Modern Family (2009 – 2020)

A comedy television show, classic American sitcom. ‘Modern Family’ is unique in it’s camera work, it’s originality in interviews and classic in its comedy.

‘Modern Family’ follows three families, otherwise one large family. To begin with, we have Jay Pritchett (Ed O’Neill) at the top of the family, with his new younger wife, Gloria (Sofía Vergara) and her son Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Jay’s older two children have families of their own. There’s the Dunphy’s: Claire (Julie Bowen) and Phil (Ty Burrell) and their three children, Haley (Sarah Hyland), Alex (Ariel Winter) and Luke (Nolan Gould). Lastly, but most definitely not least, Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and his partner Cam (Eric Stonestreet), with their newly adopted baby girl Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons).

We follow this large modern family around as a camera catches every moment and interviews them to grasp the insights of all the personalities on screen. The cast do constantly look at the camera and talk directly to the audience. The comedy is perfect in this show, it does make me laugh out loud. In either the comments that are clearly undermined by what you are seeing or just by the simple hilarity in this amazing family personalities.

To explore more into the characters, a quick summary of each. Jay the father, stepfather, grandfather, husband. Jay is one of my favourite characters along with his wife. Tough love Jay and his proud Columbian wife Gloria, who is constantly telling the stories of her lifestyle back home. Gloria is loved by the audience and should be as she is hilarious and brilliant in every aspect. Gloria is an overprotective mother of Manny. Extremely sensitive Manny, who writes poems and seems to have skipped childhood and jumped straight to an old-fashioned, old-schooled man.

Within the Dunphy’s, we have the “cool dad” Phil. To be honest, Phil is the one who makes me laugh the most with his stupid actions and comments, whether it’s dancing to High School Musical to his children’s despair or trying to teach his son a lesson by stealing the wrong bike… The mother Claire is recognised by her family as the bossy control freak, she’s extremely competitive but proactive in the ‘bad cop, good cop’ parenting. Their children: popular Haley who could stand as the stereotypical teenager addicted to phones and social skills; book smart and witty Alex as the middle child; finally, hyper and easily distracted Luke who has the cutest relationship with his father.

Then we’ve got Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker. Cam is 100% the best character, I may say all are one of my favourites, but Cam is the favourite. Cam holds a lot of the comedy in the show along with Phil. Whether it’s his love of dressing up as a clown or just his overdramatic take on everything. Cam is so much fun on screen. Then we have Mitch, uptight and a little more private in his emotions. Cam and Mitch are complete opposites; however, I love them as a couple on his show. Finally, we have the newcomer Lily, who brings the whole family together as she grows up during the programme and we get to understand her personality a little more.

All the episodes are episodic, meaning they can be watched in any order, alike to ‘Friends’ and other sitcoms. I’ve been watching them in order as there is usually a story which arcs over the series, such as Haley’s boyfriends or Luke’s older friends, so you recognise who is who. Although, it doesn’t make much of a difference in how they are watched, each episode can be watched alone. What is truly lovely in this show is that every episode ends in a perfect moral message. Just like in ‘The Middle’, ‘Modern Family’ has a lovely summarising message, heart-warming and thought-provoking. This makes this family addictive to watch in comedy and love.