Jump to content

Impossible Ships!


Recommended Posts

  • 4 weeks later...

Another terrifying combination of friends - Lily from Modern Family and Diane from Black-ish. Two very driven (and possibly sociopathic) young women who feel isolated even within their own family (Asian and adopted by a gay couple & dark-skinned in a family of not-as-dark-skinned Black Americans respectively) who desire to achieve great things and have atypical means of achieving them. Both are incredibly worldly and very snarky as well. Zoey and Hayley would also probably relate, as would: Luke and Jack, Dre and Jay, possibly Phil and Jr. in a inter-generational friendship, Rainbow and Claire, and definitely Gloria and Ruby; Rhonda and Cam & Mitch wouldn't get along, but they'd come to respect each other. Sadly, Alex and Manny have no peers, but I could see Pops passing down some worldly wisdom to the bookish pair. (Zoey may get along decently with Manny though...hmm...*)

Honestly, I'm actually surprised these two shows didn't cross over. They were on the same network, were both about families, and while using different styles of humor, could have easily blended them. Although I guess it makes sense - people like my dad who like parts of Black-ish but hate Modern Family would hate the crossover and the idea of them crossing over. But at the same time, I really like the idea of the shows mixing - Modern Family did have minorities, but its cast of Black reoccurring characters was tiny (something that many non-Minority sitcoms struggle with). Meanwhile, Black-ish doesn't have too many white characters that aren't foolish in an offensively ignorant way. Having characters who aren't that - with the exception of Phil, where the joke is that everyone around him understand why it's so offensive, while the context in his mind is different - would be interesting to see. 

Hayley dating Junior would also be an interesting twist. Sure, Junior is no Andy, but the complexities of an interracial relationship could be explored in more detail.** In Black-ish, it's a joke for the most part, although it does play into Rainbow's background and character. In Modern Family, it's openly accepted after the first few episodes. Showing how one gets to that point of open acceptance would be interesting to see. (And Phil seems to be on good terms with most of Hayley's long-term boyfriends, so this would be another case of that.) THAT BEING SAID, I like Junior's current girlfriend, and Andy should have been the final boyfriend for Hayley. But in an alternate world...

The only difficult part I can think of would be logistics within the show. I think both shows take place in California, but I'm not 100% sure. 

Let's say it's two inter-connected but not incredibly linked episodes, like the first Flash and Arrow crossovers. Let's say this is about Season 8-10 of Modern Family, and around Season 6-7 of Black-ish. (So around 2018-2019 for both of them?)

The first episode would be a Modern Family episode. Claire, as head of the closet company, decides to take the family out to dinner in a different part of California before working on a business deal in the area the next day. Meanwhile, Dre and his family decide to have a nice dinner out at a restaurant's new opening location. (The inside joke is that this is the restaurant that Jay had wanted to eat at one episode, but everyone's issues as couples kept interrupting. They eventually all were kicked out.) Sadly, the restaurant over-booked, and now there's only one reservation left. Phil, being Phil proposes that they share the table. Everyone else objects, finding it preposterous that they have to give up what is "their reservation and family dinner." So the hijinks ensue. Claire and Dre get competitive over the reservations, with Jay and Pops stepping up to help their children. Gloria and Lily are try to scheme their way in, but are countered by Ruby and Diane at every turn. Hayley tries to seduce Jr., and if Zoey is there (and single - I haven't seen Grown-ish), I could see her trying to pull the same thing on Manny. This weirdly results in the two older siblings being incredibly protective of their younger family members...and getting along well themselves. Joe and DeVante can just be friends in the corner. Meanwhile, Phil keeps saying accidentally racist things because he doesn't understand the context. Ultimately, the issue is solved when a different restaurant patron says something racist, and Phil and the rest of the Dunphy-Delgado-Pritchett clan stick up for the Johnson family. The two decide that Phil's idea was originally a good one, and we end on the two families eating a meal together. The post-credit scene would be Gloria and Ruby having a blast at a gun range. 

The next episode would be a Black-ish episode, and would feature the Dunphy-Delgado-Pritchett family staying at the Johnson's for a meal while Claire deals with Dre's workplace closet makeover and his crazy coworkers. Jay would probably be a part of this storyline as well, connecting to Dre in a way that neither expected and makes Claire super competitive.*** At the house, Phil would be feeling inferior to Rainbow as a worker, but he'd later help out Rainbow do something in terms of connecting with her kids. The end of this storyline would involve Dre and Phil talking about how amazing their wives are, and how much they need to do to support them while the wives share a glass of wine and talk about the day. 

The C-Plot would involve Diane and Lily getting up to some diabolical stuff - this crossover started with those two, so they better get more time together in the second episode! 

If we were to do a third episode, it would focus on the other children. Hayley and Jr would be going out on dates (Zoey and Manny as well, although I assume Zoey would be back on her spin-off show for now). Alex - and Manny, if he doesn't have the romance subplot with Zoey - would be upset that she doesn't have a cool counterpart. Pops would take her under his wing, and the two would get up to some fun stuff though. 

 

This turned out far longer than just a "hey these two characters would get along" post I was planning, but oh well!

 

*And now I'm imagining Manny quoting Maya Angelou and Ida B. Wells to a not-as-knowledgeable Zoey, in support of an argument that has come up during the fake date, and ending with something like "It's your culture and history. It's your experience. I'm just trying my best to support it." But when Zoey asks Manny about his Colombian roots, he's at a loss. He wouldn't be able to name any Colombian philosophers or poets or writers. This would later inspire the two - assuming they become a pair, or at least incredibly close friends - to take a summer abroad to go to Colombia. (Jay, Joe, and Gloria would tag along, of course.) 

**This has turned into a mini-arc for Hayley. I could see Rainbow trying to discourage the relationship. Hayley sees this and thinks it's because she's white, something Hayley found out that Rainbow had issues with in the past. But then it turns out that Rainbow is afraid because she thinks Hayley would drag Junior down. Neither are working towards college degrees, and neither seem to have an idea of what they're doing in life. Hayley would retort with her Influencer and photography work, but Rainbow would remark that unless Hayley plans on studying and making that a career, those choices won't last throughout her life. After a little soul-searching and a few wise words, Hayley decides to pursue a real estate license, just like her old man. (Her influencer connections would undoubtedly pay off big-time in the real estate business.) Interestingly, all roads lead back to Andy in this case, as Hayley's work in real estate would put them in the same social sphere. 

***Either that, or he'd bond with Jack over crafting stuff, and the that would lead to Jay giving Jack a recommendation for an internship at his old business. 

Edited by Use the Falchion
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...