The Bicycle Thief (Modern Family)  "The Bicycle Thief" is the second episode of the ABC series "Modern Family". It originally premiered on American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on September 30, 2009. The episode was written by Bill Wrubel and directed by Jason Winer. In the episode, Jay tries to show his stepson he can be a good father; Phil tries to teach his son a lesson by stealing his bike, but suffers the consequences when he discovers he stole the wrong bike; Cameron and Mitchell put Lily in Day Care Center and try to act straight. "The Bicycle Thief" received positive reviews from critics mostly towards Ty Burrell's performance as Phil Dunphy. The episode was viewed by more than 9 million viewers and dropped four-tenths from last week's episode, "Pilot" in the 18-49 demographic tying with the "Criminal Minds" in the timeslot according to Nielsen Media Research. The question of the episode in the teaser concerns being a good dad. Phil (Ty Burrell) and Claire (Julie Bowen) go on a bike-ride with Luke (Nolan Gould), who is riding his sister's bike because he is not responsible enough to own a bike. While the Dunphys are riding, they come across Desiree (Brandy Ledford), a newly single mother who has a child at Luke's school. Phil flirts with her, to Claire's disgust. Phil decides to buy Luke a brand new green bike after Jay (Ed O'Neill) ridicules Luke for riding a girl's bike and tells him that he is responsible for it. When Phil comes across a bike that is similar to Luke's new bike, he immediately assumes Luke left the bike unlocked. Phil jumps on the bike to take it home, feeling that Claire will be upset with him for not listening to her. On his way home, he comes across Desiree and sets the bike down in order to help her get into her home - she had locked herself out. When returning to leave, the bike has disappeared. Phil visits the bike store to buy a replacement but when he gets home and confronts Luke, he learns that Luke never left the bike. When trying to take the replacement bike to the store, he is confronted by Claire who says he should not be sneaky and she forgives him - only to have Desiree show up with the second bike, saying her neighbor had placed it in her garage while Phil was in her bedroom. Phil eventually places one of the replacement bikes back in the spot from where he had stolen the second bike and he is confronted by a pair of kids who claim the bike.