TVSquad

(S01E07) I love more and more every week that we have these three different families we can pull from for our main focus. On most family shows, you're limited by the one family dynamic you're dealing with, and by the age of the kids involved. Here, in one show, we have a gay couple with a baby, a traditional couple with kids ranging from pre-teen to teenager, and an older man married to a younger woman with her young son.

That's like at least three different shows worth of material they can pull from each week. How can they possibly not find simply tons of moments of funny with that much to work with? So far, they've managed to pack every minute of each episode, and this week was no exception.

The main story was Manny's fencing tournament; of course it would be fencing Manny would excel at ... why not? From there, we extrapolated into the general parenting desire to have children who are great at something, and the desire of children to receive praise from their parents.

(S01E06) Once again, the three families on this show needn't interact at all for the series to work. Maybe if someone were tuning in for the first time, completely unaware that the three families were all related, they'd be confused as to why we're following these three separate storylines. Even then, though, I suspect they'd still laugh at Lily's costumes and Manny's Colombian pan flute.

As a parent, I'm not to the teenage years yet, so can't relate as well with the experiences of Phil and Claire, but I do remember the fear and panic you have with your first child. Every little bump is a crisis, as we saw. And, I'm ashamed to admit that I committed the same "horrible" crime they perpetrated on Lily later in the episode, as well.

As for Jay and Gloria ... oh, my son is in the fifth grade. Sometimes I feel like they're living my exact life. Maybe all fifth graders are equally off-the-wall, or maybe my child is as special and unique as Manny.

(S01E05) I'm glad this issue was finally addressed. No matter what you see on the surface, if your older father marries a stunningly beautiful piece of... well, you know... like Gloria, then you're going to have some concerns. Especially if the old man looks like Ed O'Neill. Let's not mince words here, I love O'Neill but he's no Cameron!

As usual, there was a lot going on in this episode, but still plenty of rooms for laughs. We're five episodes in now, and Modern Family hasn't laid an egg yet. That's a pretty impressive performance out of the gate for any show. This week, we got the extended family together again, where they could work out some of those unresolved issues.

(S01E03) After last week's installment of Modern Family where each family stayed within their own little nucleus, this week saw the intermingling of two of them. Cameron and Mitchell didn't have time to get involved, because the somewhat snobbish Mitchell discovered the joys and wonders of Costco. "What is this place?"

I remember my first time in Costco. You do have this strange desire to grab all the carts and flatbeds and go crazy. Who doesn't need 5,000 gumballs and a five-pack of VCRs? I've still got two spares in the garage. But Mitchell and Cam's shopping spree was the B-story.

This week, the show explored relationships between parents and their children. We got to see Claire's husband Phil try to bond with Jay in a model airplane flying expedition. Meanwhile, Claire and Sofia swapped kids and shared growing and learning experiences with them. And it all worked. Everything about this show is working right now.

(S01E02) Let all the doubters stand and face the wall in shame. This cast is not too big and this is absolutely the funniest new show of the season. Tonight, rather than have the characters interact directly (except for one small scene), the connection between them was thematic. And tonight it was all about fatherhood.

When they opened the show with the fathers talking about what they thought fatherhood meant, I knew this show was going to become a huge hit. They absolutely get it. They've got something really special with the three family dynamics they've set up. Something that represents almost every facet of modern America all in one show. And one by one they can talk about anything through these families.

It's brilliance in its simplicity, brilliantly executed. Not only did we get so many funny moments throughout, but if we paid close attention, we learned several lessons about life and parenthood between the laughs.

(S01E01) It's so simple. All you need to make a great family comedy is have it be funny. I must have laughed out loud at Modern Family more than I have at any recent television show, including the much-hyped Community. Bar none, this had some of the sharpest one-liners and zings flying around, as well as sharp characterization and top-notch acting across the board.

I don't even care that ABC "spoiled" the first episode by revealing that these three very different families were all actually one big family. I think I would have figured it out by then anyway. What I did care about was that I found myself interested and enjoying all three families equally. Combined, they're going to be able to mine great comedy from this ensemble for years to come.

(S04E11) The truth hurt almost everyone this week. The stress of having both a deflowered son and knowledge of the tunnel's other uses took its toll on Nancy. Harsh reality set in for the others as well. Doug's faults weren't lost on Maria, Celia's lack of insurance affected her recovery, and Bob Odenkirk made me lose confidence in commercial airline pilots. Where's Jimmy Jam when you need him?

(S04E09) It appears that Nancy is growing up, and it only took four seasons for it to happen. She dealt with mature relationship issues and had a calm, romantic moment with Esteban. I was thrilled that she finally made good on her promise to be more available to her family, going MILF-a-MILF with Lisa and dealing with Shane's kinky flea-scratching. Her responsible behavior also made up for Celia's descent into coke-fiendom.

(S04E08) This episode definitely belongs in the "mixed bag" category. Some things worked for me and others didn't. Nancy's extended lunch date with Esteban and Shane's prison-style lunch confrontation were both enjoyable. On the down side, Celia's drugged-out craziness and Silas' scenes with Lisa didn't entertain me.

I expected something more at this point in the season, but it looks like things are set up for a better episode next week. Don't give up, Weeds fans!

When Law & Order: SVU returns on September 23, it's bringing a trio of guest stars with it. Luke Perry (90210), Sara Gilbert (Roseanne, 24), and Julie Bowen (Ed, Lost) are all set to make appearances. Perry and Bowen play a couple accused of abusing their foster child. Gilbert is on board to play the child's biological mother.

In addition to the main foster-child abuse storyline, the premiere is going to deal with Benson's (Mariska Hartigay) attempted rape a the end of last season, as well as Fin's (Ice-T) possible transfer out of SVU. The premiere also marks the debut of the new ADA played by Michaela McManus (One Tree Hill).

(S04E07) Nancy hasn't completely left her old self behind, has she? After only a short time at Maternity World, she was ready to take on her old operation. Many of the pre-Ren Mar folks emerged from various parts of California. I was strangely excited to see the Botwins' old housekeeper, Lupita, along with Sanjay (now a father to Clinique's baby) and Marvin (10 pounds lighter).

Have the good old days of pot dealing returned, or will Nancy have trouble working within someone else's organization?

(S04E06) Everyone was finding love--or lust--this week on Weeds. The presence of guest stars Julie Bowen and Demian Bichir just made the show significantly hotter. The Botwins and their tenants focused more on their personal lives, with mixed results. Celia developed her maternal side, Andy and Doug pondered their next move, and Silas got to know the neighbors.

Over the last three seasons Boston Legal has been known as a program with a pretty busy revolving door when it comes to cast members coming and going. Usually, though, it was some of the smaller fish in the pond that came and went like the wind. This time around some of the bigger fish have been given their walking papers instead.

According to TV Guide's Michael Ausiello Constance Zimmer, Julie Bowen, Mark Valley and Rene Auberjonois have been let go from the program. To fill the void, former Night Court actor John Larroquette will be joining the series as a regular, but not as the character he portrayed on The Practice. Instead, he'll be (another) attorney from the New York offices of Crane, Poole and Schmidt. Also joining the cast will be Dirt's Tara Summers, who will play a young associate to the firm. Finally, much to some people's chagrin, Christian Clemenson, who portrays the quirky Jerry Espenson, will be promoted to series regular.

ABC had garnered a fair amount of press over this one because of the obvious tie-in to the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie. The big news is that the creators of the movie are back for the TV show. Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Swingers) and Simon Kinberg (X-Men: The Last Stand) have signed on to try and transform their movie to the small screen.

(S03E13) Shirley Schmidt: This is getting ugly.

Denny Crane: Denny Crane ugly.

The whole Denise-Brad-Jeffrey sex plot has got to go! At first I thought it was kind of amusing. But, after three weeks of it the whole storyline has reached the tiring stage, especially if you saw the scenes from next week's show. It's like watching an episode of The O.C., except with much older people. Frankly, I really don't care who Denise is sleeping with. Hell, she could be sleeping with Paul for all that matters (that would make a much better story). It's time to get past it and have these three focus on the Legal portion of Boston Legal.

Now, with that out of the way, let's press on with this week's fairly Alan Shore-free episode.