Modern Family – Season 1

They say television should reflect the society we live in, so it’s no wonder someone came up with the idea for Modern Family. This ABC comedy is basically that, a show about a modern-day family, starting with Jay (Ed O’Neil) and his second wife Gloria (Colombian actress Sofia Vergara), and her kid… old-soul Manny.

Then there’s Jay’s eldest daughter Claire (Julie Bowen), her loser husband but “cool dad” Phil (Ty Burrell), their three kids — not so bright Haley, not so bright Luke, and the one picking on them for not being bright, Alex. And finally, there’s Jay’s younger son Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), his “mother bear” boyfriend Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), and their newly adopted Vietnamese baby, Lily.

With a few episodes of the first season left, and an early renewal for its second season, no other show that I remember has had me laughing out loud like a total maniac like this one. It’s not like the show is a complete mockery of families nowadays, as is grounded in reality, which makes it even funnier.

Take, for example, O’Neil’s character’s dry “I know more than thou” humor, and his interactions with his loser “I’m cool” son-in-law, or the spicy Latina wife and her Colombian traditions, and her son’s “as a matter of fact” humor.

However, if we’re talking modern families nowadays, there will be nothing new in season 1 if we don’t show the interactions between Ferguson’s Mitchell with Stonestreet’s Cameron, with Cameron taking the cake… and the valentine chocolates. Stonestreet, playing Mitchell’s boyfriend, is hilarious, even though he seems to be kind of normal compared to the rest of the nearly neurotic characters. He also brings balance to Mitchell’s snobbish butt by teaching him to shop at Costco, and is the pissed off gay clown saving Mitchell’s butt at the gas station.

You can’t ever lose if there’s a pissed off gay clown involved. Ever.

You’d better be watching this instead of American Idol.

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