How did Shelley Long as Jays ex-wife in the Modern Family “The Incident” episode?”
Quick spoilers for tonight’s “Modern Family” coming up just as soon as I explain that this conversation never happened… Having proved last week that the show could come up with different configurations of its large cast and still be funny, “Modern Family” jumped another important hurdle tonight, by showing that a prominent guest star could come in without overwhelming what’s already working. Shelley Long makes sense both from a genetic standpoint (I buy her as the mother of Julie Bowen and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, even more than I buy Ed O’Neill as their father) and from a professional comedy standpoint. She fit in well with the cast, doing what so much of “Modern Family” does, in taking a relatively familiar sitcom character or plot (in this case, pieces of both the smug New Age type and the controlling mother type) and making it feel fresh and funny. And her presence showed us new sides of both Claire and Mitchell, and gave Bowen something to play besides scolding Phil. Mostly, though
At 9pm ET, comedy-TV lovers can tune in to ABC to catch Emmy-winning Cheers veteran Shelley Long on Modern Family’s latest episode, “The Incident.” Modern Family As previously reported, Long plays the recurring role of Dede Pritchett, the ex-wife of Ed O’Neill’s lead character Jay Pritchett and the mother of his two adult children Claire and Mitchell. During “The Incident,” we learn all about her memorable drunken behavior at Jay’s wedding to his current, much younger bride Gloria. Dede pays a surprise visit to her family later in order to make amends for all of the offense she caused. Who knows if she’ll succeed, especially considering that nobody is happy to see her again, which leads to a tense situation when the entire family meets for dinner at Claire and Phil’s house. Take a nice, lengthy look at Long’s buzzworthy appearance in the following clips: one sneak peek all about “the incident” at Jay and Gloria’s wedding (OMG! The cake!) and two promos that highlight the episode’s very
Modern Family has been one of the best new comedies this year, delivering on the hype surrounding it by establishing an appealing base of characters. And yesterday, according to the Hollywood Reporter, Benjamin Bratt signed on to play Javier Delgado, the ex-husband of Jay’s new wife, Gloria Delgado-Prtichett, who is played by Sofia Vergara. Both are great casting, and seem to be a good fit. I’m happy to see Long returning to the sitcom world. She’s had a few guest starring roles on shows in the past few years, but nothing in the recent past, and nothing quite as promising as Modern Family. Long, of course, was a fan favorite back in her Cheers days, and she got her education in comedy at Chicago’s Second City, the granddaddy of improv houses. Modern Family allows for ad-libbing, and by the looks of the previews, Long was allowed to chew up the scenery a bit.
