More Modern Family and Disneyland: Jay

Other than our great affinity for the park and the show, there is another reason I think about that episode a lot.

I generally watch shows that I am the only one at home who watches. We are all joined up on sitcoms now, and we all watch "Jeopardy!" together, but otherwise there is no one to discuss the shows with. Sometimes I would want to, and I would visit the forums at Televisionwithoutpity.com.

The site is closed now, but honestly the forums were often disappointing depending on the show. Sometimes they would be cliquish, and if you weren't either a regular contributor or really apologetic about barging in on their party, they would shun you. Sometimes a forum would be mainly innuendos. Also, sometimes, the forum was mainly comprised of hate watchers, who really just watch so they can post about everything wrong with the show. "Modern Family" had a lot of hate watchers, and they hated the ending of the "Disneyland" episode.

There is a story that Jay is recounting through the episode of a time when he took Claire and Mitchell to Disneyland when they were kids. It was supposed to be a family trip, but he and his wife had a fight because he accidentally taped over an episode of "Dallas" so DeDe didn't go. While at Disneyland he decided to get a divorce, but the last thing they did was "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" and somehow it convinced him to stay. Also throughout the episode, Claire and Mitchell tease him for crying then, which he brushes off as it being the greatest president, and his first robot.

As he wraps up the story, Gloria calls him from off screen to come join her in the Jacuzzi, and Jay smiles and finishes by saying that the universe rewarded him, so the forum posters were disgusted by this dirty old man.

While it is clearly not all there is to their relationship, Jay does enjoy having a hot wife, and he enjoys having the money where they can have a Jacuzzi and things like that. It was still clearly not all that he meant. It was cute to see him once more in "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln", one child on either side, and in-laws and grand kids surrounding. It was even better to see him hold his children closer, and to see them think it was weird but then settle in and enjoy it.

More than that, and I probably wouldn't have even noticed if we hadn't watched the episode multiple times, it is cool to see how content Jay is in the park. You don't see him go on a single ride, but he steps in and grabs Lily when she is running, kissing her on the top of her head, and then he offers his help to Mitchell. He tries to make some points to Claire that she is not hearing, but he also throws in a silly joke, and is listening to her. He is also really nice to Phil, who is often seen to get on his nerves. And he finds a way to take care of Gloria's feet despite her best efforts. Jay loves and enjoys his family.

It is not hard to imagine that in the real world situation a divorce would have led to the kids being with the wife, and growing apart from their father. He might have remarried earlier, and gotten a similar relationship to the one with DeDe and ended up with at least one other ex, and a more fractured family.

He does say that staying might not be right for everyone, but that it was right for him. It is also widely acknowledged that Jay is not a perfect father, but you do see him often rising to the occasion. The family has its rough patches, which is normal, but they also love and enjoy each other. Maybe it would have gone over better if he had said, "and things worked out", or something like that, but ultimately I take it as that staying with DeDe was hard, but he felt he needed to so he did it, and it had been worth it. There was still going to be a happy marriage in his future, and his kids, and good family times.

I like the episode a lot. It's part of a show that I like in a place that I like, so there is good synergy there.  Hate watcher would probably be happier if they focused on something they liked instead.

However, if anyone wishes to talk about shows at any point, I am open to that. Current sitcoms we watch are "Modern Family" and "Big Bang Theory", as well as reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond", along with some "Golden Girls" and "Designing Women". We have a lot of love for "My Name Is Earl" too, but my sisters have only seen Season 1, and I have only seen through Season 2. For older sitcoms, I am on my own in my love for "Scrubs" and "News Radio".

I will not only discuss "Jeopardy!" episodes with you, but answer questions about my own appearance.

For current dramas, I am alone in my love for "Grimm", "Person of Interest", "Once Upon A Time", and "White Collar". We all loved "The A-Team" equally, and I would not mind reminiscing over "The Scarecrow And Mrs. King", "Going To Extremes", "Twin Peaks", or "The Young Riders". I can discuss my past love for "Law & Order: SVU", followed by my growing contempt for it, but then I gave up on it, rather than hate-watching, and I feel that was for the best.

And, as long as I'm putting it out there, in addition to quoting a lot from the three sitcoms we have in common and "The A-Team", we also tend to quote and reference the following movies frequently: Dodgeball, The Birdcage, Outrageous Fortune, Spaceballs, and As Good As It Gets.