Tivo alert!

We're watching the season debut of Dancing With the Stars tonight. It's Mens Night and four dancers in, my money is on the Iron Chef America guy. I'm a harsh judge and so far his Cha Cha Cha is the only dance I wouldn't characterize as stiff and clunky. I adored DWTS when it began but, but over the years their definition of "star" has slipped.

UPDATE: Who knew Donnie Osmond could dance? Completely respectable.

But the big excitement this week is Modern Family starring my cousin Eric! If you've had ABC on for even a moment in the past few months you've probably seen a commercial for it, and the early reviews have been fantastic. I've seen the pilot, know a little bit about upcomming guest stars and plot, and I can't wait to see more. On the right in the picture above, he plays Cameron to Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Mitchell. They're a gay couple who've just adopted a baby from Vietnam.

Brett's as excited for Eric as I am, and we've both been googling to try to keep up with the pre-debut buzz. What we've found is that he's on his way to becoming a bear icon! (A subset of the gay community, the bears are bigger, beefier, hairy guys who reject the shaved, tanned, worked-out look usually associated with gay men) What really makes it a kick? He's not gay!

Comments on the first blog post where I found him mentioned were really nice things like "great actor" and "Not only handsome, but I've met him and he's charming and funny." Comments on another blog post I found later were complimentary as well, and lets say, more detailed. God I hope his mom (or mine) aren't searching for mentions as well.

So set your Tivo or be sure to watch, not just for Eric (the newly-minted Bear Sex Symbol!) but also Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen and Ed O'Neill. Totally a good time!