"Halloween" is the sixth episode of ''

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 th ...

'''s second season and 30th episode overall. It was originally broadcast on October 27, 2010, on the ABC network in the United States. 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 pr ...

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 Supporti ...

. The episode follows Claire's love for Halloween, which leads her to transform the Dunphy residence into a haunted house for trick-or-treaters. Cameron cannot shake a childhood trauma related to the holiday and Mitchell has a terrible day at work. Gloria acts weird after Jay and Manny tease her about her accent. "Halloween" received mostly positive reviews from critics. According to

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

, "Halloween" became the most viewed episode of the series and tied for the series' highest-rated episode among adults between ages 18 and 49. It later became the second highest-rated show for the week as well as the week's highest-rated scripted program. This episode received multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominations at the

63rd Primetime Emmy Awards The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in prime time television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, were held on Sunday, September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the c ...

, and won for

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series is presented to the best directing of a television comedy series. Winners and nominations 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Total awards by netw ...

for

Michael Spiller Michael Alan Spiller (born August 1, 1961) is an American cinematographer and television director.Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance in this episode.

Plot

At the Dunphy house, 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 i ...

) learns that his neighbor, Jerry (

Matt Besser Matthew Gregory Besser (born September 22, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, and writer, best known as one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy ...

) has divorced. Phil is initially sad for Jerry, but soon fears that the same thing might happen to him and his wife, 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 Prime ...

). Phil soon assumes Claire's concentration on completing the haunted house is a sign that she no longer loves him. He soon does the opposite of what Jerry did that caused the demise of his marriage, like being spontaneous, with all of Phil's attempts failing. Mitchell ( Jesse Tyler Ferguson) also gets excited when he learns that his new law firm allows employees to wear Halloween costumes, and decides to wear a Spider-Man costume to work. Unfortunately, he learns too late that "only tools and douches wear costumes". He quickly puts on a suit over the costume, thinking that he can change out of the costume later, but he is pulled into several meetings and is unable to get the chance to take it off. Meanwhile, 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 offended by Manny ( Rico Rodriguez) and 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 a ...

) correcting her accent so she starts acting weird and talking differently. At Claire's finished haunted house, everything goes wrong with Jay late at activating the effects, Gloria speaking in her "English" voice, Alex poorly imitating being held prisoner and Cameron still talking about his "traumatic" Halloween story. After two failed attempts at scaring trick-or-treaters, Claire and Gloria both become furious and walk out of the haunted house. Jay reveals to Gloria that it was the sound of her accented voice that made him fall in love with her on the day he met her, which reassures her. Phil asks Claire if she is tired of him, to which she responds that they are happily stuck together as a couple. While they talk, the rest of the family finishes the haunted house perfectly, to Claire and Phil's happiness.

Production

"Halloween" was directed by

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

wrote for the series since joining the writing staff at the beginning of the second season. "Halloween" aired on October 27, 2010 as the first Halloween-themed episode and the 30th episode overall for the series. Parts of the episode were filmed on October 6, 2010, and October 8, 2010. The idea for the episode was pitched by cast member Eric Stonestreet who suggested that there should be a ''Modern Family'' episode about Halloween. The series' producers liked the idea so much that they produced "Halloween". Many of the cast members costumes were revealed on the first day of filming by script coordinator Clint McCray through

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. Ferguson later said in an interview that:

"The Spider-Man scene from the Halloween episode was my favorite to shoot thus far for the sheer fact that I was scaling down a wall in a Spider-Man costume. I will never in my life be cast in a movie where I am able to wear a super-hero costume and perform my own stunts. It was like I got to live a dream for a day."

Reception

Ratings

In its original American broadcast, "Halloween" was viewed by an estimated 13.143 million households and received a

Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

of 7.8 rating/12% share, meaning that 7.8% of American households watched the episode and that 12% of all televisions in use at the time were watching it. The episode also received a 5.1 rating/14% share among adults between ages 18 and 49. The episode marked a nine percent rise in the 18-49 demographic from the previous episode, "

Unplugged Unplugged may refer to: *Acoustic music, music not produced through electronic means * "Unplugged" (B.A.P song), 2014 * "Unplugged" (''Modern Family''), a 2010 episode of ''Modern Family'' Albums and EPs * ''Unplugged'' (5'nizza album), 2002 * '' ...

", becoming the most viewed episode of the series in total viewers and the highest-rated episode in the 18-49 demographic, tying with "

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 ...

". The episode also became the highest-rated scripted program and the second highest-rated program overall for the week it premiered among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. Added with the DVR viewers, the episode received a 6.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic, adding a 1.4 rating to the original viewership.

Reviews

The episode received mostly positive reviews. Donna Bowman from ''

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 ...

'' compared "Halloween" to the highly praised episode " Fizbo", saying ""Halloween" reminded me very much of season one’s 'Fizbo', especially in the chaotic climax where everyone contributes their particular insecurity or neurosis." ''The A.V. Club'' later named it, along with " Fifteen Percent" and " Truth Be Told", the best 2010 episodes of Modern Family''.'' James Poniewozik of ''

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'' gave the episode a positive review calling it "fine", but not his "favorite". He named Gloria's storyline his favorite, saying "Sofia Vergara's exaggerated, passive-aggressive American accent was brilliant". Joel Keller of ''

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'' praised the development of Claire, and felt that her "losing it" helped "soften her character." Joye Eng of ''

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'' named Gloria's storyline the best moment of the week the episode premiered. She named Gloria's "reaction shot when he inevitably unwraps a package of tiny Jesus figurines" and "Sofia Vergara's version of a typical American accent" the most "fun". Kara Klenc of the same website called it a "great episode". It was later named it the eleventh best television episode of 2010 by the website. On the other hand, Michael Slezak of ''

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 cu ...

'' gave the episode a negative review. He wrote: "The unimaginatively titled "Halloween" was probably the least hilarious installment to date of Modern Family's second season". He also criticized the ending to Cameron's story, saying "while I expected the big reveal would leave me howling, when it finally came ('I wet my pants!'), I didn't even crack a smile."

Awards and nominations

"Halloween" received several Primetime Emmy Award nominations. The episode was nominated for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Picture Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation. The episode eventually won for

for

Michael Spiller Michael Alan Spiller (born August 1, 1961) is an American cinematographer and television director. but lost to co-star Burrell.

References

External links

*
"Halloween"
at ABC.com {{EmmyAward ComedyDirector 2001–2025 Modern Family (season 2) episodes 2010 American television episodes Halloween television episodes Emmy Award-winning episodes