iPhone (and the occasional MacBookPro in some shots). It created an interesting dynamic. My recap, as always, is below: The episode opens up in the middle of an argument between Haley and Claire, and Claire's trying to patch things up via iChat before she boards a flight, and she's trying to piece together where Haley might be.

Claire and Phil are traveling back from a camping trip with Phil's ex-cheerleading buddies (love those guys!!); while Phil's enjoyed himself, Claire's had an awful weekend, and jumps at the chance to upgrade to first-class — and separate herself from her husband — on the flight back. A funny premise made funnier when we see how this plot will be presented, with consistent back-and-forth from Claire's glamorous in-flight experience (a “beautiful stranger” offers her two chardonnays and a hot towel) to Phil's less-than-stellar one (he gets hit with a bag that falls from an overhead compartment on the way to his seat).

It's V-day on MODERN FAMILY, and what does that mean? The return of Clive and Juliana, of course! The alter-ego's fourth appearance (I don't believe Phil and Claire have brought them back since S3) may easily be one of their best, if not entirely because of the execution of this plot. At the start, Phil wants to bring back Clive and Juliana, but Claire doesn't. So, Phil drops the gag, and goes as himself for Valentine's. But it's quickly revealed that Claire's resistance was a ruse — she just wanted to separate herself from her sexier doppleganger. So, the night ends up being Phil and Juliana — brilliant! Claire's at her naughtiest and Phil's just… Phil. A pairing you can't help but laugh at!

Hey, all. Hope you enjoyed your short, mid-winter hiatus, and now the TV gods have rewarded our suffering by giving us a full month of new episodes! That's right, new episodes — one every week this month! Let the rejoicing begin! Here we go with the first one up: After Gloria (and the allergist) suspects Joe's allergic to Stella, she's sent away to live with Mitch and Cam for a week, much to Jay's chagrin. He's overly attached to the dog, and feels like he's lost her to Cam. (Some fantastic one-liners in their conversation while Cam's at the dog park, though they may not have had to do with the dog — haha!) Jay tries to win her back in several ways, one being the check-up in the aforementioned phone call, the other being a particularly hilarious scene where he cooks his baby a steak dinner — “You don't know what I'm competing with over there,. Cameron's wooing her with belly rubs, jewelry, kisses on the mouth…” See, I know Jay's over-affection for the dog (especially over his family) may seem a bit — nay, a lot — irrational, but Ed O'Neill plays this irrationality so well that you laugh at what he says rather than reprimand what he does.

In the Dunphy household, Claire vows to fight back against new neighbors Ronnie and Amber, for parking their boat—which she calls an “eyesore”—in their driveway. When she and Phil go to see them about the issue, and they don't back down, Phil calls his father (Fred Willard), and a few of Frank's friends, for backup. And… it backfired.

Hey y'all. Welcome back and happy new year! It's time to dive into ModFam 2015! On the first episode of the New Year, the Dunphys experience a near-collision at an intersection that makes each one of them reconsider the way in which they live their life; and they each vow to make a difference, which, of course, lead to a variety of cockamamy consequences.

It's Haley's 21st, and the adults (read: Claire) want to take her out to a bar to celebrate. In the midst of the celebration, when Haley pins her mother down on the subject of not being treated like an adult, Claire attempts to become her daughter's “friend,” to hilarious results. This was the best plot of the night — made better by Gloria's quips boosting Haley's suggestions to the next level. (The line, “They also have piercings!” when Claire was hugging Haley made me spit out my drink!) While the tattoo adventure/Claire being Haley's friend, may not have ended as Claire had hoped, what happened between the inciting incident and the result was a continuation of the fantastic development for these characters. I love the sense of realness Hyland and Bowen bring to this relationship, and how we've seen it grow from the first season. Haley's much more fleshed out and not just your “typical older teenage daughter” (well, obviously not anymore, she's 21)… and we've seen Hyland provide incredible examples of that all season. Now, we're starting to get into more of how Claire will treat her adult daughter as a result. It's really nice, and these two give amazing performances, so I'm hoping to see that continue in the second half of the season and beyond.

Hi folks! Now that we're all filled up on turkey and stuffed to the brim with pumpkin pie, it's time to settle in for the final two MODERN FAMILY episodes of the year. First up this week, 1 of 2. In the Dunphy household, Alex claims to have a boyfriend, but the rest of the family's in denial. Question: Why does the family have to doubt/make fun of Alex in all the episodes with Dunphy plots that center around her? That said, this one does work better than the other Alex-centered-family-picks-on-her episode from earlier this year, and I love how Haley's roped into it with Claire's digs at Dylan (read: “Bigfoot” “Still better than Dylan”). The best part of this plot was the visual cues Phil and Claire discovered when Alex was speaking of her rebound, Teddy Keys who worked at Mattress King. Really well done, and funny (especially “Leave!” as Phil pulls out a leaf — what?!) Great plot this week!

It's the MODFAM Thanksgiving episode, and, as expected, there's a whole lot of turkeys present this week (three to be exact). Luckily, this episode wasn't one of them. :-) As I said on Halloween, generally, holiday episodes that continuously repeat holidays well into their run (like, six seasons in) may grow stale, as the holiday doesn't change and in a show's sixth season, creators may find less original storylines that haven't already been used up, say, last Thanksgiving. But, not the case with MODERN FAMILY, who, in their — give or take — sixth seasonal outing, gives us an original — and hilarious — storyline, that, again, was anything but a turkey. The episode provided a nice balance of Thanksgiving-centered stories and mixed them in with stories that didn't have to do with the holiday, but still seamlessly bled into those storylines — that's why the writing on this show is sooooo genius! (Okay… anyone have a count on how many times I've said that?!)

Without my MODERN FAMILY fix last week — the timeslot was given to some huge Country Music Awards show — I was extra eager to see what the Pritchetts and Dunphys were up to this week. Well, folks, with Cam and Mitch involved in a jealous rivalry again, Gloria partaking in hijinks with a Spanish tutor, and of course, a double dose of guest stars in Andy DeVine and Michael Urie (who recently made his Broadway debut in 2011's HOW TO SUCCEED), it's safe to say that, overall, this week's outing did not disappoint.

It's the annual Halloween episode, and given MODERN FAMILY's previous Day of the Dead-themed outings, I've got high hopes for this one. Holiday episodes in general can go either way — because you've got a broad holiday that everyone can relate to, but then you have to tailor it to that specific show and those characters. Again, MODERN FAMILY has some pretty good outings, but with the holiday repeatedly coming every year, the decision to do a Halloween episode every season means continually having to work with this same formula — except that they then can't do what they did the previous year, but of course, are still working around the same holiday.

It's the moment you've all been waiting for, the moment pumped into our memories through various promos and press releases throughout the summer — the recurring neighbors have finally arrived!! I think it's nice that the show is injecting these new characters into the lives of the Dunphys. While I can't really say if it works out with just one episode aired — we'll certainly see in the long run — I think these new characters, for better or worse (hopefully for better) will breathe new life into the show, providing new plot lines for the Dunphys that we may not have ever seen before. Ronny specifically seems like the anti-Phil, so it'll be especially fun to see how goofy, crazy dad we love sizes up to/plays against his neighbor.

This week's episode moves the Dunphys from their house to “the last room at a hotel nearby”; as Claire explains in the opening confessional, they have to vacate the house — for one night — as it's treated for mold. Claire's thinking positively about the family-of-five sharing a room — again, it's only for one night — though a cut to the hotel shows us their stay's been delayed; it's day five, and it's looking anything but the positive experience Claire was hoping for: Luke and Alex butt heads when he interferes with her cello practice, while Claire and Haley quarrel about sharing WiFi usage; Luke then turns on a blender which sets off the dogs in the room next door (which they can hear due to the ever-cliché paper-thin walls). Oh, yes. And in the middle of all this, Phil's found a Charleston Chew, which — to give you a clearer idea of the state of the motel (if you couldn't already tell) — advertises a contest from 2005. The night doesn't get any better, wherein the various members of the family have to climb over each other to exit the bed; except for Luke, who sleeps in the tub. With the single flush of a toilet, the neighboring dogs begin to bark, and the cycle begins again. Yes, the humor here is a bit forced, but it does set up a good storyline, which I'm interested to see played out.

Just a note before I begin: as the world's biggest hypochondriac, I rarely watch episodes of TV shows where any character is sick (in fact, “Chirp” — the Season 2 episode where Claire was last sick — is still the only episode in the MODERN FAMILY canon I have not re-watched). Still, as I recall being said in an early interview with Ty Burrell, Chris Lloyd & Steve Levitan (Phil and the show's creators), seeing a character sick means you're seeing them physically weaker, which, strange as it may sound, is a different side to the character. Thus, providing a whole episode about a family illness shows the depths the creators are going to expose these characters' different sides. And to have it be a MAJOR plot point in this week's episode — rather than in “Chirp” where it was just a different thing (for lack of a better word) for the character to have — shows the creators going the extra step, and with such hilarious results, is something I appreciate, despite the fact that I'm fully aware I'll be tuning in to Claire with the sniffles and characters talking about DayQuil usage and headaches.

Regis Galerie, a high-end art collections boutique located in The Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian, hosts an exclusive signing event featuring Spanish porcelain company Lladro, March 8-10, 2013. Rosa Lladro, president of the world-renowned company, will make a special appearance today, March 10 from 2-4 p.m.

Regis Galerie, a high-end art collections boutique located in The Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian, will host an exclusive signing event featuring Spanish porcelain company Lladro, March 8-10, 2013. Rosa Lladro, president of the world-renowned company, will make a special appearance on Sunday, March 10 from 2-4 p.m.

Los Angeles-based teen entrepreneurs Emily Matson and Julianne Goldmark, the duo behind Emi-Jay, Inc., announced their 2013 partnership with Step Up Women's Network. Founded in 2008, the luxe hair accessory company partners with Step Up Women's Network to encourage girls across the nation to fulfill their goals and unlock their ultimate career potential.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Divas on parade: Menzel, Cook, Hudson, Luker and Mazzie, plus the new year's offerings from Broadway In Chicago and local productions of 'Fame,' 'Little Shop' and more!....