Despite it's critical praise, Modern Family is one of those sitcoms I've always had trouble getting into, and I can never figure out why. Is it the decline of prime time TV during the 1990's and my overdose of kids TV as compensation? Possibly. Could it be the lack of a laugh track? Well, it didn't keep me from watching shows like "The Dukes of Hazzard," or "Daria," or "House," so I doubt it.
An unseen neighbor has a fire in their house and loses everything they own, and Claire rallies the rest of the Dunphy and Pritchett families and their neighbors to help out, by donating clothes, and other goods. When Jay throws his back out lifting boxes after renting a truck, Cameron offers to pick the truck up instead, and berates him with tales about how he drove much bigger vehicles than a standard Isuzu NPR with a straight box body.
Manny and Luke notice that the family's kids are getting a brand new cell-phone operated remote control toy helicopter with cameras in it, and naturally are jealous, so Luke talks Manny into playing with the new toy themselves, before eventually giving it to the family they were supposed to donate it to. While playing with the toy, it gets lost somewhere in the neighborhood.
Haley spends much of the episode chastising her little nerdy sister over her fashion sense, which Alex blows off. After staging a fight in order to avoid a chore, their parents and grandfather make them tag along with Cameron who is out to prove that just because he's gay doesn't mean he can't drive a truck. Of course, just because that stereotype is false doesn't mean this gay man can drive a truck, and the Dunphy girls let him know in no uncertain terms that his sexuality has nothing to do with his skills behind the wheel of what passes for a "big rig." The key word in that sentence is "passes."
The highlight as far as I'm concerned, comes close to the end. When a gang of nerdy bullies lead by a kid named Abraham played by none other than Victorious' Michael Eric Reid takes the helicopter away from Manny and Luke, Cameron and the Dunphy girls spot them, and Alex gets the kids to give it back by using the sex appeal she knows she has... the appeal that we as a television audience know that Ariel Winter has in real life. This is a girl who's not even out of her teens as of this writing and is guaranteed to make Daniella Monet look like Olive Oil by the time she's in her mid-20's. That's obviously not the reason the show has as much critical acclaim, but it helps.
