This column follows the ABC show “Modern Family,” which airs at 9 PDT on Wednesdays. Check here regularly for a synopsis and commentary on each episode.

Author’s note: “Modern Family” is rated TV-PG, so I recommend that each viewer discern for him or herself whether or not the show is appropriate to watch. For young audiences, parents should determine if the show is acceptable.

Door to Door (Ep. 4)
Claire talks about a soccer mom that always drinks alcohol at the games, and while having the conversation with Alex and Haley, she almost gets into a car crash. She becomes frustrated because there is no stop sign at the intersection. While she is talking to the girls again, about to pass through the intersection once more, she almost hits a man, who ends up being Phil.

After the whole fiasco, Haley asks her mom and sister if she smeared her lipstick, oblivious to what just happened.

Jay encourages Manny to become a better salesman by participating in the school fundraiser of selling wrapping paper. As Manny continues trying to sell, he keeps getting the door shut in his face. Manny tells Jay that he needs to build up his advertising skills, but the idea still doesn’t work.

Manny also comments on Jay always giving him advise that doesn’t really make sense, since he goes to fast while giving the advice.

Mitchell comes home to the mess that Cam and Lily made while cooking crepes. He tells Cam that he needs to either stop making messes, or actually clean them up when he’s done. Cam promises that he will clean it up this time, and work on cleaning up more often.

While Phil is arriving home from work, Luke throws a basketball at his father face and makes the ball into the hoop. Luke thinks this is very cool, and asks his dad if they can try to do it again, but this time to get it on film. Phil tells him no, but after remembering how his dad was never there for him, he agrees to let Luke try to make it into the basket again.

After the whole event with the intersection, Claire decided to make a petition to get a stop sign at that particular intersection. She needs to get 50 signatures, but doesn’t know how to complete this on her own. As she is about to ask the family, they all come up with excuses so they don’t have to help.

Gloria gets frustrated with Jay’s dog while she is cooking and puts her outside. After a few seconds, Gloria realizes that Stella is an inside dog and immediately goes out to find her. After no luck, she calls Cam to help her find the dog. While they are searching, Mitchell calls him and asks why he hasn’t cleaned the kitchen yet. Cam gives the excuse that he needs to help find the dog, but Mitchell gets mad and says he will refrain from cleaning it and it will be waiting for Cam when he returns home.

Mitchell talks about how he’s not a clean freak, yet he’s always cleaning things. Mitchell then brings up that when he was in college he wasn’t clean at all, but actually very messy.

While Cam and Gloria are looking for Stella, Claire is trying to get signatures for the stop sign, but is having a hard time to reach the required amount. Jay and Manny are still going door to door to sell wallpaper, but no one wants to buy the product.

Gloria and Cam finally find Stella, who is being walked by a little girl. The girl claims Stella is her dog, but yet the dog is still wearing her collar that read “Stella”. She tells them that they can have the dog for 200 dollars, but Gloria will not pay for the dog that is rightfully hers. They end up having a scream off, but Gloria and Cam win and run off with the dog. Jay never even knew that his dog had been missing.

Claire gets mad at everyone when she finds out that the excuses given by her family were to get out of helping her. She compares herself to the mother in The Blind Side and how the whole family helped her and yet she feels like her family doesn’t care about her.

Phil says that they need to have her back, whether they feel like they already do or not.

Jay explains the reason why he wants to teach Manny the skill of buisness so that he will always have something to fall back on. Jay says that since he is an older father, and won’t be around that much longer to help Manny. Manny reveals that he really looks up to Jay, and he decides to go a little easier on him.

When Claire goes to the meeting with only 34 signatures, the people there say that there’s nothing they can do for her. The rest of the Dunphy’s walk in with 20 more signatures in protest for a stop sign, but Phil makes the statement that there is no sense in trying to go against her will.

Mitchell succeeds in not cleaning up the house, and when Cam comes home he is a little surprised. Cam reluctantly starts cleaning, then admits that he thinks cleaning is gross and that’s why he makes Mitchell do it. In the beginning of the episode, they have a conversation about when the adoption lady is going to come, but neither knew. When they finished their argument about cleaning, the doorbell rang, and it was the adoption agent. She walked in on the dirty house and Cam says that he needs to change some of his habits.

The episode ends with a video of Phil and Luke’s attempts to make a basket off of Phil’s head. Phil keeps asking when they can be done while getting hit in the face; Luke is just happy to be with his dad. Phil makes the statement that he will always be there for Luke.

So far during this season, this episode is my favorite. I loved all of the family aspects involved in the episode like Phil being there for Luke, and the girls being there for Claire.

My favorite part of this episode was when Gloria and Cam got into the scream fight with the little girl and ended up getting the dog back. This situation was my favorite moment because two grown adults screaming with a little girl was entertaining and made me laugh more than anything else I’ve seen on the show.

I thought this was the funniest episode, and since it was, I’m not expecting next weeks to be as funny but, I might be surprised.

For the previous commentary on Ep. 3, read ‘Modern Family’ Season Three, Part I.

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