#is that cam chooses joe over donna for no reason

[piovascosimo]

hacf | cam x donna 2.05

[sweetsunrayssr]

Gordon’s Gift

Warning: spoilers until 4x08, theory, keep handkerchiefs nearby

In Gordon’s Shrine, the Garage, I already stipulated how the Garage is Gordon’s shrine that he tried to rebuild with Joe since S1 in part I. To summarize, their cooperation only worked within a garage setting. Gordon and his relationship with Joe breaks down in basements or doesn’t get off the ground. And when he tries to build similar inspirational working relationships in the garage (or garage like setting) with others or by himself it fizzles quickly. I also stipulated that the origin of the garage shrine for Gordon rooted back to his youth, and how Gordon’s insistence on keeping his bro-mance with Joe exclusive and keep out Cameron self-sabotages his business and his friendship with Joe.

ROOT TRIANGLE

Basically the shrine building keeps happening in a character’s arc like an iteration of earlier versions, and is deeply rooted for each of them in their youth or childhood: a parent, sibling or even a childhood sweetheart who either is beyond their reach through death, irreparable damage, or just not the right person. This Freudian take is also reflected in the Pilgrim as a “kid”.

The unsalvageable root of Gordon’s garage shrine is his relationship with his brother Henry, Henry’s high school sweetheart Jules, and his father’s auto shop.  After learning about his disease in 2x05, and unable to reveal it to Donna, Gordon seeks someone to unburden and ends up calling his brother Henry to relate his wish to visit him in California with Joanie and Haley. Even during the telephone conversation, we already get a hint of a fraught sibling relationship between Gordon and Henry.

While Henry initially acts empathic and helpful during the visit, the next day he sends Gordon and his two daughters out of the house late at night, immediately suspecting Gordon slept with his ex-girlfriend Jules. The only reason that Henry was empathic to Gordon was in the hope that Gordon could convince their father not to sell the auto shop.

Off-screen, Gordon learned over the phone with his father that Henry is an alcoholic, chased customers away and leveraged the autoshop over the “past three years”. Meanwhile, Henry tends to spend half of his time in Jules’ bar, drinking. This is not dissimilar to Joe screwing around with post-its for three years in the basement.

Along with the callous, impulsive manner in which Henry sends two children of 6 and 8 out in the night over Jules, while Henry himself is long married with children, suggests that Henry never really got over Jules and that he long resents Gordon for his failures in life. These brothers were not just estranged, but likely had a severe falling out around the time that Gordon left for Berkeley. Jules seems to have been in the middle of that, both in the past as well as the present.

Jules is a single mother of a 12-year old son R.J. she loves and regards as her anchor. Gordon apparently never knew about this and thus he has not seen or heard about Jules since at least ’72-‘73, when he would have been 19 and studying at Berkeley. The father doesn’t have to be Henry, but it is possible. She talks in disdain and pity about Henry, denying she wants to get back with him, and yet she later admits to narc over Henry.  A part of her cannot let go of Henry, and her sleeping with Gordon is some twisted form to return to the past.

Whether Gordon was envious of Jules choosing Henry over Gordon back in High School or how Henry’s affections for Jules may have stood in the way of Gordon having his brother all to himself is unclear, imho. Likely it was a mix of both. Being the younger brother, Gordon likely looked up to Henry, but simultaneously may have envied him for Henry was the sports guy and “handsome one”, and Gordon relied on his wit to impress people and girls. Jules and Katie have physical similarities as body type, so Jules may have been Gordon’s type.

We don’t need the exact particulars, but it should be clear that Gordon, Henry and Jules have a triangulation connection where they play chess with one another, not just in ’85 during Gordon’s visit, but in the years before Gordon left for Berkeley. While Gordon moved on to Donna, San Francisco and Dallas, Jules and Henry never actually moved on at all, even though Henry married another woman. The fact that it can go so wrong within a day in ‘85, as the three of them use each other in dysfunctional ways, is a sign that it is actually a rote pattern between them.

The triangle of Gordon, Joe and Cameron shows a lot of similarities, except the fact that Gordon never appeared to be attracted to Cameron in any way (she is not his type). What it all comes down to is that Joe “replaces” the broken brother bond for Gordon. Note how I do not say that Joe “surrogates” for Henry. Joe is the “brother” that his actual brother Henry could never have been for Gordon. Joe trumps Henry. In fact, he does not seek out Henry in S2, until his one-time-deal with Joe at Westgroup is done, as if Henry is the “surrogate” to Joe.

PLAYING CHESS

The failed youth triangle of Gordon, Henry and Jules  explains his almost immediate antagonistic position towards Cameron from the get-go in S1. Despite Joe having proven himself to be manipulative and untrustworthy and Cameron only being a 22 year old college drop-out, he searches for evidence against Cameron, wanting Joe to get rid of her once the BIOS is written. When he learns that Joe is considering Cam’s OS idea, he tells her coders that she’s sleeping with Joe.  He uses her to play Joe emotionally into putting up the money for Comdex ’83. And intends to use Joe’s feelings for her by threatening to send her to jail to make Joe agree to the original shipping date, even though Cameron has left . Donna calls this “the chess game you three play with each other,” to Cameron.

Chessboards are a recurring décor item throughout the series, in quite telling scenes about having control, such as when Joe seduces Travis at Mrs. Lutherford’s in 1X03. Joe pushes Travis onto a table with a chessboard and sends the pieces flying. Cameron’s top of S1 with the squares that reappears in S4 is a chess board. Joe tests and figures out how Cam and Mutiny tried to deceive him about UNIX with a chess game. And Haley plays chess against herself. Different story, but having a similar analogue on how people use each other like chess pieces, check out the Musical Chess of ’86, from which you probably know Murray’s song, “One Night in Bangkok”.

In S1 Joe, Gordon and Cameron play as dysfunctional a chess game as the games played between Gordon, Jules and Henry in 2x06. The final season, ten years later, we finally have an iteration where these three have an opportunity to relate in a non-dysfunctional way. Cameron played a key part in reconciling Gordon and Joe, in Joe keeping urls for the past three years, planting the seed that leads to Joe’s web indexing idea and a business model where Joe and Gordon are not just business partners in name, but truly work together harmoniously. Gordon may not be playing pool table with his brother Henry, but he would not have been playing pool together with his chosen “brother” Joe, without Cam’s nudges. (Note: the left gif is what we see before the camera pans out to show us Gordon and Henry talking over beer in Jules’ bar)

And yet, Gordon’s initial reaction to Joe and Cameron is once more antagonistic, and attempts to verbally step into Joe’s personal life again. Unlike S1, he does not take further direct personal destructive actions though. He does draw the line at Cameron’s presence at Comet, even though they’re hiring and her career is down the dumps, eventually leading to her choice to writing the algorithm for the competition Rover. This logically has its backlash in the personal relationship between Joe and Cameron, Comet and bubbles over into Gordon’s personal life as Haley is uncomfortable around Katie. S1 Joe, Gordon and Cameron would have been unable to handle this graciously, resulting into a broken down triangle as much as the one between Gordon, Henry and Jules. In S4 they’re all more mature. They’re still flawed and make mistakes, but are far better equipped in dealing with it, and moving past it.

And so at the start of 4x06 we have a reconciliation conversation between Gordon and Cameron over her helping Bos with the algorithm for Rover. Initially Gordon jokes about Cam’s professional crisis and disbeliefs her aversion to tech. But her insistence and claim she doesn’t dream in code anymore ends with Gordon staring at her thoughtfully for quite a while, before Joe calls for their attention that they’re ready to do the rocket launching. The length of that stare built a feeling of expectation that there would be some follow-up to this from Gordon, and yet we never seemed to have one.

Gordon seems overall inspired during the launch as he stares up at his rocket, as if he gets to be the visionary for once. While initially reluctant and deaf about Joe’s hints about Haley, Gordon gets it when he visits Corn Dog. He has his own visionary idea, based on Donna’s marketing information. He uses Joe, in a positive and honest way, to patch his relationship with Haley. He fixes the AC. He accepts the idea of a re-design as part of a re-launch. He has a stable relationship with Katie in which he is genuinely happy. His daughters like her too. He has a good co-parenting friendship with Donna. And the moment of his death is one of beautiful peace and recognition of Donna as the love of his life.

It thus seems odd that he did nothing to help fix Cameron’s career, especially in light of the fact that Gordon admitted his part in the events that led to Bos’s heart attack, and their unconditional friendship. Surely, Gordon was able to recognize his contribution to the threat in Joe’s and Cameron’s relationship at the start of 4x05? Surely, Gordon could recognize his pre-S1 and S2 issues being mirrored in Cameron’s life. He mentioned the Symphonic to her, as well as “having too much time on her hands” and how it leads to trouble. Hell, he was 32 himself in S2 when he was professionally adrift.

THE GIFT

I propose that Gordon did in fact did something for Cameron. Sometime after the rocket launching, Cameron finally checks her emails on Joe’s computer, for the first time since about half a year. Her inbox is full of emails by either Tom, Alexa and Gavin from Atari, and one email giving her a link to a fansite “The Howe of it all”: http://www.thehoweofitall.com/

The link was not sent to her by either of the people mentioned, but by “Haley” via her Comet mail address.  The show give us the impression that Haley must have discovered the fan website, sent a link to Cameron, but that Alexa built it since her emails to contact Cameron went unanswered. Cameron at least seems to assume as much.

But the way Alexa talks of Pilgrim hardly convinces me that she ever reached the higher levels. If she did, she may have used backdoors into the code, and only saw the imagery, without realizing the metaphors behind it. She only talks of world building, while of course figuring out that the Pilgrim is a kid is the spiritual gaming reward. Alexa does not seem to get the spirituality nor soul of the game, but is purely focused on the world and graphics containing the puzzles (even the level 0 world contains fake puzzles). And while she dispassionately praises Cam’s work as “great”, it sounds empty. None of her words about Pilgrim at their first private meeting, or the bots in the trailer and the hike match with the tone of praise of the fan site. No wonder that Cameron is confused by Alexa: she thinks this woman understands her.

The most glaring oddity about the fan site are the pictures. The site shows one of the pictures that Tom took in S2 of the Mutiny staff. It is however not the picture that Cam, Tom and Bos chose to use for the Mutiny ad in Byte. (In the S2 gifs of 2x04 below, the left one is the picture scene used for the website, while the right one ended up in Byte as an ad.) You may have noticed this discrepancy while watching 4x06, or when visiting the “Howe of it all” website, but relegated it as the show’s prop department’s choice, and just thought it was cool to see those pictures.

In-world it makes little sense for Alexa to have gotten her hands on those. Those pictures were not digital, but physically developed from Tom’s negatives and not in the public domain at all, not in Byte, never on Mutiny’s interface. Heck, Mutiny’s interface is non-existent and the reason why the creator of the fan site used a playnet gif instead of Mutiny. Alexa could only get such a picture from the person who kept them.

The Polaroid of Cameron in the Cardiff basement while working on the BIOS is even more startling. Polaroids are unique pictures without a negative. And in 4x08, we see Gordon was in possession of exactly that Polaroid when Cameron rummages through the pictures. More, since the Polaroid of Donna was taken in their Dallas kitchen and of Gordon in his garage, the Polaroid camera was in possession of the Clark’s to begin with.

This Polaroid of Cameron is the direct evidence that Gordon made the Cameron Howe fan site and had Haley send the link to Cameron via email, or Gordon used Haley’s email address for it. Alexa had nothing to do with that site at all. It was Gordon’s gift to Cameron to boost her career confidence. (Yes, I know, your eyes are prickling and your throat thick digesting this, no?).

Hence, the pictures on the website aren’t errors or deviations by the production prop department. They are deliberately chosen by the prop departments as clues and hints to the in-story fan site creator: Gordon.

What a beautiful gift that site is if created by Gordon: Gordon calls Space Bike his favorite game, publically recognizes her work on the Giant (which he did not do at Comdex ’83), memorializes Mutiny and gives her sole credit for the founding of it, and calls for a publication of Pilgrim by Atari, providing a public hint to a level of the game that reveals he figured it out (like Donna did) and shows those gamers who loathed it for fools.

Finally, @paceofbase  alerted me about a strange date for the email in Cam’s inbox about the fan site: it says Saturday 20th of August 1994. The prop department certainly looked it up, because 20th of August 1994 was indeed a Saturday. Except the last emails with a month on the screen say March. Haley’s failing tests at school (it’s not summer holiday), and her biology re-do test says 11th of April 1994. Curt Cobain died on the 5th of April 1994. We discussed with each other whether the datestamp for the email about the fansite was a massive production error or something else.

Gordon though has enough code knowledge to fiddle with the server date, and thus make it look like he sent an email “from the future”. So, the date again is not a prop error, but a deliberate in-world “mistake” smuggled in by Gordon to hint to Cameron that she still has a future in tech.

Joe tried to play it, but lost himself in the puzzles, and likely never played it anymore as he tries to understand Cameron up-close and personal instead. At least he figured out the Airstream game. We saw Donna finish it on screen. The game was her sole safe way to make “contact”. But Gordon never said a word about the game on screen, though Cameron gave it to him and he visited the testing room to warn her to be considerate of Joe’s feelings for her. Whether Gordon figured it out by himself or Donna revealed some of the tricks and hints to Gordon is not that important. But of the four, aside from Cameron, Gordon was the actual fellow “gamer” and connected with her via “games”. 

4x08’s final scene also confirmed that Gordon can be sneaky and secretive, in contrast to his usual blabbing and shooting his mouth. Donna thinks he never jumped from that quarry cliff into the lake, but he did, and he never told anyone.

An oddity in all of 4x08 is how the camera pans from the dinner table to his “office” in the house and lingers for a while on an old wooden writing desk and file closet, presumably something Gordon has of his grandmother. Bos making his chili is reminiscent to Gordon making his grandmother’s stew in S1 for his daughters, one of the moments where Gordon bonds with his daughters as father, contrasting the 4x08 flashback scenes of him walking out on Donna and baby Joanie when Joanie starts to cry. Donna brings up how this and that in the house are keepsakes from Gordon’s grandmother. So, what is interesting about this old-timer desk? Well, it is free from tech. It’s a writing desk, not a computer desk. And thus can be seen as a link to Cam’s exclamation of being done with tech.  

CONCLUSION

Gordon’s Gift gave Cameron enough confidence to start working again and thereby he resolves his part in sending Cameron away from Comet in the first half of S4. By publically acknowledging her contribution to the Giant, he helped her to see the soul back in the machine, as she is fooling around with self-learning AI. His gift attempts to strip the pair Joe & Cameron of side-issues that distract from the most important ones about building a life together: house, children or not, etc.

These are differing wishes that can only be resolved between themselves and for themselves. As long as they don’t have the answers through each other whether they want a life together, despite the differences, they will cling to one another based on the past like prisoners, like Henry and Jules still do.

[mostfunnystuff247-blog]

The Real-life Love Lives Of The ‘Modern Family’ Cast

Celebrities & Pop Culture This list will also remind you of some of the show's best guest stars and recurring characters! Kate Emswiler 2018-09-17

Getty Images | Frazer Harrison If you’re a “Modern Family” fan, you’ve likely witnessed all the ups and downs of the Pritchetts, Dunphys and Delgados over the years. Now, take a peek at the offscreen love lives of all your favorite “Modern Family” actors. You may be surprised to find you recognize some of their real-life significant others from other popular shows!

Stephanie Beatriz (Sonia Ramirez)

If you don’t know Stephanie Beatriz as Gloria’s sister, Sonia Ramirez, you may know her as Detective Rosa Diaz on the recently canceled (then quickly uncanceled) “Brooklyn 99.” Beatriz, who is engaged to actor Brad Hoss, identifies as bisexual. Her coming out inspired an epidode of “Brooklyn 99” in which Diaz, Beatriz’s tough-as-nails character, also came out as bisexual. In an essay penned for GQ, the actress clarified that marrying a man doesn’t make her any less queer. “I’m choosing to get married because this particular person brings out the best in me,” she wrote. “This person happens to be a man.”

Getty Images | Joe Scarnici

Nathan Fillion (Rainer Shine)

On “Modern Family,” Nathan Fillion’s vain character, a TV weatherman appropriately named Rainer Shine, pursues Haley — despite an age difference that makes everyone uncomfortable. Although they are very briefly engaged (five minutes!), Haley and Rainer’s relationship was not meant to last. In real life, the “Castle” star has been romantically involved with several women, most recently actress Krista Allen, though the two appear to no longer be together.

Getty Images | Dimitrios Kambouris

Elizabeth Banks (Sal)

Elizabeth Banks is easily one of the most memorable and beloved of “Modern Family”‘s many recurring guest stars, as her turn as Cam and Mitchell’s impulsive and vivacious friend, Sal, always breathes some fresh air into the show. Offscreen, Banks is married to producer and sportswriter Max Handelman, whom she met in college when she was 18 years old. The two waited until 2003 to tie the knot and they now have two sons together, Felix, 7, and Magnus, 5.

Getty Images | Pascal Le Segretain

Kevin Hart (Andre)

Comedian Kevin Hart appeared twice on “Modern Family” as Phil’s friend and neighbor, Andre. When he’s not making audiences laugh in TV shows, movies and stand-up specials, Hart spends time with his wife, Eniko Parrish, and their baby son, Kenzo, along with Hart’s children from a previous marriage, Heaven and Hendrix.

Getty Images | Frazer Harrison

Chazz Palminteri (Vincent / Shorty)

Chazz Palminteri has a recurring role on “Modern Family” as Shorty, one of Jay’s oldest and dearest BFFs. The seasoned actor, writer and restaurateur has been married to his wife, Gianna Palminteri, since 1992. The couple has two children, Dante and Gabriella, and they live in New York.

Getty Images | Jemal Countess

Jennifer Tilly (Darlene)

Jennifer Tilly appears in several episodes of “Modern Family” as Darlene, the wife of Jay’s friend Shorty, who moves with Shorty to Costa Rica — much to Jay’s dismay. In a later episode, however, Shorty returns and admits that Darlene left him for another man. Tilly’s real-life romantic partner is Irish-born poker player Phil Laak, whose poker-playing uniform of a hoodie and sunglasses has earned him the moniker “The Unabomber.” Tilly herself is also a world-renowned professional poker champion.

Getty Images | Mark Davis

Sarah Hyland (Haley Dunphy)

Sarah Hyland plays the ditzy, boy-crazy Haley Dunphy on “Modern Family,” but for more than a year now, in real life she’s only had eyes for one guy: Wells Adams. Adams was a contestant on “The Bachelorette” in 2016, and it looks like his loss at the final rose was a win for everyone, especially Hyland. After Adams’ stint on “Bachelor in Paradise” in the summer of 2017, he and Hyland started dating and they’ve been serving up coupled cuteness ever since.

Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly

Benjamin Bratt (Javier Delgado)

On “Modern Family,” Benjamin Bratt plays Gloria’s hunky, suave ex-husband, Javier, who swoops in occasionally to visit his son, Manny, but never provides any reliable support as a dad. Bratt’s real-life persona couldn’t be further from this character, as he has been married to his wife, actress Talisa Soto, since 2002, and he’s a devoted dad to his two children, Sophia, 15, and Mateo, 12.

Getty Images | Frazer Harrison

Ed O’Neill (Jay Pritchett)

The blustery “Modern Family” patriarch and closets mogul, Jay Pritchett, is played by Ed O’Neill, previously of “Married… With Children” fame. In reality, O’Neill has been married to actress Catherine Rusoff since 1986. The two share a pair of daughters, 19-year-old Sophia and 22-year-old Claire (just like on TV!).

Getty Images | Frazer Harrison

Jane Krakowski (Dr. Donna Duncan)

Fans of “30 Rock” and “Ally McBeal” likely recognized Jane Krakowski immediately in the several “Modern Family” episodes that featured her as the passive-aggressive Dr. Donna Duncan, Gloria’s nemesis at Manny’s school. When she’s not playing hilarious roles on sitcoms, Krakowski is likely spending time with her son, 7-year-old Bennett, whom she shares with her ex-fiance, fashion designer Robert Godley.

Getty Images | Eugene Gologursky

Lin-Manuel Miranda (Guillermo)

You may not have realized it at the time, but if you re-watch the 2011 “Modern Family” episode “Good Cop, Bad Dog,” you’ll notice that the guest star playing the dog trainer who pitches a terrible business idea to Jay, is unmistakably “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. When Miranda isn’t playing hilarious guest roles or concocting award-winning rhymes, he’s probably enjoying time with his wife since 2010, Vanessa Nadal, who is both a lawyer and a scientist. The two have two sons together, and while delivering his speech at the 2016 Tony Awards (before baby No. 2 came along), Miranda declared, “My wife’s the reason anything gets done. She nudges me towards promise by degrees. She is a perfect symphony of one. Our son is her most beautiful reprise.”

Getty Images | Bryan Bedder

Keegan-Michael Key (Tom)

On “Modern Family,” Keegan-Michael Key plays one half of a couple that Phil and Claire meet while on vacation. The Dunphys think highly of their new friends and love having dinner with them … except for one thing: They refuse to ever pick up the check. In real life, Key married producer Elisa Pugliese in June 2017. When he popped the question in November 2017, Key gushed on Twitter, “I’m the luckiest man ever. She said yes!”

Getty Images | Christopher Polk

Rachel Harris (Amelia)

Comedic actress Rachael Harris guest starred on “Modern Family” once, playing Amelia, the owner of a trendy restaurant for which Mitchell and Cam are having trouble getting reservations. They arrange a play date for Amelia’s son and their daughter Lily, in an effort to gain access to the restaurant, but things go awry, as usual. In real life, Harris is married to her second husband, violinist Christian Hebel, and the pair has one child together, Henry, with a second baby on the way!

Getty Images | John Sciulli

Matt Dillon (Robbie)

Matt Dillon plays a bit of a cad on “Modern Family,” appearing as Claire’s ex-boyfriend from high school who shows up at a party at Claire and Phil’s house — as a date for Claire’s mom, DeDe. Awkward! Offscreen, Dillon has been a serial dater for so long, he’s even made lists of “celebs who have never married.” His current girlfriend, however, dancer and actress Roberta Mastromichele, may just convince Dillon to take the plunge yet.

Paul Morigi/Getty Images

Jordan Peele (Derrick)

Just like his longtime comedy partner Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele delivered laughs when he guest-starred on “Modern Family.” In the episode “A Fair to Remember,” Peele played a “police officer” whom Jay is grumpily paired up with for a fair charity event. The two had very funny onscreen chemistry, but offscreen, the Oscar-winning Peele has the best chemistry with his wife, comedian and actress Chelsea Peretti, well-known to “Brooklyn 99” fans as the precinct’s sassy Gina. The couple has a son together, Beaumont Gino, whom they welcomed in July 2017.

Getty Images | Matt Winkelmeyer

Sofia Vergara (Gloria Pritchett)

Gloria, the sexy, loud, loving second wife of Jay Pritchett, is played with hilarious timing and just enough sass by Colombian actress Sofia Vergara. In November 2015, Vergara married “True Blood” actor Joe Manganiello in a lavish Palm Beach wedding that was draped in flowers and oozing with romance. Soon after the wedding (which featured Vergara’s “Modern Family” castmates in attendance), Vergara went on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and said, “It was like a fairy tale. It came out perfectly how I wanted, I have to say.” Vergara also has a 26-year-old son, Manolo, from a previous marriage.

Getty Images | Dimitrios Kambouris

Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy)

Devoted dad and loyal husband Phil Dunphy is married to the oft-beleaguered Claire on “Modern Family,” but, in real life, actor Ty Burrell has been married to his wife, Holly, a professional chef, since 2000. The pair has two children, 8-year-old Frances and 6-year-old Greta, and they have strong ties to Utah, where Burrell owns two bars and a restaurant. Family is everything to Ty and Holly Burrell, and Ty told Fatherly that he loves sitting down to dinner with his wife and daughters each night. “We’re very traditional in that way,” he revealed. “My wife and I were both raised in households where you sat down at dinner every night. It is a wonderful rhythm-of-the-day thing.”

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Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy)

Claire Dunphy enjoys a wacky-but-loving relationship with doofy husband Phil on “Modern Family,” but Julie Bowen‘s real-life marriage has been a bit less smooth lately. Bowen was married to Scott Phillips in 2004 and the couple has three children together, 11-year-old Oliver and 9-year-old twins, John and Gustav. Earlier this year, however, Bowen filed for divorce from Phillips, and Bowen has turned to her castmates and kids for distraction from the situation. “The beauty of having three children is they don’t give you much time for thinking,” Bowen told Us magazine in April. “They’re like a crash course in being in the now.”

Getty Images | Kevin Winter

Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett)

“Modern Family” viewers get a hilarious, weekly glimpse into the marriage between Mitchell and Cameron — but fans who follow Ferguson on social media can witness his own happy real-life marriage, too. Wed in 2013 (with playwright Tony Kushner officiating), Ferguson and his husband, lawyer Justin Mikita, have a non-profit organization together called Tie The Knot, which sells bow ties as a way of raising funds to support same-sex marriage.

Getty Images | Dia Dipasupil

Eric Stonestreet (Cameron Tucker)

Eric Stonestreet plays lovable and loving Cam, the sensitive, football-coaching husband to Mitch and father of Lily. But, in real life, Stonestreet is not gay (or, as he put it to Oprah.com, he’s “openly straight”). The 47-year-old actor is currently dating Lindsay Schweitzer, a pediatric nurse, whom he gushed over on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in September 2017. “She calms me — she calms my nerves,” he told DeGeneres. “I’m a very high-strung person.”

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Ariel Winter (Alex Dunphy)

Ariel Winter’s character, Alex Dunphy, may be dorky and awkward on TV, but the 20-year-old’s offscreen romance with 30-year-old Canadian actor Levi Meaden seems to be effortless, sweet and downright steamy. The two began dating in November 2016 and they have since moved in together. The couple shares three dogs and a bunny, and they even got tattoos for each other (Meaden’s is a picture of a peanut butter jar while Winter’s is a hunk of cheese, symbolizing a combination that doesn’t seem to go together, but somehow totally works).

Getty Images | Michael Tullberg

Nolan Gould (Luke Dunphy)

Clueless Luke Dunphy is played by the actually quite-smart Nolan Gould (he graduated high school at age 13!), who, at age 19, has basically grown up on the set of “Modern Family.” For that reason, he doesn’t see his co-stars as viable love interests. When asked on the “Allegedly” podcast whether he’d ever date his onscreen sister, Ariel Winter, for example, Gould stated, “I love her but she’s a really good friend. We grew up together … I would never wanna waste that.” Although he reportedly isn’t dating anyone in particular, rumors have swirled around Gould and actress Joey King (pictured below) and model Hannah Glasby but Gould has largely kept his dating life out of the public eye. Or perhaps he has no time for dating, as the actor stays busy with his hit TV show, his passionate work for wildlife and environmental causes, and his worldly travels with his friends.

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Rico Rodriguez (Manny Delgado)

Rico Rodriguez plays a bit of a mama’s boy on “Modern Family” as Manny Delgado, firstborn son of Gloria (Sofia Vergara). In real life, the 20-year-old actor seems just as fond of his TV mom, but there’s no evidence of a serious romance in Rodriguez’s life at the moment. In September 2016, he revealed to ABC News that he was “till single and ready to mingle.” According to his Twitter feed, his greatest loves seem to be sports-related, so he may still be single, or perhaps he simply keeps his private matters private.

Getty Images | Alberto E. Rodriguez

Fred Willard (Frank Dunphy)

Beloved comedic actor Fred Willard plays Phil’s earnest father, Frank, on “Modern Family,” and it turns out he’s a loving father and husband in real life, too. Willard married his wife Mary, a playwright, in 1968 and the couple had one daughter together, Hope Willard. Sadly, Mary passed away unexpectedly in July 2018 at the age of 71. She and Fred had been married for 50 years.

Getty Images | Mark Davis

Shelley Long (DeDe Pritchett)

On “Modern Family,” former “Cheers” star Shelley Long plays DeDe Pritchett, mother to Claire and Mitchell and long-suffering ex-wife of Jay. In real life, Long was married and divorced twice, most recently to stockbroker Bruce Tyson. Long and Tyson share a 33-year-old daughter, Juliana Long Tyson, who is an accomplished actress in her own right.

Getty Images | David Livingston

Nathan Lane (Pepper Saltzman)

Nathan Lane plays the recurring role of eccentric wedding planner Pepper Saltzman on “Modern Family,” though Pepper’s extravagant ideas are often a little too much for Mitchell and Cam to handle. When it came to his own wedding, the Broadway legend chose a far simpler approach. In 2015, Lane married his partner of 18 years, playwright Devlin Elliot, in a quiet ceremony at New York’s City Hall.

Getty Images | Larry Busacca

Adam DeVine (Andy Bailey)

Jay and Gloria’s affable nanny, Andy (played by Adam DeVine), presented a bit of a romantic problem for Haley on “Modern Family,” as she secretly crushed on the good-natured nerd (who was so similar to her dad!). And while Andy had feelings for Haley, too, their timing was never right. DeVine’s real love life appears to be more easygoing — he has been dating actress Chloe Bridges since 2015 when the pair met while working together on a horror film. In October 2017, a “clueless” DeVine told an Australian radio show that he didn’t realize Bridges might expect a marriage proposal when he whisked her off on a romantic European vacation. “I think she was having some grandiose ideas, meanwhile I’m too dumb to pick up on any clues,” he told the hosts.

Getty Images | Rachel Murray

Ernie Hudson (Miles)

Ernie Hudson is perhaps best-known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in the “Ghostbusters” film franchise, so nostalgic audiences delight in his role as Jay’s old pal, Miles, on “Modern Family.” Offscreen, he’s been married twice, and his second marriage, to Linda Kingsberg, has been going strong since 1985. The couple has two children together, Andrew and Ross.

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Steve Zahn (Ronnie LaFontaine)

Any regular viewer of “Modern Family” knows Steve Zahn as the Dunphys’ obnoxious and hyper-sexual neighbor, Ronnie LaFontaine. Zahn’s TV wife, Amber, on “Modern Family” is played by Andrea Anders, but in real life, Zahn has been married to Robyn Peterman since 1994. The couple now lives in rural Kentucky, where Zahn seems to enjoy a more relaxed way of life. “I met my wife in 1990 when I was on the national tour of ‘Bye, Bye Birdie,'” he told The Irish Times in 2017. “We moved out of the city 13 years ago, and it’s the best thing I ever did. Overheads are lower. I don’t have to work when I don’t want to.”

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Matthew Broderick (Dave)

Matthew Broderick’s brief storyline on “Modern Family” has Broderick’s character feeling romantically frustrated, as he misinterprets Phil’s generally affectionate nature for something more lustful. In real life, Broderick has enjoyed a long marriage with Sarah Jessica Parker. The couple has homes in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Ireland, and they share one son together, 15-year-old James, along with twin 9-year-old girls, Marion and Tabitha.

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