"When Good Kids Go Bad" is the second episode of the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sitcom ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American family sitcom television series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the American Broadcasting Company. It ran for 11 seasons, from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. It follows the lives of thr ...

''s third season and the 50th episode overall. The episode originally aired on September 21, 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) and ran back-to-back with "

Dude Ranch A guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism. History Guest ranches arose in response to the romanticization of the American West that began to occur ...

" in a one-hour timeslot. The episode was written by

Jeffrey Richman Jeffrey Richman is an American writer, producer and actor. Producer * ''Uncoupled'' (2022): executive producer * ''Modern Family'': co-executive producer * '' Stacked'' * ''Frasier'': executive producer * ''Charlie Lawrence'' (2003): executive p ...

and directed by

Michael Spiller Michael Alan Spiller (born August 1, 1961) is an American cinematographer and television director.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 ...

) and Lily (

Aubrey Anderson-Emmons Aubrey Frances Anderson-Emmons (born 6 June 2007) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lily Tucker-Pritchett on ABC's ''Modern Family''. Personal life Anderson-Emmons is the daughter of Korean American Amy Anderson and Kent Emm ...

) from Sandra Gonzalez of ''

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'' and Donna Bowman of ''

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 ...

''. Despite of the positive commentaries, the storyline for 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 ...

) was criticized by Alan Sepinwall of ''

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''.

Plot

Claire (

) and her husband Phil (

Ty Burrell Tyler Gerald Burrell (born August 22, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. Burrell is best known for his role as Phil Dunphy on the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family'', for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...

) go to the grocery store. The latter flirts with an attractive woman and accidentally pushes Claire into a pile of peach cans, but thinks he never did it. Luke (

Nolan Gould Nolan Gould (born October 28, 1998) is an American actor known for his role as Luke Dunphy on the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family''. Early life and education Gould was born in New York City, the son of Angela and Edwin Gould. Shortly after his bir ...

), 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 ...

) take Phil's side on the dispute. To prove that she is right, Claire manages to take the security tape from the grocery store and when she describes how she did it, Phil and the kids assert that she has an illness of proving others wrong. Gloria (

Sofía Vergara Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara (; born July 10, 1972) is a Colombian and American actress and model. She was the highest paid actress in American television from 2013 to 2020.

) gets a call from the principal of Manny's school that Manny ( Rico Rodriguez) allegedly stole a girl's locket. Gloria is in disbelief about this, but 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 ...

) confronts him in the garage and Manny confesses to have stolen the locket. Manny tells his mother about the situation and Gloria yells at him. However, when they enter the school, Gloria notices how sad Manny is, and breaks into the girl's locker and slips the locket inside. Haley and Alex trick Luke into moving into the attic so they can each have their own room. Luke figures out what they are doing but decides to move anyway because of a line of ants that is in his closet. Claire disagrees with the idea, and she tells Luke that the attic is cold and that he will also be scared. Luke moves in anyway but at the end he is really scared and cold and agrees to move back to his room. 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 ...

) and 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 ...

) are planning to have the family over to announce their plan to adopt a new baby but are concerned about Lily's (

) reaction, as she is overprotective of Cameron, who Mitchell suggests this is because Cam is too possessive of her and coddles her too much. Cameron denies that he spoils her, but evidence suggests otherwise. Lily's preschool teacher later tells Mitchell that Lily has a problem with sharing, and suggests that she may get it from a parent, causing Mitchell to realize that he too has a problem with sharing.

Production

"When Good Kids Go Bad" was written by

and directed by

Michael Spiller Michael Alan Spiller (born August 1, 1961) is an American cinematographer and television director. It aired on September 21, 2011, back-to-back with the third-season premiere, "

". "When Good Kids Go Bad" was filmed around the time of August 10, 2011. Although it aired after the season premiere, this episode was filmed before it due to the fact that "Dude Ranch" was filmed on location in

Jackson Hole, Wyoming Jackson Hole (originally called Jackson's Hole by mountain men) is a valley between the Gros Ventre and Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho, in Teton County, one of the richest counties in the Unite ...

Reception

Ratings

In its original American broadcast, "When Good Kids Go Bad" alongside "

", was viewed by an estimated 14.53 million viewers and received a 6.1 rating/15% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 6.1% of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 15% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The episode became the highest-rated and most-viewed episode of the series. This marked an 18% rise in the ratings from the second-season premiere, "

The Old Wagon "The Old Wagon" is the second season premiere of the American sitcom ''Modern Family'' and the 25th episode overall. It was aired on September 22, 2010. The episode was written by Bill Wrubel and was directed by Michael Spiller. The episode is also ...

", making it the highest-rated and most-viewed episode of the series and became ABC's top-rated season premiere in six years. The episode also ranked first in its timeslot, beating the highly promoted new

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reality series ''

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'',

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drama series ''

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 ...

'',

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drama series ''

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'' and CW reality series, ''

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''.

Reviews

"When Good Kids Go Bad" received mostly positive reviews. Maris Kreizman of ''Vulture'' called the episode "not all that surprising and a little sentimental, but charming nonetheless." She also complimented the performance of Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) calling her a "pleasant surprise" and that "she’s at her best when she’s surly, particularly when she deadpans about her future little brother: 'No, I hate the baby.' 'I wanna make the baby dead.'" Alan Sepinwall from ''

'' regarded the episode as the strongest part of the one hour timeslot, but was still underwhelming for Sepinwall, as he criticized the storyline for Claire (Julie Bowen) and described the character as "unpleaseant to watch". Donna Bowman from ''

'' gave both episodes a B rate stating about "When Good Kids Go Bad" that "...the episode as a whole seems unconnected, overstuffed, and occasionally poorly motivated."

References

External links

*
"When Good Kids Go Bad"
at ABC.com {{Modern Family, 3 2011 American television episodes Modern Family (season 3) episodes