Phil is implied to have narcolepsy but only for one episode.
There are a few times where people have conditions that the actors don’t have but generally not lifelong disabilities,
A boy introduces himself to Alex and says “I have a touch of Asperger’s” (I feel like this is a reference to something but I can’t remember what) and then admits he doesn’t, and just said that so she’d “think [he] was interesting”.
Alex then says she knew someone with Asperger’s who could tell you something about your birthday (idk it was something like the weather? But a very specific fact).
This isn’t exactly misrepresentation, but:
- the word Asperger’s is often considered outdated (idk when this was filmed tho), ableist and racist (look up the history)
- contributes to Aspie supremacy (again look it up if you don’t know)
- and is generally pretty frustrating and anxiety inducing when you’re autistic to watch it :/
Also the episode after a “know it all” kid displays a lot of autistic traits and has a bit of a “meltdown” when she is called a “know it all”.
Sorta.
Season 6 episode 3, a developmentally “gifted” child who displays autistic traits has a sort of meltdown, even tho not confirmed autistic so not exactly an autistic meltdown I guess.
Many times people yell, hit, kick, scream at each other in a comedic manner, but this may be distressing to some viewers.
Lots of little examples of it throughout the show, but namely: S1 E10 Haley and Alex gaslight Luke.
S7 E19 Claire makes Phil think that he's done something wrong, and he continually tries to make up for it, even though he hasn't, and she's just trying to hide something from him. It's not cute.
In one episode, a Gloria slaps her husband Jay hard across the face (for secretly sleeping in a hotel to avoid her snoring, not that it matters hitting your spouse is unacceptable)
On a further note, Gloria frequently "casually" acts in physically and emotionally aggressive behaviors towards Jay.
Also, in one episode. Jay recalls memories of his toxic relationship with his ex wife Dede. He describes an incident where she threw a video cassete at him.
In season 1, Jay accidentally kills Manny's turtle. Also, in season 4, Cam makes a fountain with fish in it and the fish start to go through the fountain mechanism and probably die on the floor or even the way through. This is the third time I'm editing this comment. And in season 8, Cam scares a goat and it hits a wall and die. In another episode in season 8, Jay puts "infected" wood dust in the aquarium, the fish eats and dies. This was the 4th time I edited this comment.
Several small animals die, most offscreen. In S8E7 a goat gets panicked and runs into a wall and dies. It happens in a POV shot, so we don’t see it die, but a couple minutes later we see his legs sticking out of a blanket which was used to wrap his corpse.
Season 10, Episode 10, Gloria's family in Columbia sends a Christmas package that is accidentally full of "banana spiders." You don't actually see them.
In the first season, on Luke's birthday party there's a snake on Dylan's shoulders. And there's also a scorpion on this same episode, if someone has trouble with those.
Gloria is touched inappropriately by a man at the dude ranch who is coming onto her while they are both alone, it's not a long scene before her husband comes.
Alex was In a sexual relationship with a boy in high school while she herself was in college
There is an entire episode about Mitchell being uncomfortable with cams mother touching him a lot, inappropriately, without permission - including on his butt and upper thigh, and kissing him on the lips. He is very uncomfortable.
Alex is kissed without permission by another tween boy while she's on vacation. Later in the episode she kisses him back, and they develop young crush like feelings. Which doesn't excuse the act, but may make it a little less triggering if you choose to finish the episode.
Mitchell is kissed without permission during a play in front of a crowd.
In a busy cake shop, cam (adult) is on the phone with Manny (12 year old family member) helping him figure out what to say to his crush while he's nervous on a date. He them says out loud something like "I know you're only 11 years old, but I've had so much fun talking to you online, I think we should be boyfriend and girlfriend" - suggesting Manny says that to his crush. Everyone in the store turns around looks at him, thinking he is a predator. The scene ends, and Jay picks up the phone and and hears cam crying and "how did you get kicked out a cake store" then "well that'll do it". So not assault, but a joke relating to it.
Phil is kissed on the lips without permission by a friend he has over to watch the game with, who mistakenly thought they were on a date.
There is an episode where Claire keeps getting kissed without permission by a man who Phil is working with in real estate. As a hello/goodbye. Phil doesn't seem to take her seriously the whole episode despite her telling him "you don't think that's weird?" Soon in the episode we see this man kissing everyone on the lips, including his kids, and an older female relative, implying that it's not sexual in nature to Claire and it's just a part of his culture. Doesn't excuse it, but we realize he's not coming onto to her.
No, though Gloria mentions how effective lighting someone's head on fire is for getting them to do what you want. Also Haley's hair catches fire, but she's totally fine. You don't even see flames.
A running joke is that Phil will “fix that step” I think he does fall down the stairs at some point, but most of the time he just slips down one or two steps
(Spoilers)
Some characters we don’t get to know (eg Phil’s mom) are mentioned to die.
Iirc there are three known characters that die: Dede (Mitch and Claire’s mum), Phil’s dad and Walt (Luke’s friend and neighbor).
S1 E10 Manny and Jay are watching Miracle on 34th St but it’s a prank version with a screaming face edited into the scene. This happens twice in the episode.
There is a scene when Mitchell is in the bath in S2, E2, a scene when Jay is in the shower in 25, E6, a scene when it is mentioned Haley was in a bathtub, and in the same episode (S7, E7) her and Andy fall into the bathtub.
Cam is a professional clown named Fizbo, but not a scary one. He’s a very upbeat, good clown. He isn’t dressed up as a clown 🤡 most of the time, but every once in a while, there’s an episode where he dresses up as Fizbo. He’s a nice, happy clown.
S9 E10, Phil is trying to sell a house to a spiritual woman who believes the house is full of evil spirits. Gloria comes to cleanse the house, and she and Phil discover there's actually a hive of bees in the wall, not evil spirits.
S1 E18 at the end Phil washes his mouth out over the sink and spits into the sink.
S4 E7: Luke spits out fake bacon as it is made from soy which he is allergic to.
S3 E20, Alex v* at 17.25. Audio but no visual. Just skip until 17.40 to be clear.
S1 E23, Haley gets drunk and they talk about her v* but you never actually see or hear it.
S2 E22, Luke eats a lot of food and then asks for a bag (to v* into). You don't see or hear anything but Claire says he threw up in the car.
S3 E17, Luke uses a lot of fake blood as a prank and Alex says "I'm going to be sick" but she isn't.
S4 E22, the cleaner at the skate rink says to Claire he needs to clean up the rink as someone 'yakked' up on it and then Luke comes to Claire and says he just v*. He also groans after but no audio or visual.
S5 E7: Claire says she is going to throw up and is feeling queasy but it's all an excuse so nothing happens.
Season 10, episode 14 Haley accidentally hits the tv remote when she falls asleep and it switches to a horror movie offscreen with a LOT of audio gore.
In this episode Mitchell keeps introducing him(tom) to people as Tom at first but then puts his hand next to his mouth and says that Tom used to identify as Tina.
In addition to crunching/chewing sounds throughout the series, the end of S7E12 triggered my misophonia. An old toy makes a very annoying/obnoxious sound over and over again until Phil takes it into another room and smashes the sound box
Claire, who is very thin and athletic, is jealous of Gloria's "skinniness," even though she is actually thinner than the curvy Gloria. This could be triggering for some viewers.
In season 1 episode 17 ("truth be told") Alex remarks to Haley "don't you have an eating disorder you need to attend to?" it's very quick and easy to miss, and this supposed "eating disorder" is never mentioned again.
S8 E14 Cam gets an MRI scan, and it reminds him of being stuck in a well as a kid, and he listens to a podcast that talks about a man being buried alive. S9 Ep17 Mitchell has anxiety about a sensory deprivation tank.
no but in s8 ep4 jay mentions something about a group of people slitting their wrists because of watching manny's application video to juliard. don't know if that would trigger anyone but just letting ppl know:)
There are jokes about it. For example. “Gun to your head which do you choose” (referring to two ugly pairs of shoes) followed by “gun to my head? Pull the trigger” but no one is actual suicidal.
Not sure why this hasn't been said but Mitch and Cam (mostly Cam) say things and act in ways that are incredibly insensitive surrounding Lily and her ethnicity. Examples include interactions with their Asian paediatrician, Cam taking Lily to a commercial that involves white voice actors doing 'asian voices', as well as frequent racist remarks about Lily being a Panda or liking rice.
Halfway through S2E1, Cam says to the viewer that if he were to be injured by Mitchell's careless/dangerous usage of power tools, Cam would rather die (from a fatal injury) than live with a physical disability, as he feels he wouldn't be "an inspiring disabled person"
Lots of homophobic jokes, and name calling from many different characters. Cam and Mitch frequently degrade other members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially anyone who isn’t a gay male. They make a lot of derogatory remarks about lesbians.
No, but a few of the cousins occasionally have crushes on other members of the family. Nothing ever comes of it, but there are a lot of jokes about it.
No, but while out on the lake on a boat, there is a misunderstanding about a "boy" in the water, which causes a character to briefly be concerned. The "boy" is actually a "buoy".
The family also goes to a Dude Ranch and shoots clay pigeons. Mitchell accidentally swings his loaded gun around towards everyone, and they all duck and scream, but the gun gets taken away from him and everyone is fine.