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.

The show’s gay family, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), along with adopted Asian baby Lily, provide the third prong for the series.  While some may rightly criticize their relationship as being somewhat stereotypical, it is easily overlooked because of their hilarious plot-lines.  Cameron is flamboyant, yes, but he knows it and revels in it.  Mitchell may be a nervous and tightly wound individual, but he’s also self-aware enough to recognize it.  That these two gentleman are so warmly portrayed also takes the curse off any overly-familiar aspects audiences may recognize from similar couples.  The simple truth is the writers place them in such amusing situations, with an abundance of misunderstandings, that we’re too busy laughing to notice such minor shortcomings.

With such a broad range of character representing virtually every aspect of any given modern family, there is something here for everyone.  The show is consistently fast-paced, cramming enormous amounts of plot into twenty-two minutes, while providing multiple laugh-out-loud moments.  If that weren’t enough, the writing is so sharp that the situations themselves provide each episode’s life lesson, as well as sweet moments between the characters.  The modern sitcom’s pointless requirement for a thoroughly explained moment of enlightenment is entirely expunged, thanks to the combined efforts of an extraordinary talented group of writers and actors.

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.

Watching the 3-disc set is to see a show hitting its stride gag after inspired gag. That’s not to detract from the early episodes, but you can feel the actors digging into their characters in small but meaningful ways.

Consider the Valentine’s Day episode, an instant classic featuring Phil and Claire trying a little role-playing fun to spice up the holiday. The two, often seen locking horns over some manufactured domestic crisis, strike up real chemistry after some false starts. Then, when it looks like they’re en route to a Valentine’s night to remember, the farcical elements hit a fever pitch.

The season’s iPad-themed episode is both a 30 minute infomerical and a delicious slice of television humor. Man-child Phil wants an iPad for his birthday, and Claire offers to wake up early to wait in line to purchase one for him. Naturally, she falls back asleep that morning and spends the rest of the episode scrambling to find one. Meanwhile, Phil ratchets down his expectations when every birthday treat turns into a trick.

It’s hard not to rally around Burrell’s Phil, whose innocence puts him at odds with his pragmatic wife. The part feels smarmy on paper, even cheap at first blush. But Burrell infuses Phil with such a beautifully naïve soul you root for him while cringing at his antics.

And it’s refreshing to see glimpses of Al Bundy peering out from O’Neill’s latest TV role.

Social conservatives may carp about the inclusion of a gay family into the mix. But the show’s writers, while making Cam on the swishy side, neither preach nor make their characters stale archetypes. The actors here find an atypical rhythm, one typified by an episode in which Cam trots out his alter ego, Fizbo the Clown.

A key ingredient in the show’s success is one that mirrors the long-running “Friends.” That cast showed audiences how much the characters mean to each other week after comical week. And people responded, perhaps because their own friends rarely showed such fidelity. The same holds true so far for this “Family.” They fight, they disagree and they step on each others’ toes with alacrity. But when the smoke settles and peace resumes, it always feels like a family you’d want to call your own. That’s easier faked than done.

The Blu-ray package includes a number of extras, including deleted family interviews, deleted, extended and alternate scenes plus real “Modern Family” moments from the show’s creators.

“Modern Family” may not be able to sustain its high standards for multiple seasons. But with a gifted cast and enough characters to spark a near-endless supply of story arcs, it’s not wise to bet against a long, healthy run.

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.

Back in the 1970’s a trend which has now taken over television,m “reality,” started with “An American Family.” We got to look in on the Loud Family as they tried to live their dysfunctional lives in Santa Barbara, California. Without getting into my usual “Kennison-ish” critique of all reality shows, how “real” can you be when there is a film crew following you around? The act of being watched must influence behavior. With “Modern Family” we have now come full circle. On “An American Family” the Loud’s tried to pretend they weren’t being watched. On “Modern Family” the extended family of Ed O’Neill’s “Jay” tries to pretend they’re the Louds.  

The show also has several “musts” for the modern Hollywood television show. All straight men must be seriously flawed and not all that smart. Jay and Phil are the perfect tin-types of the Hollywood view of middle class guys. There are the obligatory gay characters and bratty smart-mouthed kids. Of course, in keeping with liberal stereotypes, the white male kid is a bumbling ADD riddled goof while the Hispanic boy is a genius.

The writing tends to get a little predictable even for a sit-com. In one episode I watched called “Starry Night,” Mitchell, Jay’s son and one half of the show’s gay couple, ends up in a dress while star- gazing with his Dad and Manny. (Get it? He’s gay and wearing a dress! Hilarious!) Just in case that isn’t obvious enough for you, while Mitchell is doing the dress thing his partner Cameron takes Gloria, Jay’s much younger Columbia, wife to a Colombian restaurant in the barrio and guess what? The food is too spicy and someone steals the wheels off his car! How un-stereotypical!

As I said earlier I am an Ed O’Neill fan. I liked him as Al Bundy and think his work on “The West Wing” showed him to be an actor with some depth and range. I don’t know if it’s the writing or the acting but I don’t see a lot of separation between Al Bundy and Jay Pritchett. It’s like Al got a little older and somehow dumped Peg for a hot Colombian half his age.

Despite all my whining about its problems, “Modern Family” is watchable and even at times enjoyable.  The biggest problem is that it’s buried by another fake reality show on Fox called “American Idol.”

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.