Phil and Robbie whip out the ruler.

The Dunphy/Pritchett/Delgado-Pritchett/Tucker fam all attended a princess party to celebrate Lily’s first birthday and of course, chaos ensued. I do love when the whole family is together at a function because everybody in the cast works well together and I love mixing up the groupings for some new perspective.  Although I could have done with more party, less lead-up. 

Last night saw the return of Shelly Long as Jay’s ex-wife Deedee. She showed up with Claire’s ex-boyfriend Robbie from high school on her arm, played by Matt Dillon in a role that either showed what a great actor he is, or how far he’s fallen on the sexy scale, despite the abs, hair and limo. He’s the first person on the show who’s been able to match Julie Bowen’s crazy cokehead vibe though, so at least he had that going for him. As a viewer though, the two together made me feel so twitchy I almost started grinding my jaw.

We almost saw the return of Fizbo, the awesome clown who can warm children’s hearts one minute and defend his boyfriend from a dillhole bully the next. Alas, we didn’t see him on camera, which was probably for the best because Fizbo’s last appearance was so great. As we saw last week, bringing back an old joke (Clive Bixby) is almost never as funny the second time. But we did meet Fizbo’s English court jester counterpart, who was truly delightful (though it’s doubtful even he would have garnered much of a reaction from the always stonefaced Lily – she doesn’t have time for that kind of tomfoolery).

My favorite lines of the night:

• Gun to my head, I’d say…pull the trigger.
• Cue gasp…
• “What kind of voice is that?” “I’m a bear.” “A bear? I was going to get a crucifix.”
• There goes the theory that an English accent makes everyone sound smart.
• Every time he opens his mouth I can feel my daughters losing respect for me.
• “Who is Alex Trebek?” “He’s a game show host, why?” “Never mind.”
• What, I’m going to miss Alex’s graduation, all of Haley’s weddings, because of Deedee?
• No my god!
• We had a long talk last night after you and I ‘split’ that bottle of wine and you ‘fell asleep’ on the stairs.

What did you guys think of “Princess Party”?