ABC’s comedy line-up returns from the winter hiatus tonight, which means an all new episode of Modern Family!

“Lifetime Supply” – After having a doctor’s visit but then missing the call with the test results, Phil automatically jumps to conclusions and starts saying his goodbyes. Meanwhile Javier pops up unannounced again and takes Manny to the horse races for a belated birthday celebration, and a subtle competition ensues when Mitchell brings home an environmental law award and it becomes a game of who has the bigger trophy, on Modern Family,WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4 (9:00-9:31 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

Source: CinemaBlend

O’Neill, who plays Mitchell and Claire’s father, Jay, addressed the controversy in an interview with PopEater. Calling from his Los Angeles home, he said he finds the complaint “half amusing, half annoying.” He noted that we haven’t seen Jay and his sexy young wife, Gloria (Sofia Vergara) kiss either. And, after 20 years of appearances in controversial comedies, O’Neill said that he sees such protests as just another form of show business, not to be taken seriously.

What do you think of the protests over Cameron and Mitchell’s muted displays of affection?
Oh, that’s so stupid. Who cares? When I hear that, it’s half amusing, half annoying. First of all, they’re the most conservative family of the three. Mitchell is a lawyer, and Cameron is a stay-at-home mom with a baby.

Stonestreet, who called the Facebook group “wasted energy,” also added: “We’re a show that obviously is forward- and progressive-thinking,” the star told us. “To adopt a baby on prime-time television is way more taboo than a kiss, and obviously Mitchell and Cameron are going to experience everything in their relationship. Unfortunately, I’ve been tweeted and sent messages saying that because I’m straight, I don’t get to have an opinion on that, which really disappoints me. I play the character and I think I get to have an opinion on it.”

Source: NY Mag

Any scoop on what’s in store for my favorite [MODERN] FAMILY as the season comes to a [tear] end? — Maya

The TV Addict: If this were any other show, we’d tease the fantastic May 19th season ender by revealing that… [cue ominous music]… nothing will ever be the same for America’s funniest family thanks to an unexpected intruder in Mitchell and Cam’s humble abode and a philandering Phil which culminates in a fight between the Dunphey/Pritchett clan that almost teas them apart. But since this isn’t a very special episode of LAW & ORDER, we’ll simply say the intruder is a bird, Phil is just being Phil, and America’s favorite family ends the season exactly how it started, on a high note.

Source: TV.com

Pop Eater has an article on TV’s best couple Cam and Mitch. Here is some of what they have to say:

In fact, we’re willing to argue that the lovable gay duo, played by Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, is the very best on the small screen right now.

Like all good couples, Cameron and Mitchell love and support one another. They may not make sense on paper — Cameron is flamboyant and outrageous, while Mitchell is more of a straight man (no pun intended) — but they’ve found a working balance between one another that gets them through even the most dire and embarrassing situations — like, you know, when Cameron decides that he wants to dress up like a clown, or when Mitchell wants to quit his job. As shown in the clip below, it all evens out eventually.

So, here’s to Cameron and Mitchell, the best — not to mention funniest — couple on television, who every Wednesday night make us more than happy to be part of their family.

If you have read my reviews…which I hope a few actually have…you will see that I like to break them up between families.

The Dunphys are encounter problems in the house when Phil decides to meet his ex-girl friend over to the house after she reconnected with him via Facebook. The laughs started whenPhil says that he dated other women besides mom.

Haley: “Oh my God, gross, I can’t even picture you with a woman.”
Claire: “Thank you.”

Phil: “Trust me, I had plenty of fun in my time. Then, I met your mom.”

Claire is obviously liking the idea of Phil meeting up with Denise for a bite to eat.

Claire: “Women in their 30s on the internet are like ninjas. They get in their little, black outfits and try to sneak their way into your marriage.”

Phil can see that so he invites her over to the house instead for drinks.

Alex and Luke are toying with each other throughout the episode. To get back for Luke earlier in the episode, Alex says that Luke was adopted and that the real reason Jay’s ex-girlfriend is coming over so he can meet his real mom. Luke leaves confused and Haley asks.

Haley: “Just because he called you a dork-to-dork salesman?”

Alex: “The empire strikes back.”

Once Denise arrives to the house she lays on the heavy advances toward Phil. When asking for directions to the bathroom out of earshot from Claire she asks.

Denise: “How are we going to do this?”

Phil: “I thought I’d just point at the door…,”

Denise: “Here’s a key to my hotel room.”

Denise then shoves the key card into his hand and leaves. Phil is left speechless and confused, classic Phil.

Claire doesn’t see the advances Denise is making on Phil. Alone in the kitchen Phil talks to Claire saying she wasn’t completely wrong.

Phil: “She wants me,”

Claire: “To do what?”

Phil: “It!  ME!” “She bit the air right in front of me!”

Claire thinks he is crazy and leaves the room. Denise eventually gets frustrated that her advances, etc. aren’t working on Phil and leaves the house.

Jay comes into the house holding a inspirational framed poster that says “What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.” But Manny disagrees.

Manny: “Lots of stuff that doesn’t kill you makes you weaker.”

Jay tries to hang the frame with the saying in Manny’s room but it ends up falling into the Shel Turtlesteins tank killing him. He tries to cover up what really happened saying that a raccoon broke into the house and killed the turtle. Manny leaves his room heartbroken after identifying the body. Gloria realizing something is up confronts Jay.

Gloria: “You lie. I’m Columbian, I know a fake crime scene when I see one.”

Gloria says that he has to come clean and tell Manny what happened but Jay disagrees.

Jay: “It was an accident, I’ve been through this before. When Mitchell was nine, I was supposed to take care of his bird. It got out and flew into a fan. It was like a bloody pillow fight.”

He continues, “To this day, Mitchell looks at me, I see him thinking ‘that’s the guy who killed Flyza Minnelli.”

Gloria says that he will find out and Jay contends he won’t because he covered his tracks. When realizing the name of the bird Jay wonders how he didn’t realize that his son was gay.

Later that night when going to bed Gloria is still upset that Jay hasn’t said anything to Manny.

Gloria: “Hard to sleep on a bed of lies, huh, Jay?”

Jay finally gives up and approaches Manny in his room. Manny is already waiting for him and knows that Jay wasn’t telling truth. Manny is confused why he lied but Jay says it’s because they have a good thing going between them and didn’t want to mess it up.

A life change happens to Cameron and Mitchell when Mitchell realizes that he has been missing too much family time because of all the work his boss is asking him to do.

Mitchell: “He’s the suckiest suck of all time.”

One of the scenes that made me laugh the most was when Mitchell and Cameron were trying to reenact to see if Mitchell’s boss overheard him on the phone in the car next to him.

Mitchell: “I sort of had to shout.”

Cameron: “You had to what?”

Mitchell: “Shout,”

Cameron: “A little bit louder now,”

Mitchell: “Shout.”

Cameron: “A little bit louder now.”

Mitchell: “Shout!!”

Cameron: “Hey-hey-ay-ee-ay-ee!” – Cameron singing

Mitchell realizes that Cameron can hear him and thinks that he is screwed with his boss.

Mitchell confronts his boss at work that day and tells him can’t work there anymore because he is missing too much time at home. After he arrives home and tells Cameron that he quit is job he is excited they can experience Lily and her “firsts.” After they watch her intently and she doesn’t do anything interesting Mitchell starts to panic thinking he will try and get his job back.

Mitchell: “I am going to do what I am trained to do. I am going to lie, grovel, debase myself until I get what I want. I am a lawyer, damn it.”

Cameron helps to calm him down and says they will be ok and figure something out.

California Chronicle has a story about Modern Family and its creator Steven Levitan. We really liked this quote from him:

One of the show’s strengths is that everyone has a different favorite character. “Someone will come up to me, he might be a big, burly trucker, and you think he’s going to say he likes the Ed O’Neill character. But he’ll say, ‘I really like Mitchell,’” the gay character played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson. “And I’ll think, I did not expect that from you. I get that all the time.”

Here is another important news:
Levitan and Lloyd will do 24 episodes this season, and then age the family naturally for next season. After producing iconic series like “Frasier,” which ran for 12 seasons, the prospect of doing the same with “Modern Family” is daunting, to say the least.

“It makes us feel like we’re at the base of K-2,” Levitan says. “We’re just trying to make it to the next destination. I think the show has legs, but we’re going to take it one season at a time.”

This scoop comes to us from E! Online:

Fight, fight, fight! In an upcoming ep, Jay (Ed O’Neill) tries to toughen up Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) by teaching him a few wrestling moves, and Mitchell puts his newfound skills to use defending Claire’s (Julie Bowen) honor in an Apple Store. This could possibly turn out to be better than Claire and Mitchell’s ice-skating routine and/or Mitchell’s closing argument. We heart Mitchell!

THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM, ON ABC’S “MODERN FAMILY” — Rerun

“Fifteen Percent” – Mitchell plants the seed in Jay’s head that he thinks one of Jay’s old buddies, Shorty, might be secretly gay. Jay doesn’t believe it for a second… except for all the questionable signs he now keeps noticing.

Meanwhile Gloria gives Manny’s date a makeover and Claire faces off with Phil’s universal remote, on “Modern Family,” WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17 (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network. (Rebroadcast: OAD: 1/20/10)

Guest starring Chazz Palminteri (“The Usual Suspects,” “Analyze This”) as Shorty.