Modern Family: Why It’s Good

I’ve been trying to dissect why Modern Family is so good (and it is) because on paper it’s just not a show I’m interested in – another run of the mill unfunny sitcom about mostly white families, with medium to unattractive men and super attractive women.

But Modern Family has that “it”…that thing that is just working, and it’s not just that it’s genuinely funny (although that’s part of it).  And it’s not just that they are employing at least one big knee slapping laugh out loud physical comedy moment in each episode (although that is totally part of it too).  It’s also not the ‘mockumentary’ style in which it is shot, which while it works well for this show, is not exactly revolutionary at this point.  I think the real brilliance here is in the characters themselves.  They are each truly interesting and well written…and when they fall into stereotypes as they are wont to do, the writers (and actors?) know to turn those tropes around and make them new and funny again.  Both confirming the stereotypes and breaking them all at once.

For example, the character of Gloria (played beautifully by Sofia Vergara) is a lame stereotype waiting to happen.  She’s the hot young Columbian new wife of the family’s patriarch Jay Pritchett (Ed O’Neil), but she’s not just some gold digging superficial bimbo…she’s probably the nicest and most genuine character on the show (possibly tied with her son Manny) and she’s insightful and clever to boot. But this doesn’t mean she’s not also sorta in it for the money – but the character is aware of her own stereotype and plays into it and against it – making her character smarter than anyone would ever expect.  Gloria is also so genuinely in love with her son and committed to making sure he grows into a good man that is true to himself that it’s completely endearing.  You can’t even hate her for being a stone cold fox (and trust me, I tried).

Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), life partner to Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and new father to baby Lily is the other brilliant standout on the show for me, perhaps quite obviously because he gets all the best lines and delivers them to hilarious perfection.  Laugh for laugh Cameron is my guy.  Mitchell sets him up well time and again, but it must be annoying to have to play the straight man to Cameron’s hilarious.  There’s no glory in the straight role (no pun intended).  But without Mitchell there is no brilliant delivery for Cam, so I hope Mitchell knows we appreciate his set ups.

Ed O’Neil is good here as borderline failed patriarch Jay Pritchett, father of Mitchell and Claire.  But his best stuff is with his wife Gloria, as they have a great chemistry on screen, making such a ‘money and beauty’ marriage actually believable – as they rarely are on television.

Gloria’s son Manny’s (Rico Rodriguez) earnestness and advanced adult attitude is fun to watch, and a great foil to Claire and Phil’s mostly “average American kids type”.  So far, the Dunphy kids are least interesting aspect of the show, perhaps only because they appear to be there more for decoration and small plot devices than as fully formed characters.

Personally, Phil (Ty Burrell) is the hardest for me to watch.  He has some brilliant lines, his delivery is excellent and he is responsible for most if not all of the awesome physical comedy in the episodes, so a huge thanks to him, however the basis of the character is the uncomfortable dad character that thinks he’s hip and young and “in” and embarrasses his children (especially his teenage daughter) on a daily basis.  This uncomfortable comedy is a bit cringe inducing for me (it took me a while to get used to The Office, but I did eventually and I’m sure I’ll get used to it here as well) but it’s of note that I’m mostly alone there.  His lines are considered some of the best – and Burrell as an actor seems wholly unafraid and brilliantly committed to making a fool of himself – which I love.

Julie Brown as Claire gets the worst deal here.  Like Mitchell, she’s the straight man to Phil’s crazy cringe inducing hip dad, and so she has the typical ‘controlling shrew’ thing going on.  But there have been some shining moments even for her, and I suspect as we spend more time with all of these characters she’ll get her chance in the sun as well (she’ll never be a Cam though).

Beyond the characters I think another thing Modern Family has working for it is that even though every episode comes with its own little “life lesson” (I’m pretty sure that’s required by law at this point for network television) the lessons don’t feel overly forced or particularly saccharine, which is great, because it would be in fundamental opposition to the rest of the show.

Modern Family will never be brilliant and ground breaking like Arrested Development (what can be?!) but as far as half hour sitcoms go it’s one of the best I have seen in a very long time.  Any attempt to remove it from my TIVO has been thwarted by solid episode after solid episode, and I committed to the season pass a few episodes ago.

Modern Family airs Wednesday nights at 9:00pm (EST) on ABC.  You can watch full episodes online at abc.com.