Modern Family is Quirky Family Fun

Modern Family: Season 1

Wednesdays at 9 PM

ABC

Last year, I heard a lot of buzz about the two new ABC fall comedies, Modern Family and The Middle.  I recently saw an episode of The Middle, and I wasn't impressed.  Because of this, I decided to skip The Middle and instead decided to watch Modern Family.

Modern Family is about family - three different families, to be exact, all of them different variations of the modern family unit.  There's Jay, his new wife Gloria, and her son Manny.  Gloria and Manny are Columbian, and Gloria is much younger than Jay. The second family is Jay's daughter Claire, her husband Phil,and their three kids, Haley, Alex and Luke.  The third family is Jay's son Mitchell, his partner Cameron, and their adopted Chinese daughter Lily. 

The show is set up as a mockumentary, with sitdowns with family members in between scenes relating to specific topics, such as motherhood, fatherhood, passing time, birthdays, holidays, etc.  The show won three Emmy's including Best Comedy Series, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

The show takes a little geting used to, as I have not in the past watched a comedy series with this particular style.  Other shows with this mockumentary style include The Office and Parks and Recreation. 

The families seem real, much more real than most other families on television.  The comedy comes from realistic situations, and realistic (and sometimes quirky) characters.  The characters are pitch perfect, and very funny, especially Eric Stonestreet (Cameron) and Ed O'Neil (Jay). They have a certain quirkiness to them, which reminds you that they are supposed to represent the modern family, in all its forms, flaws and all.

The one problem I have with the show is the character of Phil (Ty Burell).  He seems almost too quirky and childish to be a father of three kids. Other than that, I think the characters are spot on and realistic.

4 out of 5 stars