Aug 15, 2013

[TV] Modern Family: Season 3

It's interesting to note how Modern Family is not just a hit network sitcom, but also one of the best mainstream representations of a gay family unit today. And it's not like the show distinctly set out to tell that particular story. Instead it just "happened" to do so along with the rest of the stories of the Pritchett clan.

And more than that, it's not like the stories had to be "distinctly" gay either. What the show does best is tell stories of families - period. No need to clarify if they're gay or straight. They're just the sort of regular, everyday experiences that we all get to experience at one time or another with our own relatives. And that is really where the magic of this show lies.

The show really taps into the universal truth that there are few things funnier than our own families. And thus the show capitalizes on this fact by presenting a mirror to us through the show's writing. The characters may seem overly zany and crazy at times, but ultimately it's hard to deny the fact that they reflect aspects of our own relatives or even ourselves.


Synopsis: Modern Family is an ABC comedy series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. Over the years the show has earned numerous award nominations and actual trophies as well. And the show certainly deserves the acclaim given how consistently entertaining each season has been.

The 24-episode season covers a lot of ground with rather diverse stories across the various Pritchett families. Case in point, the season kicks off with Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) figuring out whether or not they truly want to adopt another child and of course how to break the news to the rest of the family. And their daughter Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) really becomes a character in this season with her own share of quirky moments and witty one-liners.

Claire's (Julie Bowen) initial efforts to get a stop sign installed at a dangerous intersection somehow leads her to run for city council. But it's hard to juggle even a local government campaign during your daughter Haley's (Sarah Hyland) senior year. The city council angle lasts for a better part of the season.

But those are just the big story arcs - the rest of the episodes feature little tales for each of the different family members ranging from Phil (Ty Burrell) and Luke (Nolan Gould) trying to make a viral video to Jay (Ed O'Neill) really getting smitten with his dog, Stella.

But I think one of the most endearing episodes was the Christmas one - aptly named "Express Christmas". Given it looked like they all had their respective plans for the holidays, the three families that make up the Pritchett clan decided to figure out an early celebration at the last minute. And it's during big family moments like this that the show is just, well, real.

Modern Family is by no means perfect - it's still a prime time mockumentary comedy after all. But the show is funny and has great moments more often than not, and this why it continues to endear itself to fans all over. Thus this season still deserves a good 3.5 Luke-isms out of a possible 5.


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