modern family

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My mother-in-law recently recommended the show Modern Family to us, and after watching 3 episodes (back-to-back-to-back I might add) I am here to say that it is down right HILARIOUS! I especially like how it portrays common family situations in a funny, but not too sterotypical way while adding in the appropriate dramatic sentiment. One of the episodes entitled "Fears" ended with the following lines...

"Everyone has fears- heights, tight spaces, clowns, but those are things you can overcome. Then there are your children, and you suddenly find there's fears you can never get past, like will they fit in? Will they be safe? But sometimes all you can do is take a deep breath, pull them in close, and hope for the best."

Salon.com also did a review of this show, along with another new show called Parenthood (i didn't like this show AT ALL, only proving how tricky it is to capture family sitcoms in just the right way). Below are my favorite parts of the article. For the review in its entirety, click.here.

"Parenting will turn you into someone you don't recognize. Instead of carefree but lonely you're suddenly happy but exhausted, fulfilled but overworked. Children can make you feel gloriously alive, shamefully angry, madly in love and terribly vulnerable, all within the course of a few minutes. You are their little puppet, and don't you forget it. You were brought into this world to love them, feed them, read to them and launder their little shirts – over and over and over again -- until you're very, very old. If you aren't watching Modern Family yet, trust me, you should be. From the cool-dad foolishness of Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) to the eye-rolling spats between Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) to the gruffly lovable weirdness of Jay (Ed O'Neill), this show features wall-to-wall great moments and hilarious lines.

My favorite character of all, though, is weird little gentleman Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Somehow the interplay between the babying of his Colombian hottie mom Gloria (Sofia Vergara) and the tough love of grumpy older dad Jay works in each and every scene. How could you not love writing over-the-top scenes for these three? This week, Jay accidentally kills Manny's turtle, but lies and says that a raccoon jumped in the window and killed it (after making little, muddy stuffed-animal footprints down the wall and across the carpet).

What "Modern Family" really nails, though, is the way real parents experience the highs of parenting. It's not about chasing possums through the yard or making jokes with your siblings then clinking glasses of red wine. The real moments of sweetness and gratitude come when everything is going to hell around you. Even as the chaos unfolds before your eyes, even as you're flooded by the noise and the conflict and the little battles and the mess, the soundtrack changes for a minute. You take in the madness from a distance and think: This is what it's all about.

Then someone throws up on your pants."


Modern Family is on ABC Wed.'s @ 8:00 p.m. MST