The Musical Man

"The Musical Man" is the 19th episode of the American comedy television series, Modern Family's second season and the 43rd episode overall. It originally aired on April 13, 2011 on American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The episode was written by Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh and was directed by Michael Spiller.

In the episode, Cameron takes control of the spring musical at Luke and Manny's school, while Jay's brother pays him a visit, and Phil tries to get the family to be in his new real estate advertisement.

"The Musical Man" received mixed reviews from critics. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was viewed by 9.6 million households and received a 3.9 rating/10% share in the 18-49 demographic marking a fourteen percent drop in the ratings from the previous episode, "Boys' Night".

At the Pritchett-Delgados', Jay (Ed O'Neill) is expecting Donnie (Jonathan Banks), his brother, to arrive for a visit. He is preparing a prank involving a picture of his butt. When Donnie arrives the two get into a friendly fight, which foils Jay's plan involving his picture. All day long, Jay continues arranging pranks on his brother over Gloria's (Sofía Vergara) protests. Gloria berates Jay, claiming that Jay and his brother do not really know each other after Jay does not recognize Donnie's granddaughter and does not even know where Donnie lives. Jay tries to get closer to Donnie, but Donnie assumes that his wife Irene had told Jay about Donnie's recent diagnosis with prostate cancer. Donnie accuses Jay of treating him differently because he has cancer, but this news deeply affects Jay, who had not known, and Donnie asks him to keep it a secret.

Phil (Ty Burrell) has had a poster made with a picture of his entire family and has had the family van wrapped in order to advertise his real estate business, saying that his best assets are his family and his teeth, both of which can be seen in an ad that reads "I can't be satisfied until you're satisfied, let me make your dreams come true."

Haley's (Sarah Hyland) SAT scores are posted on the Internet; the scores turn out to be average, granting her possibilities at numerous colleges, but she shocks her parents by telling them that she does not want to go to college, much to Alex's (Ariel Winter) delight. Claire (Julie Bowen) then arranges to have lunch with Haley and use the opportunity to talk her into going to college. As they climb into the newly wrapped van, they fail to notice that the advertisement in its wrapped form shows Claire under the motto "I can't be satisfied", while the side with Haley's photo reads only "Let me make your dreams come true." Claire uses the opportunity to talk very positively about college life, causing her to begin to wonder if her best years are behind her.

Meanwhile, Phil has had many calls asking about the ad, but he makes such general references about what he is advertising that his callers still believe that he is selling sex services. Alex lets him know about the true intention of the callers after receiving an e-mailed photo of the van. At that same moment Claire calls, and Phil realizes that she has not seen the ad yet, so he runs to the school where he will be meeting Claire for Luke (Nolan Gould) and Manny's (Rico Rodriguez) show.

All the while, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) is loving his role as interim music director at Luke and Manny's school, and he is taking on the upcoming spring musical performance with a little too much zest and fervor. After being pitched with the new songs that Cameron made for the show, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) criticizes that they are too complicated for the kids to learn by that night, which bothers Cameron. Mitchell then promises that he will always be supportive no matter what.