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"Benched" is the 20th episode of the first season of Modern Family. It premiered on ABC on April 14, 2010. The episode was written by Danny Zucker and directed by Chris Koch.

In the episode Luke and Manny's hot-tempered basketball coach quits in the middle of a game after Jay and Phil argue with him, causing both to jockey for the position. Claire and Gloria each struggle with the adolescence of Alex and Manny, respectively, and Mitchell takes Cameron along to meet a potential boss.

"Benched" has received positive reviews from critics and was viewed by an estimated 8.809 million households.

Plot

Luke (Nolan Gould) and Manny's (Rico Rodriguez) hot-tempered basketball coach (Eric Lange) treats the kids very cruel and yells at them all the time. Jay (Ed O'Neill) and Phil (Ty Burrell) try to talk to him so he can treat the kids better but he ends up leaving his job and the team without a coach in the middle of a game. Coach's departure causes both to jockey for his position.

Claire (Julie Bowen) takes Alex (Ariel Winter) out shopping but their trip is cut of by an encounter with some of Alex's friends from school. Alex decides to go shopping with them instead and Claire feels like her daughter has finally turned into a teenager and doesn't want her around. Gloria (Sofía Vergara) faces the same problem with Manny. Manny pulls her off to the side and says that her words of affection embarrass him in front of his friends. The two women end up walking together while baby-sitting Lily talking about the problem they face with their kids and how to solve it.

Meanwhile, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) takes Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) along to meet a potential boss, who happens to be a golfing buddy with Jay. Mitchell gets offered the job but he says that he would need to talk it over with Cam first since they decided to change roles for a while in matter of Lily. Mitch will be staying home with her and Cam will go to work. While Mitch and Cam are discussing about the job offer, they accidentally lock themselves in the garage. Trying to get out, they end up wrecking Mitchell's new boss's Ferrari.

Production

The episode was written by Danny Zucker making it his third writing credit after "En Garde" and "Starry Night" and was directed by Chris Koch his second directing credit for the series after "Not in My House". "Benched" originally aired April 14, 2010 as the twentieth episode of the first season.

Reception

Ratings

In its original American broadcast, "Benched" was viewed by an estimated 8.809 million households and a 3.6 rating/10% share dropping 8% from last week's episode. The show was the 6th most viewed show of the night and 3rd in its timeslot. The episode ranked 20 in the weekly viewership ranking sixth for ABC and ranked 8 in the 18-49 Nielsen Rating ranking 3rd on ABC in the rating.

Reviews

The episode received generally positive reviews.

Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 7.8 saying Eric Stonestreet (Cameron)'s performance was "great", even though the general reaction to the episode was lukewarm. Additionally, the episode "still provided a few big laughs and helped move some of the character development forward".

Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a lukewarm review, saying only that "I loved the Cam/Mitchell story of who wants to work and who wants to stay home, the cringe-factor of the party was a little too much for me".

Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C+ saying the episode "stumbled". "Clumsy exposition, inconsistent timing, and a lost opportunity at a big setpiece" added up to the episode's performance as "middling at best".

Jason Hughes of The TV Squad called Claire's (Julie Bowen) dressing down of Alex "hilarious but brutal." Summing up the show's first season so far, Hughes stated "fter this first season, I'd say the show is making a pretty strong case for itself" as one of the greatest comedies of all time.

James Poniewozik of Time said "After the travesty that was the iPad episode (which mercifully aired while I was on vacation), Modern Family was back with an episode that hit on pretty much every subplot, explored some new combinations of characters while offering fresh takes on old ones and proved the maxim: if you have a revolving driveway in the first act, it had better go off by the end of the third."

References

1. "Benched Writers, Directors, and Crew". TV.com. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
2. "Modern Family: "Benched"". TV.com.
3. Robert Seidman (2010-04-01). "UPDATED TV Ratings: Fox Wins As Ugly Betty Finishes Up & Human Target Finishes Down". TV By the Numbers. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
4. Seidman, Robert (April 6, 2010). "TV Ratings Top 25: Dancing; "Idol" & "Lost" Top Weekly Broadcast Charts". TV by the Numbers.
5. Margaret Lyons (2010-04-01). "'Modern Family' recap: Put me in, coach". Retrieved 2010-04-15.
6. Donna Bowman (2010-04-14). ""Benched" : Modern Family". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2010=04-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); no-break space character in |title= at position 10 (help)
7. Jason Hughes (2010-04-15). "'Modern Family' - 'Benched' Recap". TVSquad.com. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
8. "Modern Family Watch: Trash Talk and Cash Talk". Time. April 15, 2010.

External links

• "Benched" at ABC.com
• "Benched" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode

Template:Modern Family Episodes

• 2010 television episodes
• Modern Family (season 1) episodes