Family Portrait (Modern Family)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Family Portrait" | |
|---|---|
| Modern Family episode | |
.jpg) The Family Portrait | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 24 |
| Directed by | Jason Winer |
| Written by | Ilana Wernick |
| Production code | 1ARG22 |
| Original air date | May 19, 2010[1] |
| Guest appearance | |
| |
"Family Portrait" is the twenty-fourth episode and season finale of the first season of the American family sitcom television series Modern Family and the twenty-fourth episode of the series overall. It originally aired on ABC on May 19, 2010. The episode was written by Ilana Wernick and directed by Jason Winer. It guest stars Kobe Bryant and Sean Smith.
In the episode, Claire makes an effort to take a new family portrait. Gloria and Manny go with Phil and Alex to a Lakers game and share an awkward moment on the jumbo-tron. Cameron gets a job as a wedding singer while Mitchell takes care of Lily and battles with a pigeon that entered the house. Luke interviews Jay for a school project. After many mishaps, the family is barely on time for the portrait but Claire's perfectionism gets on Jay who starts a mud fight. The portrait is not as perfect as Claire was imagining it but she admits that she loves the result.
"Family Portrait" became the second-highest-rated show in the show's history and received positive reviews from critics, with many praising the scene where Mitchell attempts to kill the pigeon while Cameron is singing "Ave Maria".
The photograph of the three families taken in this episode could be seen hanging on the walls of the three families' houses throughout the rest of the series. The series finale of the show concluded with a shot of the portrait followed by a fade to black.
Claire's (Julie Bowen) perfect plans for a beautiful family portrait are pulled apart by various mishaps.
Phil (Ty Burrell) takes Alex (Ariel Winter) to a Lakers game with Gloria (Sofía Vergara) and Manny (Rico Rodriguez). During the game, Claire and Haley (Sarah Hyland) see Phil on TV. Claire phones him, but then sees him reject the call. Phil and Gloria appear on the "kiss cam", and when they don't initially kiss, the crowd boos causing Gloria to plant one on Phil. Alex then gets a message saying that Claire was angry with Phil after seeing him on TV. Although Claire didn't see the kiss, Phil now thinks she did.
A stray pigeon enters Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron's (Eric Stonestreet) house, and Mitchell battles to get it out. As a result, he destroys the house. Cameron gets a job as a wedding singer and Luke (Nolan Gould) interviews Jay (Ed O'Neill) for a school project. Luke finds Jay's stories boring so Jay invents much more exciting ones. Haley gets a pimple and tries to get her mother to postpone the portrait, something that Claire does not agree to.
All the while Claire battles the Dunphys' broken stair to fix it so everything would be perfect for the portrait. She ends up destroying it completely so she calls Mitchell to ask him to do the shooting at his place. After his battle with the pigeon though, the house is in the worst condition for a photo shooting so he tells her what she is asking is impossible.
Nonetheless, Claire manages to get the whole family perfectly dressed and barely on time for the picture. However various squabbles come up, including the kiss and Cameron being angry over the destroyed house. Claire's perfectionism finally gets to Jay and he starts a mud fight, dirtying their perfect white costumes. This loosens everyone up, and instead of the perfect portrait the family instead take a series of fun pictures in varying positions. While later hanging the framed picture, Claire admits that she loves the result more than any perfectly posed family portrait.
Production
The episode was written by Ilana Wenick and directed by Jason Winer.
The episode also guest stars Kobe Bryant as himself in a short cameo and Sean Smith as the photographer. Pau Gasol and Luke Walton guest starred in the episode, but their parts were cut from the episode. This was revealed by ABC representative, Yani Chang by e-mail.[2] The episode is also being included on the DVD, the episode will have a "Making of" for the season 1 DVD as well.[3]
Cultural references
Cameron sings the song "Ave Maria" at the wedding.[4] The same scene where the song is played while Mitchell is trying to kill the bird is very similar to John Woo movies.[5] The scene is also similar to The Godfather.[6]
Phil tells Luke to go through the sprinkler the "Hurt Locker" way, in a reference to the film The Hurt Locker.[7] Phil makes a reference to Willy Wonka.[8]
