The family sitcom, a once dominant force in American television, has all but vanished. There have been many attempts at reincarnating the genre over the past decade, with varying success. We’ve had dysfunctional gems like Arrested Development (fantastic!)and ratings hits like Two and a Half Men (a show whose popularity I’ll never fully understand) but for the most part, TV has handed the sitcom over to the single friends and the co-workers and relegated families with children to dramas or dramedies.
Enter Modern Family, ABC’s brilliant new comedy airing Wednesdays at 9pm. MF chronicles, in mockumentary format, the lives of three different types of families, all of which are connected. First, there’s Phil and Claire – the “traditional” (and I use giant, Empire State Building sized quotation marks there) family with three children. Phil (played by the hilarious Ty Burrell) is the father who insists on being the “cool dad”. He knows all the dances to High School Musical (much to the dismay of his children), he surfs the web, and – in one of the pilot’s funniest lines – boasts about being fluent in texting lingo. Claire (Julie Bowen of Ed), is Phil’s slightly overprotective wife. Next, are Jay and Gloria – Jay is Claire’s father and Gloria is his fiery, much younger Columbian wife. Gloria has a son, Manny, from a previous marriage. Ed O’Neil (of Married with Children fame) plays Jay with the perfect balance of uncomfortable old curmudgeon and well-intentioned softy, yielding some of the shows most poignant moments. Lastly, there's Mitchell and Cameron, a gay couple who recently adopted a baby girl from Vietnam. Mitchell is Jay’s son, and Claire’s brother. Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) have an incredible on-screen chemistry and deliver their lines with such finesse that you honestly can’t tell if they’re improving or reading off a script. Each character is so layered and so complex, that they seem incredibly real. We can easily recognize members of our own families, and ourselves, in the cast.
The pilot episode, chock full of gut-busting moments and wickedly funny dialogue, cuts between a day in the life of each of the three families and ends with the whole clan coming together at Mitchell and Cameron’s for dinner where they surprisingly discover that the couple has adopted their first child. The reveal, which I won’t spoil for you here, was one of THE funniest moments I’ve seen in a comedy in recent memory. The pilot was so brilliantly constructed, and so tightly woven together, that every scene and every line of dialogue seemed essential.
The second installment, which didn’t quite match the stratospheric heights of comedy reached by the pilot, was still fantastic and proved that Modern Family was not a one-trick pony. Phil decides it’s time his son Luke gets his own bike; Claire believes he isn’t responsible enough for one yet. When Phil thinks that Luke has carelessly left his bike on the street, he decides to take it in order to teach him a lesson. Mitchell and Cameron bring their new daughter Lily to a play group for the first time and Mitchell is worried that Cameron’s flamboyant personality won’t fit in with the other parents. However, much to their surprise, no one seems to mind. Jay and Gloria are planning a romantic getaway to Napa Valley and Manny’s father is supposed to take him to Disneyland. However, Manny’s dad ends up flaking out and Jay – in a genuinely touching moment – saves the day.
Modern Family singlehandedly redefines and reinvigorates the entire genre of the family sitcom, and is deserving of all the praise it has gotten so far. If you aren’t watching, you’re definitely missing out!
I'll leave you now with a clip featuring some comedy gold courtesy of Phil, after the jump. Check back soon for the recap of FlashForward.
This is A M A Z I N G!
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