Game Changer (Modern Family)

Plot

It is April 3 and Phil's birthday coincides with the launch of the new Apple iPad. Claire wants him to have a relaxing birthday so she wakes up early to buy the product but falls back to sleep on the couch; she later sneaks out but the local store has sold out. Phil goes to the batting cages and mistakenly believes a child's birthday party is for him, then eats a 'Game changer' pancake to cheer himself up. Jay buys a chess set for Phil and challenges Manny, not knowing Manny is a good player.

Gloria tells Manny to throw the game to avoid Jay being a sore loser. When Jay tries to get Manny to play a child's version of chess, Manny is insulted and challenges Jay to a rematch, winning in four moves and taking Jay's watch. Gloria reveals she is an excellent player but lets Jay think he is better. The night before Phil's birthday, Cameron and Mitchell hear a man's voice from Lily's room via the baby monitor, thinking it is a burglar, but it is a signal from a neighboring house.

Mitchell asks Jay to help him toughen up, while Cameron listens to conversations and discovers a misunderstanding that may cause a divorce; he tells the wife the truth. Claire comes home without an iPad, but Luke convinces a man online that his father's dying wish was an iPad, so the man brings a second iPad over. At the party, Claire gives the iPad to a delighted Phil.

Production

Kevin Sullivan directed “Game Changer,” which Joe Lawson and Alex Herschlag wrote. This marked Lawson’s third script for the series and Herschlag’s first. Guest actors included Kevin Fry-Bowers as an Apple Store security guard, Jason Antoon as Clark, Whitney Claire Kaufman as Sarah, Tyrel Jackson Williams as Little Phil, Harrison White as a postman, and Zak Boggan as a kid near a batting cage. Despite the iPad’s prominent role, Apple did not pay for product placement.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Game Changer" came second in its timeslot after American Idol, viewed by 9.51 million viewers with an 18-49 Nielsen Rating of 3.8 rating and an 11% share, beating last week's 3.7. The show was the 4th most viewed show of the night, ranked 20 in weekly viewership (sixth for ABC), and ranked 8 in the 18-49 Nielsen Rating (third on ABC). The episode received positive reviews. Robert Canning of IGN gave it an 8, calling it "impressive" and noting that while it lacked creativity in storylines, the characters' likeability kept the tone fun.

Lesley Savage of Entertainment Weekly gave a positive review, stating: "It’s the little things that make this show so clever." Donna Bowman from The A.V. Club gave an A−, praising Phil's journey from excitement to near-catatonic resignation to euphoric rebirth. Joel Keller of The TV Squad criticized the episode for product placement of the iPad, questioning whether Apple needed to "infect our favorite shows."