Modern Family: Season 1 - Thoughts

Modern Family is one of those shows I hadn’t heard of up until recently when a friend brought it to my attention. Over time, and repeated suggestions from my friend to check it out, I finally decided to. From what I was told it looked to be a drama comedy; my limited reading online indicated that the story revolved around 3 couples, 1 being gay, 1 being straight with 3 children, and 1 senior remarried man and his hot younger Latino wife.


Frankly, it’s hard to make a fresh start and impress when it comes to television entertainment; especially with the barrage of new entrants, most of them being lackluster, and the many impressive long running shows. To make matters worse, details on Modern Family seemed sketchy and not overly compelling. To be fair I had hardly any expectations going into it. Just a mere 1 episode later, my opinion was greatly altered. Not only was the show entertaining and funny, but it wasn’t overly casual and superficial like several other sitcoms. It had a gripping sense to it that made me want to watch every single episode in the season. All the characters added something to the mix, and though some were stereotypes, it all worked together wonderfully. The constant family values theme looming atop was pleasant, and put everything in a very positive light. As simple and straight forward as Modern Family seems, I will go out on a limb and say it’s different, as it stands out and does come across as a unique show. Unless drama and comedy is something of a bore, it’s hard not to appreciate Modern Family and its brilliant easy nature.

One of the big pros for me was Julie Bowen’s addition to the cast of Modern Family. Episode 1 of season 1 opened with a scene with Ms. Bowen, and aided in the shows instant appeal. In Modern Family she plays Claire Dunphy, bringing to her role the upbeat vivacity that was noticeable, only in a different form in her role in Seasons 3 and 4 of Boston Legal. Ty Burrell plays Phil Dunphy, her husband and father of 3 kids. He plays the stereotype “I’m the coolest dad” sorts, in a lame and laughable fashion that adds immense comedy to the show. His character in many ways is similar to that of Michael Scott from The Office. Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet play the characters of Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker, who are introduced as the gay couple who have just adopted a baby. They manage to portray the gay couple dynamic in a humorous and affirmative light, giving a very constructive outlook to modern families today. They both have their feminine traits, while one is overly dramatic and the other is a somewhat stuck-up sissy. The last couple is Jay Pritchett and Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, played by Ed O'Neill and Sofia Vergara. Jay is the older rich well settled man, with a comfortable life. He is a hardcore American at heart, and that makes things interesting, as his wife Gloria is an attractive younger lady of Hispanic descent. What makes Modern Family most enjoyable is how all these differences come together and form the tight family unit. Overall, Modern Family succeeds thanks to its efficient and optimistic exploitation of stereotypes.

The content I was sampling was a regular DivX of standard DVD/TV rip quality. As with all lossy content, there was mild pixilation and rich color vibrancy was lost. That said, picture was acceptable, and color tones seemed regular and unmodified in post production. Sound was presented by means of a 2.0 stereo mp3 soundtrack. Since ambience was minimal and the bulk of the sound was dialog, it was acceptable even without a dedicated Center channel for voice.

My Recommendation: Watch It + (Family values at its entertaining best)