Modern Family for Golden Globe (we hope)
The 2010 Golden Globe nominees will be announced in less than 24 hours and I’m already starting to get excited — not only is this my favorite out of all the award shows (the stars of TV and film all in one place? Heaven!) but 2009 finally offered up so many small screen contenders, the winners shouldn’t be easily predictable.
And while I will weigh in with my theatrical thoughts after the nominations are announced at 8:30 a.m., I wanted to take this opportunity and speak my mind about the TV categories. There are eight names I desperately hope are not only uttered tomorrow, but also on Jan. 17 — when the winners are crowned!
Best Series, Comedy: “Modern Family”
Although “Modern Family” continues to be referred to as “the funniest new show of the year” I think it’s about time we take the word “new” out of that sentence. Not since “Arrested Development” has one series made me laugh out loud with such consistency. And like its dysfunctional family grandfather, I not only laugh at the ridiculous situations this family gets themselves into, but the brilliantly layered writing that requires multiple viewings.
Read the rest on the NY Post
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Positive trend – season’s top comedies
Tim Goodman from the SF Gate choose the best comedies fo the year and #2 is Modern Family:
2. “Modern Family,” ABC. This freshman series had the best comedy pilot since “Arrested Development” and has barely taken a misstep since. Three disparate families – all related – mingle in a minefield of hurt feelings, differing parental philosophies and their own personal quirks. Shot as a mockumentary, “Modern Family” has rocketed toward greatness as quickly as the most revered comedies.
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Why Does the LA Times Hate ‘Modern Family’?
“Modern Family” is one of the most acclaimed half-hour comedies to debut on a broadcast network in quite some time. Plus, actual viewers are watching it, judging by the very solid ratings.
The love for “MF” doesn’t extend to the grumpy folks at the LA Times Calendar section. The grinches at the paper apparently got annoyed at the virtually universal love for the show and decided to knock it down a few pegs in Sunday’s paper.
The Times included “MF” in the “Overrated” section of its weekly “Underrated/Overrated” column, suggesting the Steve Levitan/Christopher Lloyd series just isn’t as good as the classic comedies of the past.
Because, really, if you’re not as good as “All in the Family” or “Seinfeld,” really, why even bother?
Here’s what the paper said, in full:
Having been raised on classic sitcoms, we’re always curious when a show earns talk for upholding the tradition. But this ABC newcomer still needs improvement. As much as we love seeing Ed O’Neill at his cranky best as the show’s patriarch, many jokes for his young Latin spouse and his daughter’s clueless husband feel tired. And can we give the faux-documentary style a rest, please?
Read the full story at The Wrap.
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ABC Gets its Mid-Season Report Card
- Image via Wikipedia
ABC get a B+ from The TV Addict:
The Good: ABC took a fairly substantial leap of faith with their brand-new Wednesday night comedy block, and as luck would have it, the leap paid off. What could have been an epic disaster of HANK-esque proportions single-handedly transformed ABC’s once troubled Wednesday night into a ratings force to be reckoned with thanks to the success of freshman newcomers THE MIDDLE, MODERN FAMILY and COUGAR TOWN.
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A Perfect Addition to Modern Family
“Modern Family” got a “Cheers” from TV Guide for an early Christmas present: the spot-on guest casting of Fred Willard as Phil’s father. Though he was only (mostly half-)seen on a computer screen as he admired via video-conferencing the corny Christmas sweaters he’d sent as gifts, Willard fit right in with Family’s heartwarmingly oddball tone. He’s played endearing dorks in everything from the groundbreaking talk-show spoof Fernwood 2-Night to the pet satire Best in Show. It doens’t take a DNA test to figure out he’s the comic forefather of his super-dufus TV son, Ty Burrell (who also costarred with Willard in the short-lived Fox sitcom Back to You). We just hope Phil’s dad comes for a visit—maybe in time for Feburary sweeps?
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TV Ratings: Modern Family returns strong
It was a good night for the comedies with Old Christine, The Middle, Gary Unmarried and Modern Family all improved versus their season averages. Only Cougar Town, with a 2.8 rating with adults 18-49 was down from its prior average. Criminal Minds and CSI: NY were also up a bit from season averages on CBS.
Modern Family Ratings – 3.8/10 9.62.
Source: TV by the numbers.
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More reviews of “Modern Family” – “Undeck the Halls”
Alan Sepinwall from The Star-Ledger did not really like it:
Not much to say about a pretty lackluster “Modern Family” last night. At this point, it’s pretty clear that the show is at its weakest when the three family units are off in their own separate orbits
And from the LA Times:
As much as I wanted to pretend otherwise, I was severely disappointed in Fred Willard’s guest spot. I was excited when I heard that Willard would be the Dunphy patriarch; it was perfect casting. Phil fans certainly would want to see who created the lovable klutz, and Willard was more than perfect. But was Willard even on screen for more than five minutes? Through a computer worst of all! So much for the physical comedy that was sure to happen between the two. Major disappointment. Here’s hoping the short spot leaves room for more visits from Willard. If not, that would be a wasted guest spot in an overflowing list of guests that is becoming mildly overrated.
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Review: Modern Family Episode 10 – Undeck the Halls
Episode recap:
When Phil and Claire discover a burn mark on the sofa, they try to get a confession out of their children. When no one confesses, Phil dramatically declares Christmas is canceled.
Jay attempts to revive the Christmas tradition with Manny, but fails to consider their different backgrounds. Manny and Gloria do not celebrate Christmas in the same manner, in fact, Manny does not believe in Santa Claus.
Cameron and Mitchell wait in line for Santa at the mall. With their daughter in tow, they demand the fat Santa instead of the skinny one and promptly gets the man fired. Meanwhile, Cameron is furious after seeing his caroling group perform after they kicked him out. Sympathetic for the man, Mitchell and Cameron invite the Santa over.
See the full recap here.
Some reviews come from:
TV Squad:
This holiday episode was lighter on the funny moments than most episodes of Modern Family, which isn’t to say that it wasn’t plenty funny. It substituted those with more heartfelt moments. Homeless Santa was able to forgive Cameron and Mitchell for getting him fired with their complaints that he didn’t look enough like St. Nick. They didn’t even have to admit they’d done it; he forgave them after seeing the kindness in their hearts — which may have had a healthy dash of guilt thrown into the mix.
I love it, though, when he punched out Cam’s rival in the chorus. Even after usurping control last year and getting Cam kicked out, he still had to go to his house to rub it in his face, and then when Cameron sucked it up to be the bigger man and show true Christmas spirit, he had to keep on being a jerk. He deserved a good hit.
The best moment of the entire episode came when Jay arrived at his house toward the end of the episode and put down the law that no Colombian traditions were allowed in the house. The looks on Gloria and Manny’s faces were so raw and real, it was painful to see. But when Jay popped back out with “Innocente!” embracing the Colombian tradition of pranks at Christmas, it was simply beautiful. He even had fireworks!
and AV Club:
- Fred Willard? Perfect choice for Phil’s dad. Great little technology joke with only the top half of his head showing up in the video chat.
- Cameron, chastising Mitchell for complaining about the long Santa line, then catching sight of the New Greensleevers: “Somebody needs to get in the holiday sonofabitch!”
- Phil: “I can forgive the smoking, but I can’t forgive the lie.” Catching Claire’s eye: “Or smoking.”
- Scott the Homeless Santa has too many good lines to quote, but I’ll try: In reference to living in his car, “It’s pretty roomy since the wife moved out.” Responding to the dinner invitation, “Can I bring anything? Ketchup, soy sauce, straws?” And of course, the new gay Christmas tradition of a shirtless Santa: “Who wants to try the swing?”
- “Burrito, burr-eye-to.”
- “What happened?” “Doesn’t matter! Wreath, stockings, tree, presents, go!”
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Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson on the Upcoming Story Line That Moved Him to Tears
Jesse Tyler Ferguson almost missed out on Modern Family, ABC’s breakout mockumentary that is already being heralded by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the best series of the decade. Recovering from his experience on the critically savaged and quickly canceled Do Not Disturb, Ferguson told his managers that he was finished with television and moved to New York last year to headline the Broadway musical based on Elf. Fortunately for Ferguson, his managers soft-sold him Modern Family, which the actor read five times over and fell in love with. Now, Ferguson can be seen on Wednesday nights as Mitchell Pritchett, the hilariously straight-laced former figure skater who has since settled down with his flamboyant partner — the hilarious Eric Stonestreet — and their adopted Vietnamese daughter.
Movieline has an interview with Jesse, and here are some of the Q&A:
I heard that you also initially auditioned for the role of Cameron. How far were you in the audition process before realizing you were a better fit for Mitchell?
It was literally the first audition, and I had been desperate to play Mitchell. I feel like I had probably played Cameron before and it didn’t seem terribly challenging for me. I just felt it was more of a challenge to find the humor in his seriousness and his uptightness. And then the first audition with Chris and Steve, they said, “Oh you’d make a great Mitchell too. Why don’t you come back in and audition for that part?” And I said, “Well that’s what I’ve been telling people for weeks and no one has been listening!”
There is a lot of tension between certain characters on the show, especially between Julie Bowen’s and Sofia Vergara’s characters, that has extended into certain press interviews with the actresses. Is that tension real, are people afraid of them on set?
It’s completely not. We all have this amazing, kind of unruly sense of humor. Sofia and Julie have this hilarious dynamic between the two of them. They go out to dinner and they are very good friends but they make fun of each other all the time. When that whole thing happened with theChelsea Lately show, it was funny, because that is just how the two would be interacting to each other’s face. But people with too much time on their hands in front of their computers suddenly created this controversy between the two of them [Ed. note: Those people are so pathetic!], but they were laughing about it together. So there’s no tension between the two of them.
Can you tell us anything about the rest of the season — any big surprises or dance numbers?
[Laughs] Yeah, we adopt another baby. Just kidding. Can you imagine? There’s this great episode that actually really hit close to the heart for me. We deal with my dad’s uncomfortability with my character’s sexuality. Ed O’Neill’s character ends up introducing Cameron to his friends as “a friend of my son, Mitchell’s.” And I get really upset about it, naturally and say, “You would never introduce Phil as a friend of Claire’s.” It kind of opens up this can of worms between him and me and how much support he really offers me. It ends up being very moving and very touching. Obviously, through the eyes of Chris Lloyd and Steve Levitan and the writer of that episode, it is handled with such care and humor. It actually made me tear up when I read it. Especially in this era of marriage equality, it gave a simple, clear voice to a father and his son. And by the end of the episode, I think it might take a step towards changing a lot of people’s minds on marriage and equality and how they view people that are different from them.
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Jay and Gloria’s House from “Modern Family”
I am not a stalker found Jay and Gloria’s house filming location. Here is some information that they found:
Jay and Gloria’s ultra-unique home is MUCH bigger in person than it appears to be on Modern Family. For some reason, the establishing shots shown on the series only feature one angle of the residence. In reality, though, the home has a whole other half which has never appeared on TV. The house is so massive, in fact, that I couldn’t get all of if to fit in my camera lens, but you can sort of get an idea of its true size in the above photograph. According to Zillow, the residence boasts five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a whopping 6,359 square feet!
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Going to a wedding?
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