Moon Landing (Modern Family)

For other uses, see Moon landing (disambiguation).

"Moon Landing"
Modern Family episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 14
Directed by	Jason Winer
Written by	Bill Wruber
Production code	1ARG13
Original air date	February 3, 2010
Guest stars
Minnie Driver as Valerie
Season 1 episodes
2009–2010 "Pilot" "The Bicycle Thief" "Come Fly With Me" "The Incident" "Coal Digger" "Run for Your Wife" "En Garde" "Great Expecations" "Fizbo" "Undeck the Halls" "Up All Night" "Not in My House" "Fifteen Percent" "Moon Landing" "My Funky Valentine" "Fears" "Truth Be Told" "Starry Night" "Game Changer" "Benched" "Travels with Scout" "Airport 2010" "Hawaii" "Family Portrait"   Season 2 →
Episode chronology
← Previous "Fifteen Percent" Next → "My Funky Valentine"
List of Modern Family episodes

"Moon Landing" is the fourteenth episode of the first season of Modern Family. The episode was originally scheduled to premiere on ABC on January 27, 2010, but it was preempted by the State of the Union address and pushed back a week to February 3, 2010.^[1]

The episode was written by Bill Wruber and directed by Jason Winer. The episode aired in the United States on February 3, 2010 on ABC and achieved a Nielsen rating of 3.9/10, attracting 9.07 million viewers. The episode received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Claire (Julie Bowen) feels inadequate when she meets up with her old work colleague Valerie (Minnie Driver). Jay (Ed O'Neill) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) play racquetball at Jay's gym, and they have a disturbing locker room moment. Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) tries to help Gloria (Sofía Vergara) with a legal issue after she gets into a car crash. Things get a little ugly when Manny tells Mitchell that it was all his moms fault. When Mitchell brings the possibility up, Gloria accuses them of being stereotypical and says that she doesn't need Mitchell to be her lawyer anymore. After storming out, Gloria rushes back in to apologize. She asked Mitchell for help again after crashing into a restaurant while she was attempting to leave.

Cultural references

• Claire calls Phil Mario while he's wearing the mustache.
• Haley's boyfriend Dylan tries to win her back by standing outside her window playing music on his iPod. When Haley's father, Phil, comments "Oh, I get it, Say Anything!", Dylan doesn't get the movie reference, and instead just says "Anything."
• Luke and Phil have an argument about Rick Astely's song "Never Gonna Give You Up," a reference to the cultural meme rickrolling.

Reception

The episode surprisingly survived against American Idol with 9.194 million viewers and a Nielsen rating of 3.9/11.^[2] The episode ranked 14 in the 18–49 rating, but couldn't break the top 20 in total viewership.^[3] The episode got favorable reviews. Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode an 8, saying that it was "Impressive" and "If any one of these story lines had been given more time within the episode, their comic potential could have been better fulfilled. It's possible Valerie could have become more of a character than a cutout. Jay could have had more time to deal with, and more politically incorrect things to say about, his butt bump. But as it were, though the stories were less than fulfilling, Modern Family still delivered a decent amount of laughs."^[4] Jason Hughes of TV Squad gave it a positive review saying that "Sometimes I wonder if I could just write up a review of 'Modern Family' by listing all of the great quotes that come out of this show. Line for line, this has to be one of the cleverest series on television today. Even the episode title, 'Moon Landing,' recalls a great moment".^[5] Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave it a B+, saying fans of the ABC hit Lost would be satisfied by the episode.^[6] Lesley Savage of Entertainment Weekly gave it a positive review saying that "Could last night’s episode of Modern Family been any funnier? I mean, I may as well have transcribed the entire episode, because every line had me practically running to my own Porta-Potty. While the whole clan had their side-splitting moments — hello Cam and Jay’s moon landing, which is apparently not as bad as a splashdown — the Dunphy family stole the evening".^[7]

References

1. ^ Robert Seidman (2010-01-18). "4-Featured, Broadcast TV: State of the Union Scheduled For January 27; Look For Human Target To Get Bumped". TV By the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/01/18/state-of-the-union-scheduled-for-january-27-look-for-human-target-to-get-bumped/39248. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
2. ^ Bill Gorman (2010-02-04). "TV Ratings: Wednesday Broadcast Final Ratings; Idol Ticks Up, Ugly Betty Ticks Down". TV By the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/02/04/wednesday-broadcast-final-ratings-idol-ticks-up-ugly-betty-ticks-down/41128. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
3. ^ Robert Seidman (2010-02-09). "TV Ratings: Super Bowl XLIV, Post Game and Undercover Boss Dominate Weekly Viewing". TV By the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/02/09/tv-ratings-super-bowl-xliv-post-game-and-undercover-boss-dominate-weekly-viewing/41481. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
4. ^ Robert Canning (2010-02-04). "Modern Family: "Moon Landing" Review". IGN.com. http://tv.ign.com/articles/106/1066610p1.html. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
5. ^ Jason Hughes (2010-02-04). "Review: Modern Family - Moon Landing". TVSquad.com. http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/02/04/review-modern-family-moon-landing-recap/. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
6. ^ Donna Bowman (2010-02-03). ""Moon Landing" : Modern Family". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/moon-landing,37861/. Retrieved 2010=03-11. 
7. ^ Lesley Savage (2010-02-04). "'Modern Family' recap: The low two". EW.com. http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/02/04/modern-family-recap-the-low-two/. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 

External links

• "Moon Landing" at ABC.com
• "Moon Landing" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Moon Landing" at TV.com