Thanks to EW.com and the ABC Network, I was lucky enough to be invited to watch a sneak preview of the new television show, Modern Family, which makes its official TV debut on Wednesday, September 23, at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. Central). It seems to me that situation comedies are a dying breed, but Modern Family brings the laughs with a talented cast and some good writing. Whether or not it’s the answer to the modern sitcom’s woes depends on whether the American public tunes in this fall. It’s definitely worth a look.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. Read no further if you want to be completely surprised by the show when you watch it this autumn. If, on the other hand, you want to learn some more details about the first episode, keep reading.

Modern Family is a fictional sitcom following three families “reality show” style. This means some shaky-cam shots and some “talk-to-the-camera” interviews with the characters interspersed between the segments, which annoyed me at first, but quickly ceased to bother me once the story and characters usurped my attention. The reality show premise is probably unnecessary and distracting, but it will be interesting to see where they go with it. The show most likely could work without the gimmick, unless future episodes build on it.

The three families range from the typical suburban nuclear family (Mom, Pop, three kids, living in a big house), to the gay couple adopting a Vietnamese baby, to a newlywed couple (older man married to a young, attractive woman who has an 8-year-old son). We follow each family through some standard comic scenarios.

The suburban family plotline at first seems the weakest and most mundane, because we’ve seen most of it before in countless other sitcoms, such as jokes about the oldest daughter causing her parents to worry because of the revealing outfit she’s wearing and the senior boy she’s dating. It gets better, relying a lot on physical humor and pratfalls, most of which work but some occasionally fall flat (pun intended). The most fun lies with the dad who does his best to try to be hip and cool for the cameras, for his family, and for the young man dating his daughter as he tries to intimidate him, only to come across as hilariously goofy. One of the winning jokes was hearing him use and misuse online vernacular language and text-messaging abbreviations, like “WTF” or “Watch The Face!” That joke gave me a hearty chuckle.

Article Author: Kikstad

Nick Leshi is a writer, actor, and media professional who loves the world of entertainment, speculative fiction, and pop culture. Read his daily blog and let him know what you think.

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