"Summer Lovin'" is the season premiere of the seventh season of the American sitcom Modern Family. It aired on September 23, 2015 on American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The premiere is directed by Jim Hensz and written by executive-producer Abraham Higginbotham. ^[1]

Picking up where the last season left off, Haley and Claire attempt to stop Andy from proposing to Beth. They are too late, and Haley becomes sad and depressed Claire starts to feed off of Haley's sadness and takes advantage of her condition by doing things (That Haley would normally find boring) with her. Phil and Luke have had enough and try to take the two of them to see a movie. On the way to the movies Haley sees Dylan and becomes happy again. Claire can't eat Haley's sadness anymore and gets angry. Haley and Dylan start dating, again, while Alex is still dating Sanjay Patel.

Mitchell, after the last episode, is jobless and tense. He snaps while paying bills, so Cameron relaxes him and convinces him to take up painting. Jay and Gloria decide to look for preschools to enter Joe into. One school has poor construction, but nevertheless gets picked by Jay and Gloria. They find that the school would enroll Joe next year because its classes are all full. Mitchell gets so into his Failed attemptsto paint, He doesn't leave the living room and, while Cameron is at work, forces Lily to eat a ketchup packet for dinner. Cameron tries to use Mitchell's Old Boss Charlie Bingham to inspire him to work again.

Alex and Sanjay are going to separate school's and plan to break up on Labor Day. Andy shows up at the Dunphy household and sees Haley again. At another school, Jay isn't pleased with the attitude of the children and the fact that chickens are in the yard of the school. Gloria likes it, And so does Joe, who has a incident with a chicken. Cameron and Charlie try to inspire Mitchell, and Charlie offers him a job but sees Mitchell likes his work, and keeps him jobless. Claire wants Andy to find out about how Haley almost stopped the proposal. Andy DOES find out and is extremely regretful about his proposal.

It's September and Jay, Gloria, Manny, Joe, Lily, Mitchell and Cameron gather at Claire and Phil's house. Jay is upset about Joe going to a low-quality school. Andy hased gain weight and shows up at the Dunphy house. Alex breaks up with Sanjay and becomes sad, so she and Mitchell begin to paint. Haley finds out that Andy is fat because of her. Mitchell flips out and goes on a rampage when Alex is a better painter than him. Jay talks with Mitchell, telling him, that he's actually suffering from a Mid Life Crisis and He advises him to start working again, because he won't be happy until he does.

Haley and Andy fight over Beth and Dylan and Andy refuses to admit his jealously and sticks to his relationship with Beth. Alex gets back together with Sanjay.

Before the episode, it was announced that the show was recasting Joe, the son of Jay and Gloria, who has been played by Pierce Wallace for the previous two seasons.^[2] On August 7, 2015, the role of Joe had been recast by actor Jeremy Maguire.^[3] The table read for the premiere happened on August 3, 2015, being confirmed by Sofia Vergara,^[4] with filming commencing a few days after.^[5]

The episode received positive reviews from TV critics.

Kyle Fowle of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a B grade, saying "A brisk pace keeps Modern Family feeling fresh in its season premiere". He went on to say "For the most part, tonight’s premiere is a solid, reliable episode of Modern Family, but it’s also one that perhaps shows how hard it will be for the show to remain compelling and surprising week in and week out". ^[6] Matt Peri of The Workprint also praised the episode, awarding it a B+. He said "“Summer Lovin'” works because of its ability to succinctly sum up several of the loose ends it had established from last season" and closed his review by stating that the show "is a veteran in the entertainment dugout. It knows how to get laughs and does so with ease. It’s not the best episode of the show’s growing history but it says something when a sitcom boasts this much quality after six full years". ^[7]

Liz Estey of TVFanatic.com also praised the episode, awarding it 3/5. "In Modern Family Season 7 Episode 1 there are some genuinely enjoyable and humorous moments, but the episode spent far too little time exploiting the best characters". ^[8] Mark Trammell of TVEquals.com also praised the episode, stating "The show remains as sharp and funny as ever, and if the whole “fat Andy” thing was a bit unfortunate, timing-wise, it was hardly enough to derail the whole process". He closed his review by saying "All in all, a solid enough episode, I thought, and good harbinger that the show will retain the funny moving forward". ^[9]

• "Summer Lovin'" at IMDb