A show all about a modern day American- family held together by strong love and ridiculousness – ABC’s hit comedy, "Modern Family" is bound to have you laughing at the completely realistic, yet insane situations that the Dunphy’s and Pritchett’s get themselves into for your thirty-minute viewing enjoyment. The shows premise is based upon the writer’s family lives shown through three related families that live nearby in Los Angeles. The old man, Jay, holding the family together married a much younger woman. Next, there is his daughter, Claire, who brought Phil Dunphy into the mix, a fan favorite. The third family is made up of Jay’s son and his partner Cam who adopted a Vietnamese daughter in the beginning of the series.
Each episode in each season is different than the last, which keeps this show so exciting and mindless. Despite the ever-changing families due to children being born, moving out or being adopted throughout the story line, the episodes are timeless and no matter which feel-good episode you choose to watch, your bound to be entertained, humored, and left feeling great.
Major stars such as Sofia Vergara and Ed O’Neill make up the families that bring you endless laughter and comfort in the sense that it reassures that your family is not the only crazy one out there. After 7 seasons of the television series filmed from the view of a documentary filmmaker, its no wonder why Modern Family still continues to draw millions of viewers bringing in the tenth-highest revenue’s that started back in its earlier seasons of 2012. The show lives up to its title in the sense that it is extremely ‘modern’. The directors keep up with the times and ever changing technology by incorporating it into the series. Various episodes have made humor from texting, video chats, and even one about a competition the families participated in where they could not resist going 24-hours without their cell phones.
If you enjoyed the endless laughter and light-heartedness that came from Ray Barones, "Everybody Loves Raymond" plots involving Ray’s next-door neighbor parents and silly arguments with Debra you’re bound to enjoy watching Phil Dunphy struggle to uphold an image of being a “cool, handyman dad.” As Phil’s kids and wife constantly test his limits with incidents like college move in day and strict parenting, he handles his roll as a father in a hilarious way. In the series, every-day life events are made light of, usually ending in a sentimental way teaching some sort of life lesson to the viewers. The lessons are usually about how to cherish your family and stress how much their happiness really should mean to you. This ‘moral of the story’ aspect that the show possess will bring you back to the ‘90’s and Full House, Uncle Jesse’ days.
The TV show is filmed in a way that resembles a documentary. Throughout each episode, interviews are done so that the viewer can get a first hand understanding of how the characters feel during the situation. This also allows for transition between ideas without communication between the fictional characters and strictly straightforward to the audience watching at home.
The humor and hilarity that comes from each episode filling the air in viewers homes can be directly correlated to the overall flawless acting. Everything relating to each of the three families are spot on in the portrayal of real life, upper-class, American families. Honorable mention for acting in the series can be given to Ty Borrell’s portrayal of Phil Dunphy and Cameron Tucker played by Eric Stonestreet. Every aspect from the dialogue to expressions the characters give when communicating with each other add to the aesthetic appeals that the show contains. Though the overwhelming majority of the cast portray their characters perfectly, there are two childhood characters that could step it up a notch to keep up with their amazing coworkers. Though minor and completely made up for by other cast, the adopted Vietnamese child, Lily played by 4-year-old Aubrey Anderson-Emmons has some work to do as well as the youngest Dunphy, Luke played by Nolan Gould. They do fill their roles, but almost bore the viewer for a split second while doing so.
Modern Family is a timeless comedy that has families of all ages coming together and watching the thirty-minute episodes as they laugh out loud about the unbelievable, yet completely relatable, scenarios that the Pritchet and Dunphy families get themselves into. Well-deserved awards such as the Award for Outstanding Comedy and The Golden Globe Award for Best Television Comedy have been awarded to this genius cast over the span of their continued success. The must-see show has plots comparable to a flawless mixture of CBS’s "Everybody Loves Raymond" and ABC’s "Full House." Because of the diverse cast and family structures exhibited on the show, as well as the acting and scene directing perfectly portraying an average family, any and all of American families today will enjoy this amusing comedy.
