Modern Family (TV Series) Baby on Board (2012) User Reviews

I'm telling you it's mighty nice, each trip's a trip to paradise, with my Baby on Board

[gizmomogwai · 8/10 · 26 May 2012]

And so season 3 of Modern Family comes to an end, with fewer great episodes than seasons 1 and 2 but with enough good episodes and reasonable consistency to make the Blu-ray somewhat tempting. Baby on Board is in a way a climactic moment as Haley's prom and replies to college applications arrive and as Cam and Mitch get news they're getting their second baby.

Alas, the baby storyline falls through and poor Cam and Mitch are back at pretty much where they were at the season 2 finale. It's a surprise but a fairly disappointing one. Nevertheless, it is handled well. Right off the bat I'll say it's nice to see them together for a whole episode without them constantly bickering; their perpetual state of fighting began to get tiresome this season. The soap opera parody was funny in a zany kind of way. But of course it's also tragic, and the episode allows Cam and Mitch to have their reaction, with a bittersweet scene in which Cam calls Mitch his rock.

At the Dunphy household (my favourite one), Haley is skipping her prom but Alex is actually going with an older boy. Alex should be about 15 now, an age where she understandably wants to be taken seriously as a woman, annoyed when the family laughs off her threats to sleep with her date. Still, Phil calling his underage daughter sexy was a delightfully awkward moment. Despite wanting to be seen as matured, however, Alex isn't really ready for sex, as evident when her prom date turns out to be gay. It's a shame to see this storyline just evaporate after 8 minutes, but of course there's only so much you can fit into a sitcom episode. Meanwhile, Haley seems to also be acting more mature, impressing Phil and Claire until they learn Haley wants to move in with Dylan. Phil's warnings about the consequences are bizarre, but funny.

Meanwhile, the end of the episode delivers the biggest twist of all- Gloria is pregnant! This is obviously going to have a major impact on the show, with the main cast growing even bigger, and one hopes the show can adapt well to it. Jay, in particular, will have to adjust to being an elderly parent of a newborn. I'm not sure what to expect for season 4; hopefully they won't let us down. At any rate, Baby on Board is itself a nice episode, consistently funny, and well written by Abraham Higginbotham.

Life as a Mexican telenovela

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 2 July 2012]

The end of the 2011-2012 season is loaded with a lot of ideas which are developed into the screenplay written by Abraham Higginbottom and directed by Steven Levitan, one of the creators of this entertaining sitcom. It shows generosity in the part of the creators of this wonderful series that in almost all the episodes the whole cast gets to participate.

Mitchell and Cameron are besides themselves with the prospect of being the parents of a Mexican boy being born in a border town. The partners are not prepared to deal with the situation they find once they get to the hospital. They end up broken hearted in the middle of what plays as one of those Mexican 'telenovelas' in which the ridiculous plots involve all kinds of craziness, as it is the case when Cam and Mitch find they are out of their league trying to understand what is really going on. It is a good thing they brought Gloria to help them translate what is really going on.

At Phil and Claire's there are proms going on. Alex, the studious girl, has no desire to go to her party. Because of her parents, she decides to go, albeit reluctantly with a young man that is clearly gay. Haley, in the meantime, has ideas of her own. Not having been admitted to a college, she must first, find a job, and then, since she will be earning some money, she is thinking of becoming independent so that she and Dylan can move together.

Jay and Many are left to their own devices when Gloria leaves with Mitch and Cam. What's more, the two have to deal with the young Lily, who does not want to go to her ballet class recital. Jay must act quickly if he wants the girl dancing. At the end of the episode there are some wonderful news coming from Gloria, which will, no doubt, be explored in the next season of the series.

The creators of the program have kept things moving at a steady pace. It is obvious they keep a tight control in what is being shown, finding a nice balance between some current issues and the fun created for the audience's entertainment. One can only look forward to the new season for more fun.

Season Three

[zkonedog · 9/10 · 4 July 2019]

Usually, my reviews tend to be more verbose than others here on Amazon. I really like to explain why I liked or disliked a certain product or service. In the case of Season Three of "Modern Family", however, I am going to keep it short and sweet.

In a nutshell, I loved this season because it is still hilariously funny. While shot in a formula akin to "The Office" (looks to the camera, individual interviews, etc.), Modern Family doesn't even have the character development of those early "Office" seasons to bolster itself. Instead, it does it on straight comedy. The characters do basically the same things that they have been doing the past two seasons, but they are still just as funny as ever!

Obviously, there is some character development that keeps the show from being completely stagnant, but it really is very little. The show is still centered on the three main families and their crazy antics.

Thus, because dissecting comedy is the simplest and surest way to ruin it, that's about all I have to say about the third season of Modern Family. It's still funny...and that is the highest compliment I can give it. I can't wait for the next season to arrive in my mailbox!

A charming and well paced episode

[asifrahman-76909 · 8/10 · 14 September 2023]

Modern Family is a charming witty show that is full of loveable, three dimensional characters. I feel that in season 3, the writers have done well to create relatable storylines for the cast.

This episode is no exception.

The main plot sees Cam and Mitchell head off to a hospital in California to meet and bring home their new son. The baby's family happens to be Spanish-speaking, therefore Gloria is asked to come and help translate. When they arrive however, in typical 'MF' fashion, things start to get rapidly out of hand. There's a surprising and emotional speech from Mitchell in the last 5 minutes, which I thought was very expertly written - it perfectly highlights the struggles gay couples can face in trying to adopt.

Lily is left with Jay and Manny meanwhile. The two drive her to a dance recital, when Lily gets cold feet. This plot was OK but not that interesting.

At the Dunphys, Haley is trying to prove to her parents that she can live with Dylan. Phil and Claire are not pleased and sceptical. But things turn out well, as Haley finds out she got in to community college.

Luke is great despite not having too much to say though he is involved. Alex is going to prom meaning she's absent for most of the episode.

All in all, I found it a rather deep and good episode.

S3: I still think it is far too polished for its own good, but it provides good laughs and amusement with loads of great comic performances

[bob the moo · 6 March 2015]

Thinking back over season 3 of Modern Family, there is a lot to bemoan, and this surprised me because it was a season that I pretty much enjoyed from start to finish. The main things that stick with me was that the plots were normally were compartmentalized and didn't always flow through the season so much as provide bite-sized situations; this of course is the way of the situation comedy, but many of them seemed quite outlandish rather than being organic from the life of a family. That said – they mostly still work when they are on the screen, and it is only after as I though back through the episodes that I felt that maybe the actual situations were not as good as they had seemed.

This is also a positive to the show, because in the vast majority of episodes, even if the specifics of the plot are weak, the delivery rarely is. It is a double-edged sword but everything is very well crafted and polished so that the dialogue is sharp, the characters well observed, the timing spot-on, and the performances generally very strong. It is of course a big network sitcom so it has the resources, but then there are many in the same boat that do not produce such an effective end product – they have the polish but not the shine. Modern Family has both; I do continue to wish that it could be a little less manufactured and crafted, and that more organic material and rough edges were there, but I am not really thinking this while I am laughing through the episodes.

The cast are a big part of this – or at least the main ones. The delivery and timing from all of them is excellent and it is not really possible to pick out one of them as being the heart of the show – although personally Ty Burrell has the material that often requires the best timing and delivery. Even in the child cast the situation is the same – with Gould and Winter being very good, and Anderson-Emmons turning out to be much better than I expected her to be. With them being as good as they are, I was surprised to find so many guest cameos through the season; on one hand this works because the people are good, but it also adds to the feeling of the show being a big marketing deal, and pushing reasons to watch rather than just being organic and strong in itself. Maybe I read too much into that, but even though I enjoyed the guests, I didn't always appreciate their presence.

I guess complaining about a flagship network sitcom being polished and glossy is a bit like yelling at water for being wet, and it is hard to make it such a big deal when really the show delivers such good laughs and entertainment thanks to how well crafted it is, and how good the timing and delivery is from the cast. I'm not really a network sitcom viewer, but I do like this one a lot.

Not a bad episode, good.

[moviesrme10 · 7/10 · 19 October 2013]

This was a pretty decent episode. I liked the on going relationship of gay couple, Cam, and Mitchel, it was great, you really understand there feelings. We also got a better character in, Haley Dunphy. She had good development altogetehr int his episode. There was this one thing i found a fail, and it was Alex's date to prom, a gay guy who doesn't know he's gay. It was extremely forced and very weird. I found when the Hispanic people were arguing int he hospital, funny. I donno why it just felt like Cam, and Mitchel were thrown into a Spanish soap opera. It was funny to me. Altogether a decent episode, not bad ending to the season. This is now the second episode of Modern Family that i have watched. Too bad we didn't get much from the other characters in this episode.