History Series / ModernFamily

* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Subverted and played straight in Season 3's [[ChristmasEpisode Express Christmas]]. While [[ProductPlacement shopping at Target]], Haley uses this technique to acquire Lily's gift.

* ActorAllusion:

** Pepper says of "Walk Like a Man," "I can sing it but I can't do it," referencing Nathan Lane's character in ''{{The Birdcage}}''.

*** And they appeared again in the 2nd episode of season 3 at the end of the episode where Cam and Mitchell are working out post-juice fast.

** He does it again in "Disneyland"

** Dylan. Oh dear lord, Dylan.

** Also happens on a meta-level as it's been mentioned that Ed O'Neill (Jay) often helps Sofia Vergara (Gloria) with lines and jokes that are difficult to translate and understand due to language differences.

** One Mother's Day episode ("[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Mother's Day]]")

** Particularly in "Starry Night", wherein Cam has incredible foot-in-mouth syndrome towards Gloria. Here he is, stumbling to explain himself.

* {{Cutaway Gag}}: In the Season 2 finale, "See You Next Fall", Jay is talking about his Botox. He then mentions the doctor that tried to make his balance better. Cut to the Dunphy house, where Jay is trying to show Claire his new and improved balance, that is, until Phil bursts through the door and knocks him over.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Alex's social life. Some episodes have either her being ostracized by her peers or her having a snobbish attitude toward them or simply being more concerned with studying and school. Other episodes show her having friends and being at least somewhat socially active. While this is possible in {{real life}}, especially for a teenager, what differs is how each scenario is shown.

* DistractedByTheSexy: Near the beginning of "Hit and Run" Jay has a hard time pitching his redesign for closets his company makes to his new boss. At the end of the episode he takes the same redesign but lets Gloria pitch it. The boss changes his tune and doesn't even bat an eye to the redesign.

* ExtracurricularEnthusiast: Alex. She plays the cello, plays lacrosse, and has participated in a bottle-collection program to help build schools in third-world countries. Note that she doesn't do all this because she loves all the activities, but rather to pad her resume for when she has to apply for colleges.

--> '''Claire''': Your kids don’t need to know who you were before you had them. They need to know who you wish you were, and they need to try to live up to that person. They’re gonna fall short but better they fall short of the fake you, than the real you.

* GameShowAppearance: Phil won his lifetime supply of razors on "Smarty Pants" in "Lifetime Supply".

* HappilyMarried: Jay and Gloria. Phil and Claire.

* IrrevocableMessage: The email Jay sends in Gloria's name to Claire in "Caught in the Act".

** Claire attempting to fix the slightly broken step, which only worsens it

* JustAddBitch:

** She was only failing to get out of doing it, we never find out if she is really that bad.

* MenstrualMenace: Played absolutely straight in "Leap Day," to the point that some viewers called the show on {{Unfortunate Implications}}.

* MommasBoy:
** Mitchell.

--> '''Mitchell:''' [[CaptainObvious Cam loves his mom.]]

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: In a season two episode where Cam and Mitch think that being a gay couple with an Asian baby will get them into a good pre-school only to get beat out by...

** In the Season 1 finale, "Family Portrait" Alex and Manny are at basketball game, while the kiss-cam on the scoreboard is going around.
--> '''Manny''': Wouldn't it be embarrassing if they put the camera on us and we had to kiss?
-->'''Alex''': We're related.
-->'''Manny''': Not by blood.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: In "Our Children, Ourselves", Mitchell sees an old girlfriend ([[TwentyFour Mary Lynn Rajskub]]), with whom he once had a tryst before he came out, in the mall accompanied by what appears to be a child with red hair. He frets that without realizing it he fathered a child by her, and Cameron persuades him to buy a gift and meet the boy. However, when they finally do, [[spoiler: it turns out that he's a [[LittlePeople little person]] who's married to the former girlfriend]]. This sets up more CringeComedy when the gift Cameron and Mitchell bought turns out to be [[spoiler: a baseball glove]].

* OfCourseImNotAVirgin: Early in "Virgin Territory", Alex laughs out loud when she mistakes her father's words "Haley's aversion" for "Haley's a virgin", which leads Phil to the realization that his oldest daughter isn't.

** Phil and Claire are shaken about their kids walking in on them having sex. Gloria assumes its about the mean spirited e-mail she accidentally sent to Claire.

** [[BatterUp "It's go time!!"]]

** Subverted by the third-season episode "Egg Drop". At the end Luke and Manny [[spoiler: admit they manipulated Claire and Jay into doing their projects for them]].

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: When Cameron and Mitchell think that there's a man in Lily's bedroom, Cameron immediately grabs a [[{{BatterUp}} baseball bat]] and says, "It's go time..."

** A definite product placement in the episode "Express Christmas", Target is mentioned by name and its logo is prominently shown in the shopping scene. And unlike the iPad episode, money definitely changed hands as Target received a promotional credit.

** TheBusCameBack: Dylan returned in "Disneyland" at the end of season 3.

*** It seems to particularly annoy Phil as he comments on it more than the others. Happens multiple times in the season 2 finale.

** Luke's distrust of the police.

** Luke says it would be cool if their plane crashed on the island from ''Series/{{Lost}}'', while Claire then looks into the camera with a shocked look. The actress who plays Claire also played Jack Shepard's wife on ''Lost.''

** There are a couple to AngelaLansbury early in season two, as well as Phil's "[[MurderSheWrote Good times she wrote]]" in "The Old Wagon".

* SkeletonKeyCard: Gloria opening the locker in "When Good Kids Go Bad".

* TheStinger: Often during the credits instead of after, but the same concept. Sometimes pertains to the plot but oftentimes is just an isolated joke (such as Lilly being dressed as Carmen Miranda).

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Phil in S2 Ep22, "Good Cop, Bad Dog" where he and Claire decide to swap on being the stricter parent and the nicer one. When Alex and Haley don't clean the bathroom as he told them to, it results in him [[UnderStatement getting a little upset]].
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaiWbVimKD4 "You poked the bear, girls! You poked him!"]]

* TrophyWife: Gloria is a surprisingly sympathetic example.

** Apparently imitating Gloria's accent is somewhat of a [http://youtu.be/Oqo4AiOLk20 behind-the-scenes pasttime].

* {{Homage}}: To ''TheGodfather'' with Cam singing "Ava Maria" at a formal wedding, intercut with Mitchell destroying the house in slow motion as he tries to kill a pigeon.

* TheBeard: Tracy, Mitchell's girlfriend from high school. She even names this trope in S1 Ep13, when Cameron asks if Mitchell had a beard in high school, and she replies, "You're looking at her."

* SurprisePregnancy: [[spoiler:Gloria]], at the end of "Baby on Board", the third-season finale.

* {{Meganekko}}: Alex

* SurprisePregnancy: [[Spoiler:Gloria]], at the end of "Baby on Board", the third-season finale.

* KissingCousins: Manny has a crush on his cousin Haley, however, they're [[NotBloodSiblings just step-cousins]].
** Technically Manny is her step-''uncle''.
** And also tries to cadge a kiss from Alex at a basketball game with the "Kiss-Cam." She threatens him with bodily harm.

* CannotSpitItOut: Phil can't bring himself to tell Mitchell he's fired as the agency lawyer in the third-season episode "Tableau Vivant'.