Welcome to a new Sitcom Tuesday! This week, I’m continuing my look at Modern Family (2009-2020, ABC), which is currently available on DVD/Blu-Ray and streaming!
Modern Family stars ED O’NEILL as Jay, SOFIA VERGARA as Gloria, JULIE BOWEN as Claire, TY BURRELL as Phil, JESSE TYLER FERGUSON as Mitch, ERIC STONESTREET as Cam, SARAH HYLAND as Haley, ARIEL WINTER as Alex, NOLAN GOULD as Luke, RICO RODRIGUEZ as Manny, and AUBREY ANDERSON-EMMONS as Lily.
After many years of minimizing the most unique aspects of the series’ situation until they were narratively climaxed at the end of Season Five, Modern Family enjoyed one more collection that surprisingly kept a solid baseline, avoiding any truly bad offerings while even delivering a few great ones. This was largely due to strong bones — seasoned writers and well-defined, easy-to-use characters who may never have been the best at inspiring totally fresh ideas but nevertheless continued to prove adept at reliable laughs, thereby maintaining consistency. And, of course, there was also some heavy-handed gimmickry that managed to generate episodic delights. Sadly, the show finally pays the piper for its evaporating premise and ever-diminishing ingenuity here in Seven. For the first time, Modern Family is no longer basically good — in fact, most episodes are mediocre or worse, trafficking in stories that aren’t just overly familiar to this family subgenre but fully recycled from previous years. That is, Modern Family slips below “average” — not merely in the genre, but on the show’s terms, as it’s regularly disappointing based on its own standards. The problem? Generally, most episodes are either redundant or not specific enough to the series — rendering them un-exciting. More to the point, the regulars are no longer able to overcompensate for clichés. The adults have all stagnated and therefore run out of new ways to be interesting, while the kids — who’ve risen in prominence over the last few years — have actively become less helpful because they’ve lost definition. The majority of the material now for Haley, Alex, Manny, and Luke is about their dating prospects — formulaic rom-com tripe that strips them of individuality. As such, no one is really inspiring good (or improving so-so) ideas.
To put it in a sentence, the show’s characters have not been cultivated to remain useful without more premised aid. Six seasons was as far as they naturally went. That’s a very respectable run for any sitcom. Truly. And if this was the final season, it would have been fine too, for closure-seeking narrative maneuvers typically demand more centralized characters and premise-cognizant ideas. (We see flashes of that here in an arc where Phil raises ducklings and then lets them go — a metaphor for the kids growing up. It’s Seven’s only smart thought.) But the show continues on until Season Eleven — providing much more time for continued erosion and thus reputational damage. Indeed, like The Big Bang Theory, there are simply too many years in the 2010s where Modern Family is creatively dismissible. And that’s a shame. For there are many other years where it’s a contender. Six to Seven is the turning point — a shift from above-average to below, as proven by this mediocre list, which is nevertheless better than anything ahead…
01) Episode 146: “The Day Alex Left For College” (Aired: 09/30/15)
As Alex goes to college, Phil tries to spend time with Luke, and Jay dreads Lily’s soccer game.
Written by Danny Zuker | Directed by Jeffrey Walker
One of the better ideas this year is an arc about Phil raising baby ducks that he rescues from a property. That notion begins here, in an entry that sets up the intended metaphor, for this is also when Alex goes away to college, and as the Dunphys’ chicks fly the proverbial nest, Phil and Claire are having to emotionally reconcile with the relatable bittersweetness of their own changing household dynamics. It’s a cute family-related thought that’s fairly well-applied, launching in this half hour where Phil’s objective is spending time with Luke. As for comedy, Alex’s disdain for her new roommate is amusing, and there are real laughs in the subplot where Gloria shoots Jay in the foot with a BB gun so that they have an excuse to avoid going to Lily’s soccer game — a bold bit of comedy that stands out in a relatively banal collection.
02) Episode 148: “She Crazy” (Aired: 10/14/15)
Gloria tries to give Manny relationship advice while Claire prepares to pitch for Jay’s company.
Written by Elaine Ko | Directed by Gail Mancuso
There are a handful of bold comic set pieces in this installment that I appreciate for their willingness to take risks in pursuit of laughs. It might not always work (that is, it might stretch our understanding of the characters too far to be enjoyable in tandem with the series’ standards), but when it does, that’s the only real way for the series to strike gold in this less-consistent era. As for this outing in particular, Phil’s duck eggs finally hatch, and Claire gets to do a funny bit of physical comedy when the birdseed he bought accidentally gets on her work material and she is attacked by birds while trying to make an important pitch to a client. Additionally, I enjoy the proposal that Manny’s nerves when approaching girls is related to how his mom behaves when meeting one of her beloved telenovela stars — it’s a narratively complementary use of Gloria’s personalized cultural interests, all to explore their dynamic.
03) Episode 151: “Phil’s Sexy, Sexy House” (Aired: 11/18/15)
A new house that Phil is trying to sell attracts various members of his family.
Written by Stephen Lloyd | Directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller
One of the better-remembered selections here in Season Seven, “Phil’s Sexy, Sexy House” is another attempted farce after the success of Five’s “Las Vegas,” with people maneuvering behind each other’s backs for their own personal pursuits, popping in and out of rooms until the inevitable climax where it all comes to a crescendo. Also, this entry’s structure deliberately plays with perspective, resetting several times to the end of Thanksgiving dinner at Jay and Gloria’s house to then explain how various other characters make their way to Phil’s eponymous sexy, sexy house. Now, it’s all a little gimmicky, and frankly, it lacks both the pacing and comic precision of both “Las Vegas,” along with last year’s Thanksgiving farce (“Three Turkeys”). But it still stands out as one of Seven’s more memorable samples, with noble comedic aims. It’s also one of this year’s few lingering attempts to sustain the previous season’s focus on “tech” as a replacement for more legitimately premised markers of identity — a valiant effort.
04) Episode 152: “Clean Out Your Junk Drawer” (Aired: 12/02/15)
A private seminar with a self-help author leads the family to address their own issues.
Written by Steven Levitan | Directed by Steven Levitan
The late, great Catherine O’Hara guest stars here as a self-help expert who gives a private seminar to the family about cleaning out their junk drawers — that is, dealing with unresolved issues. This proves to be an easy setup for a bottle episode where the couples each deal with their own interpersonal conflicts. Unfortunately, all the conflicts are devastatingly generic and not well-tailored to the specifics of these otherwise comic characters. What’s more, O’Hara is underused — funnier, more creative shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and 30 Rock deployed her better as a special guest. So, overall, this is a subpar offering that represents the generally weaker nature of the characters in this era. However, beggars can’t be choosers — the simple narrative focus is better than the alternative, and this logline alone does some heavy-lifting.
05) Episode 153: “White Christmas” (Aired: 12/09/15)
The family spends Christmas together in a mountain cabin.
Written by Andy Gordon & Jon Pollack | Directed by Gail Mancuso
Andrea Martin, another SCTV alum, guest stars in this year’s Christmas outing. She plays Fig, an outcast curmudgeon whom the family lets stay with them at a mountain cabin. Gloria has eagerly booked them all here for Christmas under the mistaken belief that they’ll get to experience a traditional “White Christmas,” her first as an American. It’s a correct setup — it gets all the regulars together with a unity of time, place, and action (not to mention a cohesive and family-oriented holiday theme), utilizing a specific justification rooted in something unique to a primary characterization. The main story ideas from there are all pretty good as well. While Mitch and Cam eagerly plan a holiday song to make up for an embarrassing moment from last year, Jay and Claire’s relationship is centralized when he giddily tests her potential by lying to her about his succession plans for the business. It’s a fine way to explore their foundational tension. On the other hand, Haley’s rom-com arc with Adam Devine’s Andy continues; it’s too dull and predictable for two nevertheless comedic characters, and they’re accordingly diluted by the clichéd narrative beats, which help contribute to this season’s overarching mediocrity. But, hey, that renders this a true reflection of this particular season — a comprehensive sample.
06) Episode 155: “Spread Your Wings” (Aired: 01/13/16)
Phil visits Alex at school while the other Dunphys free the ducks he’s been raising.
Written by Vanessa McCarthy & Ryan Walls | Directed by James Bagdonas
Phil’s arc with the ducklings culminates in this sentimental but appropriately pitched outing that is explicit about the “ducks equals children” metaphor, as Phil struggles in both cases to let go, literally with the ducks and then figuratively with the kids (specifically Alex, whom he visits at school). That thematic intentionality, which roots itself in the Dunphys and their strong bonds, grounds the storytelling in the series’ premised design and is therefore worthwhile, earning the pathos that it now genuinely has a right to deliver. Meanwhile, I appreciate the laughs in the connected subplots, where Jay has to help Mitch entertain Lily’s all-Vietnamese dance troupe at a sleepover — leading to a fun scene where all the kids are caught working on an assembly line for Cam and Gloria’s hot sauce (another mini-arc that counts this as its creative apex).
07) Episode 158: “The Storm” (Aired: 02/24/16)
A thunderstorm brings the entire family to Jay and Gloria’s.
Written by Danny Zuker | Directed by James Bagdonas
A storm is the excuse to bring all the characters under one roof here for the basic unities of, say it with me now, time, place, and action — the bare minimum that Modern Family can do to help justify the coexistence of several disparate plot threads inside a single episode. Truth be told, nothing is spectacular, but its design, as with entries like “Clean Out Your Drunk Drawer,” is innately more preferable to the alternative, for it’s a better example of the conditions in which this particular series thrives… Once again, I’m not crazy about the Haley/Andy rom-com stuff, but other character interactions compensate, like Manny and Claire, and Jay and Phil; and that’s exactly what these simple, thematically tight, forced-proximity excursions naturally foster.
08) Episode 160: “The Cover-Up” (Aired: 03/16/16)
Phil and Claire both concoct a series of lies to avoid admitting to harmless flirtations.
Written by Chuck Tatham | Directed by Jim Hensz
There’s some elevating thematic cohesion in the Claire/Phil story here, as both enjoy harmless flirtations that they choose not to disclose to each other. Phil’s is especially fun, for he — in an explicit homage to Richard Nixon, about whom Luke is learning — opts to keep lying because he’s “in too deep.” Meanwhile, Jon Polito’s Earl Chambers, Jay’s former business partner and now rival who debuted last season, returns (in his second of two appearances this year) for an amusing subplot that attempts to again position technology as an explanation for the “Modern” part of the series’ title (in the absence of more originally premised constructs). As usual, it’s not successful on that front, but at least the continuity aids the comic storytelling.
09) Episode 162: “The Party” (Aired: 04/06/16)
Claire is convinced that Luke and Manny are throwing a party while the adults are all out.
Written by Vali Chandrasekaran | Directed by Steven Levitan
My choice for this year’s Most Valuable Episode (MVE), “The Party” is not a perfect or top-tier reflection of the series. But it is one of the funniest from this particular season, with a structure that unites most of the stories and justifies each with laughs and/or character stakes. Admittedly, the foundational source of conflict — the fact that Manny and Luke are throwing a party at the Dunphys’ house behind the adults’ back while supposedly babysitting Lily — emphasizes just how much Manny and Luke have become more generic now that they’ve matured into teens, losing their individualities in the process. Well, Luke has always been the least-defined — initially impish and best described as a “Phil Jr.” — but Manny was once precociously sensitive. Now, he’s a run-of-the-mill teen, and though that’s less satisfying, at the least this story is knowingly playing against expectations, which means it’s acknowledging how he’s supposed to be. What’s more, this party also becomes an opportunity to rope in the control-freak Claire and the overprotective Gloria, who can’t believe that her baby would misbehave. And then Phil and Mitch join in as well, as both get stoned on small pot-laced gummies while in line for a sci-fi movie. It’s easy comedy — the old hashish routine — but it adds humor, evidencing Modern Family‘s charming commitment to comedy. Speaking of comedy, the subplot here with Jay and Cam hanging out is also funny and works well for them — they have a lot in common despite the obvious tension as in-laws (which also sits on the subtext of Cam and Mitch’s premised orientation). So, I consider this a winning entry for both character and comedy, with stories that offer both. There’s no better selection this week as MVE.
10) Episode 165: “Crazy Train” (Aired: 05/11/16)
The family takes a train ride to DeDe’s wedding.
Written by Jon Pollack & Ryan Walls | Directed by Jim Hensz
Nearly the entirety of this installment is set on a train — a great place to force character commingling and thus the kind of structural cohesion that unifies and enables all the subplots. The main stories revolve around the purpose of the trip — they’re going to DeDe’s wedding (with a Skyped-in appearance by Shelley Long), which not only sparks a conflict between Claire and Mitch but also may itself be complicated by the fact that Jay is overheard badmouthing DeDe to her new groom’s now-skeptical family. None of the other subplots have the same rich character stakes — which is the primary reason I can’t consider this a viable MVE — but it’s indeed one of the better samples here in Season Seven, well above the year’s qualitative baseline.
Other notable episodes that merit mention include: “The Closet Case,” where Jay and Mitch have conflict when the latter goes to work for Jay’s aforementioned rival, “Playdates,” which I cite only for the subplot where Jay and Gloria meet another and more extreme May/December set of parents (which speaks to their premised differences), and “Express Yourself,” which I single out simply for the bonding between Mitch and Jay in their subplot.
*** The MVE Award for the Best Episode from Season Seven of Modern Family goes to…
“The Party”
Come back next week for Season Eight! And stay tuned tomorrow for a new Wildcard!