HIGH DEF UNIVERSE

The laughs — and the awards — just keep on coming for the #1-rated “Modern Family,” winner of three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series! With Jay and Gloria’s baby on the way and Haley going off to college, the entire Pritchett/Dunphy clan faces some major surprises as they bicker and bond over house-flipping headaches, unwanted play dates, and everything from hot-tempered hormones to in utero karaoke.  Featuring a stellar array of guest stars including Matthew Broderick, Shelley Long and Elizabeth Banks, Season Four takes a heartfelt and laugh-out-loud hilarious look at what it means to be a “Modern Family.”  

Show (4 out of 5 stars)

1. Bringing Up Baby - Gloria begins sharing the good news with everyone that she’s pregnant, but she’s not sure how to break it to Jay, who doesn’t like change.
2. Schooled - Haley leaves for college, and Phil and Claire can’t seem to stop embarrassing her as they help her move into her dorm.
3. Snip - Claire is having a particularly bad day with the kids but in five years, the Dunphy household will be completely free of children. As part of Phil and Claire’s “5-year plan,” Phil goes in to get a vasectomy.
4. The Butler’s Escape - Like father, like son, Luke has been studying magic but he wants to give up the dark arts. Phil isn’t happy with that decision, so he’s letting the Great Lukini hang up his cape only if Luke can pull off the infamous trick, the Butler’s Escape.
5. Open House of Horrors - It’s Claire’s favorite holiday, but a neighborhood petition bans the Dunphys from putting on a scary Halloween display. After Phil claims Claire isn’t scary, she tries her best to freak him out at his open house.
6. Yard Sale - At the family yard sale, Phil discovers Jay’s old motorcycle. Shortly after taking it for a spin, he takes a spill and finds himself pinned beneath the bike. For the next 127 minutes, Phil documents his harrowing experience.
7. Arrested - When the cops break up an underage drinking party at Haley’s college, she gets thrown in jail for resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, so it’s up to Phil, Claire and lawyer (environmental lawyer) Mitchell to bail out Haley.
8. Mistery Date - Alex is competing again in an academic competition. When Claire takes her, Luke and Manny away for the weekend so Alex can uphold her title, it becomes clear mom takes too much pride in her daughter’s victories. It also becomes clear to Manny and Luke that crashing bar mitzvahs is a tricky business when they have trouble locating Manny’s crush who’s attending one of three possible parties at their hotel.
9. When a Tree Falls - Cam tries to stop the city from chopping down a tree at the park that was the site of many sentimental moments between him, Mitchell and Lily. But when understudy Cam has to fill in for a local production of Cats, it’s up to Mitchell to step in (or climb up?) and finish what his partner has started.
10. Diamond in the Rough - When Luke and Manny’s baseball team the Wolves unexepectedly make the playoffs, there isn’t a field available for their big game so Claire and Cam take on the task of building one so they will come.
11. New Year’s Eve - It’s a New Year’s Eve without the kids when Jay takes Gloria, Claire, Phil, Mitchell and Cameron out to Palm Springs to ring in 2013. After Gloria gets too tired, Claire and Phil sneak off to get romantic, and Mitch and Cam try to recapture their youth exploring the club scene, Jay is left alone. That is, until Jay meets Billy Dee Williams (guest-starring as himself) in a hotel poker game.
12. Party Crasher - Gloria wants Manny to feel really special on his birthday since he’s been overshadowed by the baby lately. But that proves difficult once Gloria goes into labor at his surprise party. She tries to delay it so Manny can have a day that’s all about him, but soon Manny and the new baby are sharing a birthday. It’s a boy!
13. Fulgencio - Gloria’s fiery mother Pilar (guest star Elizabeth Peña) and gloomy, underprivileged sister Sonia (guest star Stephanie Beatriz) visit for the new baby’s christening. Tension mounts between the two sisters, and even more animosity develops between Pilar and Jay, because he refuses to name his son after Pilar’s late husband, Fulgencio.
14. A Slight at the Opera - Cam is putting on the school production of The Phantom of the Opera. Marcus Talbot is cast as the lead, but when he gets sick, Manny sees it as his chance to be the star of the show. Cameron sees it as Luke’s chance to be the star when he hears the Dunphy singing. Soon Manny finds himself torn between sabotaging Luke or giving up the spotlight. It’s a can’t-miss production, and even Phil’s dad Frank Dunphy (guest star Fred Willard) shows up to see it.
15. Heart Broken - Since Claire and Phil are babysitting baby Joe on Valentine’s Day, they celebrate a day earlier by having another role-playing rendezvous as “Juliana” and “Clive Bixby.” The tryst is cut short when Claire passes out after her heart suffers a minor arrhythmia known as Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Claire doesn’t want it to be a big deal, but Phil wants her to be OK with him taking care of her once in a while.
16. Bad Hair Day - Claire visits her alma mater for her college reunion, where she reunites with classmate Esther and buddy Drew a.k.a. “Tater” (guest star David Faustino). Her old professor who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend is there, too, which is exactly why Claire doesn’t want Phil to tag along. Phil shows up anyway and things get awkward, but soon Claire is grateful for Phil when all thoughts of what could’ve been with Professor Cooke are burst with a glimpse at her ex’s bitter wife and unhappy life.
17. Best Men - Mitch and Cam’s old gal pal from their party days, Sal (guest star Elizabeth Banks), is getting married, but they’re not so sure she’s ready to settle down.
18. The Wow Factor - Claire and Cam work on flipping the house they bought in Episode 410, “Diamond in the Rough.” They’re constantly at odds with one another during the renovation, so Cam brings in handy lesbian friend Pam (Wendi McLendon-Covey reprising her role from Episode 402, “Schooled“) for help, but she ends up agreeing with Claire that Cam’s idea of building a water feature to add some wow factor is a bit too much.
19. The Future Dunphys - Claire checks into the hospital to have an angiogram, where she and Phil catch a glimpse at three adult siblings who resemble their own kids. The sight of the dysfunctional, grown-up siblings (including guest star Justine Bateman) cause Phil and Claire to fear a future that could hold the same sad fate for Luke, Alex and Haley.
20. Flip Flop - Claire and Cameron (collectively dubbed “Clameron” by Phil) have finished flipping the house they bought, but two months have passed with no prospective buyers. So it’s up to the best real estate agent in town to sell it, and that’s Gil Thorpe, not Phil Dunphy. When negotiations with Gil (guest star Rob Riggle) fall through, the family is left to woo a potential buyer recommended by Luke. To make sure the house is perfect for him, Haley researches him online so the family can customize the pad to his liking (or at least to what he’s liked on Facebook).
21. Career Day - It’s Career Day at school, so Phil gives a presentation at Luke and Manny’s class. Real estate rival Gil Thorpe (guest star Rob Riggle) upstages the show, and to add insult to injury, he offers Claire a job.
22. My Hero - Mitch’s ex-boyfriend invites the family to a fundraiser at the local roller rink, where Haley teaches Alex how to flirt, Manny tries to find a family member worthy of being the subject of his school essay on heroes and Claire tries to avoid Jay because he’s offered her a job but she’d rather not work for him.
23. Games People Play - When Phil gets a new RV (thanks to selling a house to California’s top RV salesman), he decides to take the family on a fun road trip up the coast. Claire dreads that the kids being cooped up in the RV (nicknamed “Jolene” by Phil) would lead to interminable fighting, but soon she begins to thinks that maybe she’s one who brings out the worst in them.

Video (4 out of 5 stars)

Audio (4 out of 5 stars) 

Extras (3 1/2 out of 5 stars) 

• Deleted and Alternate Scenes

• Deleted and Alternate Scenes 
• Commentary on “Party Crasher” and “Fulgencio” with Danny Zuker and Bill Wrubel - We get our first “Modern Family” commentary with Danny Zuker who is a writer and Executive Producer for the show along with  writer Bill Wrubel.  
• An Addition to the Family - Sofia Vergara talks about the new addition to the family along with some clips from the show.

• Deleted and Alternate Scenes 
• A Day With Eric - This was an interesting look behind the scenes hosted by Eric Stonestreet.  We get to see his entire day of shooting from the beginning of his day in makeup, getting his wardrobe, filming his scenes, and waiting to film in his trailer.  It’s a quick and fun look at the life of an actor and you’ll see some other people from the show in here too.
• Commentary on Career Day - We hear from co-creator Steven Levitan and writers Brad Walsh and Paul Corrigan who talk about how their lives make their way into the show.   
• Commentary on Goodnight, Gracie -  Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman talk about the season finale.
• Goodnight, Gracie Director’s Cut - This is director Steven Levitan’s personal cut of the episode
• A Modern Guide to Parenting - Here’s some parenting tips – Modern Family style all delivered through past clips from the show.
• Modern Family Writers - This is a thirteen minute featurette that offers interviews from some of the writers from the show.  They talk about using their personal lives to fuel their writing especially if they are facing a deadline.  Zuker even mention how if he wants his kids to be good he just takes out a writing pad.
• Gag Reel - This is a little over ten minutes of watching the cast mess up, have fun, and even dance.  I enjoyed it.

Summary (4 out of 5 stars)