"Good Cop Bad Dog" is the 22nd episode of the American comedy television series ''
Modern Family''
's
second season and the 46th episode overall. The episode originally aired on May 11, 2011, on
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
(ABC). The episode was written by
Abraham Higginbotham
Abraham Higginbotham is a writer, producer, and occasional actor for popular comedy series such as ''Arrested Development'', ''Will & Grace'', '' Back to You'' and '' Do Not Disturb''.
Career
Higginbotham began his career in television by submitt ...
&
Jeffrey Richman and was guest directed by former child star
Fred Savage
Frederick Aaron Savage (born July 9, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series ''The Wonder Years'' (1988 to 1993). He has earned several awards and nominations, such as ...
. It guest starred
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Guillermo, the Grocery Store worker who tries to convince Jay to invest with him.
In the episode, Jay advises a dog trainer, while Phil and Claire switch parenting duties to the kids' chagrin. Mitchell has an extra Lady Gaga ticket when Cameron ends up sick. The episode introduces the Pritchetts' new dog that will appear for the rest of the season and for a majority of the third.
"Good Cop Bad Dog" received positive reviews from critics with many praising
Ty Burrell's performance. The episode was viewed by more than 10 million viewers and received a 4.2 rating/11% share in the 18–49 demographic, marking an 8 percent rise in the ratings from the previous episode, "
Mother's Day". The episode was also the highest-rated scripted program of the original week it aired among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. Burrell eventually received an
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for his performance in the episode.
Plot
In the Dunphy household, Alex (
Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter Workman (born January 28, 1998) is an American actress. She starred as Alex Dunphy in the ABC comedy series ''Modern Family'', for which she and her co-stars won four consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Ensemble ...
) and Haley (
Sarah Hyland
Sarah Jane Hyland (born November 24, 1990) is an American actress and singer. Born in Manhattan, she attended the Professional Performing Arts School before having small roles in the films '' Private Parts'' (1997), '' Annie'' (1999) and ''Blin ...
) are furious at Manny (
Rico Rodriguez) and Luke (
Nolan Gould) for barging into their room while they were changing. This leads to their mother, Claire (
Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer (born March 3, 1970) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Claire Dunphy in the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which she received critical acclaim and six nominations for the Primetim ...
) to yell at them, while their dad, Phil (
Ty Burrell) attempts to push himself away from Claire's anger behind her back. Annoyed, Claire confronts Phil about how he always makes her play the 'bad cop' role in their family and keeps the 'good cop' role for himself. He reluctantly agrees to switch roles with her. Claire takes Manny and Luke go-karting (although Phil had been quite keen to go), while Phil has to stay and make the girls clean their bathroom. The go-karting goes horribly as Claire, whilst trying to be fun, crashes her kart into the boys, and pushes them into ordering large quantities of food. While driving home, Luke gets sick from drinking a milkshake he hadn't even wanted. At home, Phil goes berserk when the girls lie to him about cleaning the bathroom and jumps on their car to stop them from leaving. He then forces them to clean both their bathroom and his, under his direct supervision, whilst duct-taping their laptops shut. That evening, Phil and Claire admit that they cannot handle each other's natural parent roles, and agree to go back to normal.
Meanwhile, Gloria (
Sofía Vergara) wants to help a grocery-store worker, Guillermo (
Lin-Manuel Miranda), so she convinces Jay (
Ed O'Neill
Edward Leonard O'Neill (born April 12, 1946) is an American actor and comedian. His roles include Al Bundy on the Fox Network sitcom '' Married... with Children'', for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes, and Jay Pritchett on the awar ...
) to let Guillermo pitch him a business idea: a dog-training system labeled "The Good-doggy / Bad-doggy Training System", which consists of two sets of dog treats, one of them being bland and the other a tastier one with bacon. The pitch goes wrong when Guillermo's dog, Stella (
Brigitte
Brigitte is a feminine given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Brigitte Amm, German rower
* Brigitte Bardot (born 1934), a French actress and singer
* Brigitte Becue (born 1972), a Belgian breaststroke swimmer
* Brigitte Bierlein (bo ...
), chews on Jay's pillow and seems to prefer the bad doggy treat. Seeing that Gloria's blind encouragement is doing him no favours, Jay adopts a firm, frank tone with Guillermo and tells him that, while he has obvious presentation skills, enthusiasm and charisma, his idea has no legs. Guillermo, who had invested five years of his life in this idea, leaves in tears. Gloria follows him to apologize, but Guillermo admits that he found Jay's honesty refreshing, and has decided to reorganize his life, which means moving back in with his sister to go back to school, but it also means that he must give the dog away. Gloria allows the dog to stay with them much to Jay's anger, which is increased when Manny walks in and believes the dog is a present for him. Jay drives the dog to the pound, but Stella's sweet face makes him take her back home.
Mitchell (
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (born October 22, 1975) is an American actor. From 2009 to 2020, he portrayed Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom ''Modern Family'', for which he earned five consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding ...
) has bought tickets to a
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
concert, but his plans go south when Cameron (
Eric Stonestreet
Eric Allen Stonestreet (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for portraying Cameron Tucker in the ABC mockumentary sitcom ''Modern Family'', for which he received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting ...
) gets sick. This causes Mitchell to be torn on whether he should stay with Cameron or go to the concert. He eventually tries to be supporting and attempts to subtly persuade Cameron to let him go, as Claire has advised him to do. Mitchell tries to sneak away after noticing that Cameron has drunk most of a
cough syrup
Cold medicines are a group of medications taken individually or in combination as a treatment for the symptoms of the common cold and similar conditions of the upper respiratory tract. The term encompasses a broad array of drugs, including a ...
that would "put down a
Grizzly", but he is caught when Cam wakes up. Mitchell then gives a speech about how selfish he has been to Cameron, before realizing Cameron has fallen asleep once more. He then sneaks off to the concert and comes back before Cameron wakes up again. When Cameron does wake up, Mitchell acts as if he never went out, unaware that his
glow stick
A glow stick, also known as a light stick, chem light, light wand, light rod, and rave light, is a self-contained, short-term light-source. It consists of a translucent plastic tube containing isolated substances that, when combined, make light ...
is still visible underneath his shirt. As Cameron returns to bed, he pleasantly informs Mitchell that his glow-stick is still flashing, and switches off the light to reveal it.
Production
"Good Cop Bad Dog" was written by
Abraham Higginbotham
Abraham Higginbotham is a writer, producer, and occasional actor for popular comedy series such as ''Arrested Development'', ''Will & Grace'', '' Back to You'' and '' Do Not Disturb''.
Career
Higginbotham began his career in television by submitt ...
and
Jeffrey Richman, the former receiving third writing credit for the series having previously written "
The Kiss" and "
Regrets Only" and the latter receiving his fourth writing credit for the series.
Higginbotham received a story credit for the episode, as well.
The episode was directed by guest director
Fred Savage
Frederick Aaron Savage (born July 9, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series ''The Wonder Years'' (1988 to 1993). He has earned several awards and nominations, such as ...
, best known for his performance in ''
The Wonder Years''.
The episode was filmed on March 3, and March 4, 2011. The episode features a guest appearance by
Puerto Rican-American
Stateside Puerto Ricans ( es, link=no, Puertorriqueños de Estados Unidos), also ambiguously known as Puerto Rican Americans ( es, link=no, puertorriqueño-americanos,), or Puerto Ricans in the United States, are Puerto Ricans who are in the U ...
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
and singer
Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The episode marks the introduction of the Pritchetts’ new dog, a
French Bulldog played by Brigette.
According to
Rico Rodriguez, who plays Manny on the show, "She'll probably be in the last three episodes of the season and then in multiple episodes next year
.. hehas fit in very well".
Reception
Ratings
In its original American broadcast on May 11, 2011, "Good Cop Bad Dog" was viewed by an estimated 10.113 million households and received a 4.2 rating/11% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.
This means that it was seen by 4.2% of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 11% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This marked an 8 percent rise in the ratings from the previous episode, "
Mother's Day".
In its timeslot, "Good Cop Bad Dog" was outperformed by
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
reality television series, ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'' which received a 6.9 rating/20 share in the 18–49 demographic. However, the series defeated
CBS crime drama ''
Criminal Minds
''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis (writer), Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was r ...
'' which received a 3.1 rating/8% share, a rerun of
NBC reality series, ''
Minute to Win It'' which received a 0.9 rating/2% share and
The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
reality series, ''
America's Next Top Model'' with received a 0.8 rating/2% share.
"Good Cop Bad Dog" was the most-watched scripted show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49, and the twenty-third most-watched show among all viewers. Added with the
DVR viewers, the episode received a 6.5 rating in the 18–49 demographic, adding a 2.2 rating to the original viewership.
Reviews
The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics with many commenting on Ty Burrell's performance.
''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' writer Leseley Savage praised the episode's theme commenting that "while tonight's theme of switching roles definitely wasn't subtle, it was still clever." She named Burrell the "MVP" saying that "When he jumped onto the roof of their car, I nearly died".
''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'''s Donna Bowman wrote that the episode showed "flashes of brilliance in this half hour that were equally due to the situations set up by the writers and to the talents of the cast". Despite the mainly positive review, she criticized the Mitchell and Cameron plot for not having "much warmth". She ultimately gave the episode a B+ while readers of the article gave it a B.
''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' writer Rachael Maddux praised the episode for " revealing new sides of several personalities" commenting that "our favorite moments over the last twenty-something ''Modern Family'' episodes have almost entirely involved learning something new about these characters".
''
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
'' reviewer Henry Hanks wrote, "Wednesday night's ''Modern Family'' was an example of the series at the top of its game." He also called Burrell the "this week's MVP".
''
TV Squad
Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could be ...
'' writer Joel Keller praised Phil and Claire's plot for recycling a standard television
trope
Trope or tropes may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept
* Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device
* Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
while still having "the biggest laughs". Keller criticized the Mitchell and Cam subplot "because Cam's personality was tamped down by sickness" and later wrote, "Yes, I just said you can rehash stuff if done well. This one wasn't done well."
Not all reviews were positive. Christine Ziemba of ''
Paste'' called the episode "uneven", but wrote that "it still had its moments". She praised
Ty Burrell's performance calling him "the episode’s scene stealer". She ultimately gave the episode a 6.9/10 calling it "respectable".
Sam Morgan of
Hollywood.com
Hollywood.com is an entertainment news website covering popular culture topics including movies, television, music and celebrities. Hollywood.com is principally owned by Mitchell Rubenstein and Laurie S. Silvers, who previously founded Sci-Fi Ch ...
complimented the writers for attempting to write a "classic ''MF'' episode" but concluded, "It had some very funny bits, but that heart it searched far and wide for just wasn’t there".
References
External links
*
*
"Good Cop Bad Dog"at ABC.com
{{Modern Family, 2
2011 American television episodes
Modern Family (season 2) episodes