You are viewing a list of Shelley Long’s 7 appearances on Modern Family.

The Incident
Season 1, Episode 4 – Aired October 14 2009

Dede, Jay’s ex-wife and Claire and Mitchell’s mother, stops by a visit and tries to make up for the “incident” she caused at Jay and Gloria’s wedding.

Appeared as Dede Pritchett

Princess Party
Season 2, Episode 15 – Aired February 16 2011

Clarie and Mitchell’s mother is in town for Lily’s princess-themed birthday party. Claire’s high school boyfriend is also in town and gets together with Dede. Mitchell won’t let Cameron resurrect Fizbo the clown. Meanwhile, Gloria self-medicates to cope with Dede.

Appeared as Dede Pritchett

Arrested
Season 4, Episode 7 – Aired November 7 2012

Phil and Claire get the dreaded late night call that Haley has been arrested for under-aged drinking, so they bring Mitchell, the family lawyer, in tow to the police station. Cameron stays back to watch over Alex and Luke, but they get into some crazy mishaps under his care. Meanwhile, Jay gets out of baby shopping with Gloria, but ends up having to deal with a surprise visit from Dede, and tries to scoot her out before Gloria gets home to prevent Dede from seeing that she’s pregnant and to avoid the potential blowback.

Appeared as Dede Pritchett

Crazy Train
Season 7, Episode 21 – Aired May 11 2016

Dede is getting remarried, and Manny convinces the family to take the train up to the wedding. Jay could not be more ecstatic that Dede has moved on for good but his overenthusiasm might come back and bite him later. Claire and Mitchell work on their toast while Phil and Cam geek out over their favorite author, who is also on the train. Luke and Manny go a little girl crazy; Gloria gets stuck in coach; and Alex gets caught up in the romance of the train herself.

Appeared as Dede Pritchett

Sarge & Pea
Season 8, Episode 11 – Aired January 11 2017

Cam is incensed that an anonymous and rude parent robbed him of a precious Lily moment during her recent dance recital. While he and Hayley visit Alex at her coffee shop the next day, he thinks he recognizes the culprit and goes to extremes to uncover her identity, and give her a piece of his mind.  Meanwhile, Jay, Claire and Mitch attend a family wedding and unexpectedly run into Dede at the reception. Afraid their parents are going to once again make a scene, Mitch and Claire devise a plan to keep them apart. Finally, Phil and Gloria are on a college tour with Luke and Manny, and have very different ways of getting the boys ready to head out on this new adventure and also learning to let go.

Appeared as Dede Pritchett

Ten Years Later
Season 9, Episode 6 – Aired November 1 2017

Claire is determined to make up for her less-than-joyful mood at Jay and Gloria’s wedding by throwing their tenth-anniversary party. As part of the festivities, Phil is going to perform a magic trick featuring Gloria appearing out of thin air in her wedding dress; that is if Gloria can still get into it!

Appeared as Dede Pritchett

Mother!
Season 9, Episode 20 – Aired May 2 2018

When Dede drops in unexpectedly, Mitchell and Cam come to a realization about her effect on their lives; Phil, Luke, Alex and Haley all have different bad news to break to Claire and compete about when to do it, the tiny window of time after her monthly spa day when she’s her most relaxed.

Appeared as Dede Pritchett