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 Modern Falily

(October 2nd, 2009. - Editor)          Ed O’Neill, Sofía Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Sarah Hyland, Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould and Ariel Winter star in the offbeat comedy Modern Family, airing Wednesdays on ABC.

Today’s American families come in all shapes and sizes. Shot from the perspective of an unseen documentary filmmaker, this comedy takes a modern look at the complications that come with being a family in 2009. Ed O'Neill stars as Jay Pritchett, the patriarch of the family. He has recently remarried to Gloria (Vergara), a Columbian woman in her thirties, who has a twelve year old son, Manny Delgado (Rodriguez) from a previous relationship in that country. Jay's son Mitchell (Ferguson) is in a committed gay relationship with his partner Cameron (Stonestreet) and the couple have recently adopted a baby from an orphanage in Vietnam. Phil (Burrell) and Claire (Bowen) have a few challenges of their own raising their three children Haley (Hyland), Nolan (Gould) and Alex (Winter), but compared to the rest of the family, they are doing fine. At least on the surface.

Despite the obvious talents of executive producers Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd behind the scenes and the comedy talents of Ed O'Neil in front of the camera, this effort fails to deliver enough laughs to be a hit right out of the gate. The first episode is more like the first half of a dramatic comedy feature film, where we get to meet all the characters and learn the set-up to the film. Once that is done, we want to have some fun with these people, either with them, or at their expense. I feel like I have made that investment, but instead of comedy, all I have been offered so far is a bunch of stereotypes. None of these people are funny. Perhaps quirky, sort of interesting, but not funny.

I would describe this effort as a failed attempt to duplicate the success of The Office in another one camera comedy. But without the comedy talents of someone like Steve Carrell, this one hasn't got a chance. Amy Poeler may have the talent and the writers to pull off a spin-off of that series, but this effort does not.

John Ritter did the one camera comedy format much better twenty years ago with Hooperman. Then it was edgy and different. Now it's just a lazy way to make a comedy. Why write laughs for your characters, when you can just ask the audience laugh at the characters themselves. The trouble is that will get very old very fast.

Don't get attached to this one. I'm predicting a short run and a quick end. There is just nothing here to watch.

 

-  Editor

 

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