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 Mitchell, ERIC STONESTREET as Cam, SARAH HYLAND as Haley, ARIEL WINTER as Alex, NOLAN GOULD as Luke, and RICO RODRIGUEZ as Manny.
Season Two is usually around the time that a sitcom peaks, finding the most ideal intersection of novelty and knowingness. Modern Family is an exception. Oh, its understanding of the characters is continuing to deepen. Especially the kids, who are now more clearly delineated within story. And folks like Claire and Mitch are also refining, allowing them to shoulder more of the comedic burden with their spouses. However, the more uniquely premised elements of the situation — the family dynamics that are “non-traditional,” i.e., “modern” — are becoming much less felt, and Two proves this by offering fewer ideas that explicitly explore those derivable conflicts. After all, the series is designed to make the “modern” feel familiar by framing it in the context of a typical family sitcom. As a consequence, all tensions stemming from these premised arrangements get minimized. And because of this, the leads and their relationships must carry story independently of more formal conceptual constructs. Fortunately, they can. Unfortunately, without the specificity of the situation’s guardrails reinforced, more generic or clichéd ideas — setups less individualized to the series and its particulars — are also invited. That crack is exacerbated by the fact that this show is set up to have multiple stories per week. Ideally, they’ll be given some uniting principle — association by plot, proximity, or theme — but even then, without the bedrock of the premise supporting them, the variance tends to be high. So, there are fewer top-tier full-on classics here than in the more precise, situation-engaged first season, the series’ actual finest… That said, Two’s baseline — thanks to character — is still high, and, heck, the show is at the apex of its consistency. If nothing’s exceptional, everything’s at least decent. And while the next few years will decline at a steady rate, they’ll stay consistently decent also, setting up Modern Family for a long stretch of reliability as an above-average sitcom. Perhaps it wasn’t worthy of all those Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys (like the one it got for this year), but as a favorable ambassador for the genre in this era, it’s fun and easy to like.
01) Episode 26: “The Kiss” (Aired: 09/29/10)
Cam realizes that Mitch refuses to kiss him in public.
Written by Abraham Higginbotham | Directed by Scott Ellis
Season Two’s sophomore outing is a great sample of this collection, including the year’s leveling up with regard to character. While Claire is now a bit broader and therefore more responsible for earning big laughs — incidentally, Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell both won Emmys for their work this season — all the kids have also settled into clear, distinct personalities opposite each other. What’s more, this episode is especially strong because it does something that too few half hours this year do — it connects to the premise, thanks to a story about Mitch’s difficulty showing Cam public displays of affection. That’s a conflict not just affiliated to the fact that they’re a gay couple, but also to Mitch’s complicated relationship with Jay, thereby acknowledging the familial tensions that were once a more explicit part of the situation, yet now, over the course of this season, are going to be downplayed. So, this is an above-baseline example of situation comedy here in Modern Family‘s solid-but-not-peak second season.
02) Episode 29: “Unplugged” (Aired: 10/20/10)
The Dunphys try to limit technology while Cam and Mitch hope to get Lily into an elite school.
Written by Steven Levitan | Directed by Michael Spiller
This is one of those entries with three largely separate subplots that don’t form anything narratively or thematically cohesive. However, it’s not usual that all three unrelated ideas work well, adding big laughs and/or character value. That’s why this offering is exceptional. For starters, it boasts a funny story for Jay and Gloria that’s predicated on their differences — namely, their contrasting attitudes regarding dogs, which will become a recurring point of contention for them. It’s also got a notable Dunphy family story that features Phil and Claire as a team of bumblers (as opposed to before, where he was the more exclusive chaos-maker), and with three good-for-this-genre kids who have also become fairly well-defined themselves. What’s also interesting is that, in a few years, once Mitch and Cam are married and the premise hooks are truly tapped out of story, the series will try to insist that its “modern” bona fides can also be earned via the family’s use of technology. That proposal isn’t fair because tech is never a major through line that defines the characters’ relationships, but every now and again the show does utilize it as a subject. Let’s keep note of it. Meanwhile, there are lots of yuks in the Mitch/Cam subplot, which is explicit about the fact that they’re a gay couple — a notion that makes Modern Family unique and is therefore helpful as a matter of personalized sitcommery.
03) Episode 30: “Halloween” (Aired: 10/27/10)
Claire goes all out in decorating the house for Halloween.
Written by Jeffrey Richman | Directed by Michael Spiller
Holidays are a helpful device for Modern Family because episodes centered around special days not only allow for dramatic unity from thematic cohesion, but they also provide easy excuses to get all the characters together. And that’s a recipe for success on any ensemble comedy, especially one that has multiple narrative threads per week and is typically looking for ways to integrate them. Halloween, in particular, becomes a series staple with this Emmy-winning excursion — a sample that, I admit, I don’t think is totally unique to the series relative to others in this subgenre. But it’s effective in bringing everyone together and indicating the type of comedy for which this sitcom will continue to be known, rendering it a reflection of self and the consistency into which Modern Family is settling. Additionally, I’ll single out the Jay/Gloria subplot as my favorite — it’s another idea based on their differences, which speak, even implicitly, to the premised construct of their “non-traditional” family.
04) Episode 32: “Manny Get Your Gun” (Aired: 11/17/10)
Manny mourns the loss of his childhood as everyone prepares to attend his birthday dinner.
Teleplay by Danny Zuker | Story by Christopher Lloyd | Directed by Michael Spiller
Another of the year’s more popular showings, “Manny Get Your Gun” is elevated by the unity that occurs as a result of narrative focus — getting everyone to Manny’s birthday dinner. All the stories are therefore forced to exist within a limited time and in basic proximity, justifying their coexistence within this installment. While Claire and Phil are once again competitive in a way that accentuates their mutual comic incongruities (something this year, in particular, has made clear), there’s a memorable set piece where Mitch surprises Cam with a flash mob at the mall… only for Cam to feel left out because he didn’t participate. It’s all funny and works well for their characters. To that point, I think the best part of this half hour is its unifying figure — Manny, whose sadness over aging plays into his personalized precociousness, making this one of his best stories from the entire series. (Also, Norman Lloyd appears.)
05) Episode 35: “Slow Down Your Neighbors” (Aired: 01/05/11)
Phil tries to keep Claire from learning the identity of a speedy driver in the neighborhood.
Written by Ilana Wernick | Directed by Gail Mancuso
Sitcom vet Jami Gertz guest stars in this outing as a difficult client of Phil’s whom he quickly learns is the notorious speedy driver against whom Claire has recently mounted a neighborhood campaign. It’s a comic idea that plays well with Claire’s controlling nature, along with Phil’s general role as the people-pleasing, out-of-his-depth figure of authority, often caught between parties. I also appreciate how the idea intersects with a subplot about Jay teaching Manny — and in the process, Gloria — how to ride a bike, which contributes to the comedic centerpiece and plays into the premised notion of the family’s patriarch having a do-over as a father. Meanwhile, the Cam/Mitch subplot is less connected, but it’s memorable, with James Marsden playing an attractive homeless man whom they learn is living in Lily’s play castle. That sets up a noted bit of physical comedy, cementing this half hour as one of the season’s boldest with regard to broad, laugh-out-loud humor — a virtue for this (and any) family sitcom.
06) Episode 37: “Caught In The Act” (Aired: 01/19/11)
The kids walk in on Claire and Phil having sex.
Written by Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman | Directed by Michael Spiller
My choice for this year’s Most Valuable Episode (MVE), “Caught In The Act” gets the most comedic bang for its buck of any selection here in Season Two. That is, it packs in the most laughs without having to stretch or contort itself, for all of its ideas are fairly relatable and grounded in the particulars of the characters. Yes, those ideas are also clichéd/familiar, but in a way that’s nevertheless not terrible, and in fact, ultimately indicative of Modern Family‘s emergent ethos, which it will increasingly play into as its more uniquely premised constructs continue to fade in relevance. Specifically, the whole idea of Gloria and Jay having to retrieve a nasty email sent to Claire by mistake is Rote Sitcommery — “X must retrieve Y before Z sees it” — but it’s enlivened by the subtext regarding the premised family dynamics. And it pairs well with the entry’s A-story — another notion that’s not original but is a chance to show off the series’ well-defined and funny Dunphy characters. Yes, kids walking in on parents having sex is not new sitcom fodder — heck, Carl Reiner was doing this with Dick Van Dyke in the 1970s! — but it’s a reality-rooted comic setup whose sexual frankness is persuasive for the show’s “modern” moniker, rendering it a sort of updated, 2010s take on the idea, just as this whole show is an updated, 2010s take on a family sitcom. As for comedy, there’s more of it in the Cam/Mitch subplot, which guests Rachael Harris and boasts some fine physical comedy — something for which this series doesn’t get enough credit, even though it’s a true part of its identity, helping to balance the basic schmaltz inherent to this subgenre. So, this is a strong (Emmy-winning) sample of Modern Family — with its compelling sense of humor pushed to the fore.
07) Episode 42: “Boys’ Night” (Aired: 03/23/11)
Jay joins Mitch and Cam’s night out with their gay friends.
Written by Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman | Directed by Chris Koch
Among my favorite recurring characters is Nathan Lane’s Pepper — one of Cam and Mitch’s gay friends whose natural flamboyance reminds us of the premised particulars that make them a unique aspect of this situation. This is Pepper’s best offering, largely because it pairs him with Jay, who stumbles upon Cam and Mitch out to dinner with their all-gay posse. It’s an innate comedic juxtaposition that also acknowledges the tension, largely stemming from Mitch, regarding his sexual identity and the relationship he’s had with his father as a result. Indeed, this idea not only makes for a great character showing, it also acknowledges a key part of the situation, and specifically, one of the most important details that renders Modern Family special, where this is the kind of story that only it can do. None of the other subplots here are on the same level — although Philip Baker Hall notably guests with Claire/Phil — but that’s okay because the A-story is strong enough to earn the whole half hour a spot on this list.
08) Episode 43: “The Musical Man” (Aired: 04/13/11)
Cam takes over Manny and Luke’s school play while Jay gets a visit from his brother.
Written by Paul Corrigan & Brad Walsh | Directed by Michael Spiller
Although Jonathan Banks debuts here as Jay’s brother, it’s really this entry’s comic ideas that help it stand out from the crowd, particularly the climax of Manny and Luke’s school musical — directed by Cam, who’s used well — where a series of mishaps has the students spelling out “We Love The F Word.” It’s a delightful bit of big-yuk comedy that’s matched by a subplot where Phil creates an advertisement for his business using his family, which leads to misunderstandings with the way it’s wrapped around his car. It’s all silly and perhaps not as series-specific as the best stuff from this season. But more and more, this is the kind of fare that will constitute Modern Family‘s finest, for it’s funny and memorable — two things that help this otherwise consistent show assert itself as genuinely special in relation to the rest of the genre.
09) Episode 45: “Mother’s Day” (Aired: 05/04/11)
The family prepares for a Mother’s Day dinner, cooked by Jay with Phil’s help.
Written by Dan O’Shannon & Ilana Wernick | Directed by Michael Spiller
Mother’s Day is the narratively unifying theme/event in this episode, which satisfyingly culminates with the entire extended family together, following several story threads that somewhat converge. Or at the very least, they all involve maternal relationships — an appropriate subject, especially for a sitcom within this subgenre. The subplot where Phil observes Jay getting emotional when remembering his own mother finds humor in their unique rapport, while Gloria and Claire are capably contrasted as they bond when on a hike with their kids. I also appreciate the Cam/Mitch subplot, which explicitly acknowledges their roles within their relationship as it pertains to parenting Lily — all of which speaks to their non-traditional family dynamic that’s a well-established part of Modern Family and its situation.
10) Episode 47: “See You Next Fall” (Aired: 05/18/11)
The family prepares to attend Alex’s middle school graduation ceremony.
Written by Danny Zuker | Directed by Steven Levitan
Season Two’s penultimate entry uses another climactic event as an excuse to unify several little story threads, as everything occurs ahead of Alex’s forthcoming middle school graduation, at which she’s speaking. This setup is a great showcase for Alex, whose delineation inside the Dunphy clan has been emphasized within the series’ character-wiser second season. But the real fun stuff here is with Claire and Phil — a chaotic duo in full swing, as this year has also clarified — who have a terrible time getting to the ceremony and eventually come rolling down a hill in a bit of bold physical comedy that, I reiterate, is a testament to Modern Family and its correct prioritization of humor as an essential. Especially as the situation is losing its natural novelty and settling into a consistent but milder understanding of itself. So, it’s truly big-laugh moments like this that keep the proceedings reliably enjoyable in Season Two and will continue to acquit the series nearly as well over the next few legacy-cementing years.
Other notable episodes that merit mention include: “The Old Wagon,” a worthy outing that has some fun physical comedy for the Dunphy clan and a subplot for Mitch and Jay that acknowledges the premise, “Strangers On A Treadmill,” which is all about comedic embarrassment and thus boasts some narrative and thematic cohesion, “Someone To Watch Over Lily,” a generic sitcom notion that nevertheless spotlights many of the characters, “Good Cop Bad Dog,” which is best in a story where Claire and Phil deliberately switch parenting roles, and “The One That Got Away,” a thematically tight finale that centers Jay well as the head of the family. (Oh, and, they’re not Honorable Mentions, but I’ll also take this space to note that “Bixby’s Back” and “Princess Party” are both sequels to first-year classics that simply don’t rise to their predecessors’ level, while “Dance Dance Revelation” I appreciate only for the premise-related conflict between Gloria and Claire.)
*** The MVE Award for the Best Episode from Season Two of Modern Family goes to…
“Caught In The Act”
Come back next week for Season Three! And stay tuned tomorrow for a new Wildcard!