Warning: Spoilers Ahead
(we haven’t really checked if there are spoilers but you should assume there are spoilers, just to be safe)
Modern Family by ABC has been one of the funniest and hottest sitcoms of the network for nearly a decade. The show is based on a big, dysfunctional but nonetheless heartwarming and close family and their daily adventures and encounters. It’s a comedy that combines some of the hug-free, ironic stylings of shows like The Office and Arrested Development with the sentimentalism of more traditional family sitcoms.
The premier reveals three different families to the audience. The typical sitcom mom and dad are played by Julie Bowen and Ty Burrel respectively. By deluding himself into believing he is hip and cool, Burrell takes the role of a dumb TV dad up a notch. The mother is depicted by Bowen as a former wild child who now worries that her children will pursue her former rebellious path. Their three kids transform daily parenting struggles into comedy gold — a high school cutie, a precocious daughter, and a klutzy son, all recognizable TV styles.
In the opener, the second family, a gay pair played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet, become adoptive parents. On CBS ‘The Class’, Ferguson's comedy skills were obvious, then blurred in Fox's Do Not Interrupt. Here, and especially across from Stonestreet, Ferguson realizes his potential.
Patriarch Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill), his Columbian wife, Gloria (Sofia Vergara), and her pre-teen son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez), are in charge of the household. Jay struggles to remain young and keep up with Gloria and not be mistaken for her father, as he tries to help Manny while he seeks to maintain his national identity. Manny is the source of a lot of humor from this part of the family, as he's in the midst of the sensibilities and parental methods of Jay and Gloria.