It used to be that I watched a lot of television shows. With the exception of Saturdays, there was at least one show I would watch (or at least record) on the lineup for each night of the week.
Then we had Nora. I’ve given up a lot of TV since Nora was born.
There were shows that I was getting bored with anyway, and once we had Nora, it wasn’t worth wasting the time on them anymore. My television “commitments” were pared down to a select few–House, Top Chef, and Grey’s Anatomy. That’s it.
I’ve been watching all of the same shows for years now. I guess that’s part of the reason it was so easy to give up most of them, as it’s really the same shit over and over. I haven’t taken on anything new in forever, and haven’t really been interested in doing so, even as people rave over all of their new favorites.
One night, Michael and I settled in to watch a movie we rented (I can’t even tell you what it was), and the usual promos came on. Movie promo after movie promo, blah blah blah. But then an extended preview came on for a television show–I was officially introduced to Modern Family.
I had heard people talking about this show, but people talk about a lot of shows. I’ve tuned into some of the ones that are supposed to be the absolute best, and I’ve always been disappointed. So I never gave Modern Family much of a thought–until this promo I just happened to see before a movie, that is.
I laughed so hard at the few minutes of clips from the show, I knew I had to start watching. I started DVRing the new episodes shortly after the second season began, and I have to say, I *LOVE* this show. I look forward to the new episodes every week. We’ve also been renting the first season discs through Netflix, so we’ve been enjoying those episodes as well.
So what makes the show so great? Well, for starters, I can’t name a character I don’t like. The entire ensemble was perfectly cast, from Ed O’Neill to Ty Burrell to Eric Stonestreet and Julie Bowen. I love them all.
The show is brilliantly written. The writers pull things from their real lives and make them hilarious. It’s not always laugh-out-loud, pee-your-pants funny, though. Sometimes, I chuckle or shake my head at the comedy, but there are times when I’ll find a scene so funny that I’ll catch myself laughing about it days later. For example, Mitchell calling 9-1-1 in a panic. When the operator answers, “9-1-1, what is your emergency?” he replies, “We locked our baby in the car!! People are judging us.”
You have to see it for yourself, I swear. And give yourself more than one episode to fall in love. I think I watched two or three before I started to really appreciate it all.
For those of you who already watch… Any favorite episodes, scenes, or quotes you want to share?
17 Responses to Modern Family
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About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
My new favorite too–luckily it usually falls around the rocking to bed routine here in the mtn time zone. I loved the one where they were trying to build Lily’s castle and the one with the school dance and Claire’s obsession with being the mom in charge(which is so me)
When Clair got her coat stuck in the escalator “What you’re not naked under there are you!?” I love Modern Family. My husband and I might have finally filled the void that was left by LOST..maybe.
The baby locked in the car episode is literally the only one I’ve seen and I DIED. I just hate starting shows in the middle and am kind of anal about watching them from the start. The first season is in my Netflix queue.
my husband and I just got into the show as well. Our whole family kept talking about it, so we bought the first season on blu ray when it was a steal and never turned back! One of my favorites from the first season is the ipad episode. There are so many great episodes!
OMG, I’m a recent Modern Family convert, too. The episode in season two where it’s Manny’s birthday party and Gloria loses her keys?! Cracks me up just thinking about it! There’s probably something from every episode that I find myself laughing about days later.
I just remembered another one that totally cracks me up–the one with the barking dog next door to Jay and Gloria. The dog suddenly disappears and both Jay and Manny suspect that Gloria killed the dog! Hilarious.
ALL OF THEM. A lot of shows seem to have a few mediocre “filler” episodes each season–Modern Family doesn’t have a single episode that isnt hilarious and well worth the 30 minutes.
Two scenes in two different episodes really spring to mind. In the 1st season, when the whole family is going to Hawaii and Cam talks about not seeing Billy Eliot in NY, “All he wanted to do was dance. That’s *my* story!” And then the episode where Cam and Mitchell reenact something Mitchell’s boss may or may not have overheard in his car “I almost had to shout.” “What?” “Shout.” “A little bit louder now”. “Shout!” I LOVE that show!
FIZBO THE CLOWN episode was hilarious…comb sheath! lol and when Cam and Mitchell lock Lily in the car and he is on the phone with the 9-1-1 operator and Cam starts running with a trash can and screaming his lungs out and the lady says, “Please tell your wife to stop yelling.”…Mitchell says “That is a man!” LOL
I LOVE Modern Family.
“I always thought you were a lesbian.”
“Why?”
“Because you wear lesbian sandals.”
HILARIOUS!
I LOVE Modern Family. My favorite episode is the birthday party where the narrative is told out of order. Absolutely amazing.
If you can appreciate Modern Family, you should also be able to enjoy Arrested Development. Similar humor, though AD has layers and layers of jokes you discover after watching episodes multiple times.
It is AWESOME!! We love it :) We didn’t watch it from the beginning either so we had to catch up too.
Two favorite moments, both coming from Cam…first one is when Mitchell and Cam are trying to figure out if his boss overheard him at the red light and Cam tells the driver behind him “Go around, we’re recreating a faux pas!” And second, Cam and Claire are talking about Mitchell’s snobby Ivy League friends and Cam says “I swear, sometimes I just want to tell her to go back to Columbia and take her little Brown friend with her!” JUST as Gloria goes walking by…of course that sentence can be interpreted two ways…cracks me up!
Cam and Claire are talking about Mitchell’s snobby Ivy League friends and Cam says “I swear, sometimes I just want to tell her to go back to Columbia and take her little Brown friend with her!” JUST as Gloria goes walking by
Kim, that made me laugh out loud and I haven’t even seen that episode yet. :)
One that we watched this weekend that had me completely cracking up was the episode when Phil has a kidney stone and instead of helping him, Claire gets dressed up before the hot firemen come over. But the funniest line of that entire episode had to be when Luke thought that his dad was going to die, so he admitted…
L: Dad, I broke the coffee table.
P: That’s okay. [QUICK PAUSE] What?
L: I broke the glass coffee table.
P: [Through his pain] The one you swore you didn’t break and then we blamed Esperanza and fired her and she stole a turkey at Thanksgiving for her family and got deported?
HILARIOUS.
We LOVE modern family. our absolute favorite quote is when phil, claire and the kids are reminiscing in their old station wagon. the car starts rolling down the hill and phil jumps on top of the hood to stop it (what was he thinking?). Claire yells, “Whats the plan PHIL?!” We quote that line all the time.
Season One – Also the Fizbo episode. Cam (my favorite), dressed as the clown, in the car. Mitchell gets out for some reason and Cam says, “You know people are going to stare, they’re not used to seeing one clown in a car.” LOVE this show!
I laugh just thinking about the one where Gloria is upset that they are making fun of her accent. She then hands Ed O’Neill a box and says “I had your secretary order you a box of those baby cheeses you like” and he pulls out a bunch of baby Jesus statues.