It takes a lot to get this jaded television viewer to crack a smile, much less laugh, at a half-hour show.  Yet Modern Family has repeatedly caused so many sustained outbursts of laughter that I can no longer drink anything while watching, lest I spray it all over my coffee table.

It is the writing and casting that elevates Modern Family far beyond most half-hour single-camera programs.  Creators Christopher Lloyd (Frasier) and Steven Levitan (Just Shoot Me!) understand that for farce to succeed on television it must be highly inventive, while providing unexpected twists, physical comedy, and loads of dramatic irony.  That they consistently stuff all four elements into every episode is miraculous enough, but that they make it consistently hilarious why the show is a triumph.

The show’s tagline explains its concept:  “One big (straight, gay, multi-cultural, traditional) happy family”. The Dunphy clan offers up the straight “traditional” family.

Phil (Ty Burrell) is the clueless, hapless, clumsy, trying-way-too-hard-to-be-cool dad. His well-intentioned but disastrous attempts to do just about anything — from fixing a door to romantic roleplay — generally provide the thrust of any Dunphy plot-line.  He is also a gifted comedian, which elevates unfortunate situations into outright catastrophes. His foil is his beautiful but neurotic wife Claire (Julie Bowen), still struggling to shed her inner geek which, if she succeeded, would probably end the marriage since these are two geeks in a pod.  Rounding out their household insanity is teen daughter Haley (Sarah Hyland) who is growing up far too quickly and in love with a loser boyfriend; middle child Alex (Ariel Winter), the brainiac; and the mind-numbingly stupid youngest, Luke (Nolan Gould), who clearly is his father’s child.

Claire’s father Jay (Ed O’Neill) represents the traditional older man married to the younger, impossibly beautiful Gloria (Sofia Vergara), from Colombia.  There’s a lot of comedy derived from the inevitable clashes of May-December romance, and enhanced by each of the couple’s own cultural idiosyncrasies.  If the show has any weakness, it is its under-utilization of Mr. O’Neill.  Fans of the short-lived series John From Cincinnati know that Mr. O’Neill can play a great Shakespearean clown.  However, with a great comedic find in Ms. Vergara, there is more potential to mine here.  In addition, young Manny (Rico Rodriguez) provides a delightful and hilarious contrast to the Dunphy children.  All sensitivity, earnestness, and compassion, Manny often finds himself the hopeless outcast — an adult trapped in a child’s body. (more…)

The 1950s had “Leave it to Beaver.” Today, it’s all about “Modern Family.”

Times – and cultural mores – change, and television responded last year with the Emmy Award-winning comedy from the minds behind “Just Shoot Me” and “Frasier.”

“Modern Family: The Complete First Season,” just released on DVD and Blu-ray, isn’t the laugh riot the press clippings declare. But it’s endlessly smart and satisfying with an ensemble cast that makes picking a standout dicey.

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The comedy, shot in that quasi-documentary mode employed by “The Office,” follows one colorfully extended family. Phil and Claire (Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen) have three squabbling kiddies (Nolan Gould, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter). Claire’s father Jay (Ed O’Neill) is raising a child (Rico Rodriguez) with his new, curvaceous wife Gloria (Sofia Vergara). Claire’s gay brother, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), is raising an adopted daughter with his partner Cam (Eric Stonestreet).

Subdued hilarity ensues more often than not, and some of it is so expertly arranged it‘ll make you nod in sly appreciation.

“Family” episodes offer multiple plot strands that coalesce in the show’s waning moments. The overlapping plotlines evoke “Seinfeld,” although “Family” rarely reaches into the absurd for its humor. That will have to wait for seasons six, seven and eight. The jokes are typically clean and character based, making them more than just your standard sitcom gruel. (more…)

Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’ve become that jaded old comic who has seen everything, heard every joke and loves to complain. Maybe I am the modern Jack Carter.

Here’s the deal. A friend of mine recommended ABC’s sit-com “Modern Family” to me. When he said Ed O’Neill was in the series I figured it was worth a try. The series premiered in September of ’09, so I figured I’d do a little catching up and watch a few episodes online to get to know the characters and story lines.  

On the positive side, the show looks terrific; a one-camera shoot that looks like HD video but could be film. The acting ranges from good to excellent and the dialogue on the episodes I watched was a notch above the standard sit-com repartee.   

On the negative side is just about everything else. The show is shot without a laugh track and with annoying “documentary” scenes. I know shooting without a laugh track is supposed to show us rubes that the producers are sophisticated and edgy but if I want sophisticated and edgy I’ll go to my local Equity waiver theater. (more…)

I promised in my earlier post that I would watch more movies.

Well, tonight I watched a doozie on Starz, and I must say, I have to give Benjamin Geza Affleck props. I have made fun of him publicly (it’s easy!) but this guy picked good material and directed it wonderfully. His brother Casey is phenomenal.

It’s like nothing I expected with a name like “Gone Baby Gone.” I thought Susie had me watching a chick flick. It was anything but. Ed Harris and his wife Amy Madigan, the douchebags that crossed their arms when Elia Kazan was awarded a lifetime Oscar, co-starred. So does Morgan Freeman who was injured in a mysterious car crash in Mississippi last year. But Casey Affleck really emerges the savior of this creepy and gritty missing child crime mystery tale.

Whoever cast the Boston grotesques that littered the film, my hat’s off to you. These profoundly ugly people really created a backdrop that made you want to root for the kid not to be found and brought back to her natural origins.

If Ben is willing to rethink his love of Marxism and former neighbor, pal and history revisionist Howard Zinn, perhaps there is redemption for him. After seeing this film, I can’t help thinking he’s gotten a bum steer in this impossible town. He certainly has talent.