Ty Burrell Is A Talking Dog [source: TV.com]
You may recognize Ty Burrell’s face from any number of his movie credits — The Incredible Hulk, Dawn of the Dead, National Treasure: Book of Secrets — but he’s really caught our eye as the bumbling Phil Dunphy on ABC’s hysterical new comedy Modern Family. Ty took some time off the set to chat with TV.com about his character and the show.
TV.com: Break down your character, Phil Dunphy, for us.
Ty Burrell: Luckily he doesn’t require a lot of psychological complexity. The easiest description of Phil is he’s a dog that can talk. He’s just this incredibly well-intentioned guy and he means so well, he’s so eager to please, and he’s so loyal, but he has no idea [what's going on] — the level of obliviousness is so much fun to play.
What is it about Modern Family that has made the show so easy for the audience to connect to?
Primarily it has to do with a warmth that the creators have built into it. They wrote a smart, sophisticated single-camera show that manages to bring people [in]. A lot of single-camera shows have been very smart and I’ve loved them, but they’ve kept a certain part of the audience at arm’s length because it’s hard to get past the irony and snarkiness. The genius of [creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan] is that they have built these three families that really love each other even though they’re constantly teetering on the brink of catastrophe.
I think the child actors do a splendid job on the show, which is part of what makes Modern Family work so well. Kids can make or break a family sitcom.
It’s totally true. It’s an under-appreciated aspect of all sitcoms, but I hope these guys get the attention they deserve because they’re uniformly great actors and really fun to be around. I would argue they are the funniest people on the show. It’s been really eye-opening for me, because I haven’t worked with kids this much. To be honest, they’re much more experienced in the profession. They’re all telling me union rules. I basically just know where to stand and talk.
There were rumors that your pal Ed Norton is making a guest appearance.
He is going to be on the show, we filmed it two weeks ago. He plays this former bassist for Spandau Ballet, but he tours by himself to make money, and all he does is play the bassline and sing background vocals.
Ed O’Neill is fantastic on the show. Is this his comeback role?
The thing about Ed is that what [Married with Children] did for him was gave him opportunity to turn down other work. We see a lot of people take work because we need to pay bills. If we haven’t seen Ed much, it’s because he doesn’t have to take anything he doesn’t want. He’s done the stuff he has been doing, the David Milch and David Mamet stuff, it’s really stellar work. He’s such a good actor. On the show, I love the relationship with Phil and Jay. He’s the perfect patriarch for this family because he’s so grounded and his performance is so grounded. It’s a great thing because there’s a range of personalities in the families, from bigger personalities to more demure personalities, and I think he grounds the show perfectly.
Can you sum up the difference between Phil and his wife Claire’s parenting styles?
Claire has a parenting style. That’s the difference.
[source: TV.com]
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Modern Family Episode 5 Clips
Another week in which the modern family tries to make peace and try to enjoy time together.
Here are some clips for you:
Big night for the fighting Illini on Modern Family
What a big night for the fighting Illini on Modern Family episode 5, where all the family sat (well tried to) together and watch the game.
What was your favorite quote of the show?
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Modern Family Giveaway Winner
If you remember in last week’s episode 4 of Modern Family we saw Dede Pritchett (Shelley Long) offensive toast at the wedding of her ex-husband, Jay, to his young new bride, Gloria. And we want to hear from you what was the worst wedding moment in a wedding that you have been at.
Well, the winner of the giveaway is Jamie, and here is her story:
My worst wedding moment was pretty simple and minor. We had a small wedding and in order to walk down the isle, my dad and I had to walk outside first. We heard the music start and went to enter, but found that the door was locked. The song played a few times before someone realized I didn’t have cold feet, I just couldn’t get in!
Jamie will win her choice from either Married with Children – The Complete First Season
An honorable mention goes to our runner-up charlottewinters:
My husband and I went to get our marriage license and be married at City Hall. The clerk took information and typed up the appropriate forms. Then she got to the field that asked for my last name. My soon to be husband announced loudly Charlotte What’s your last name again??? We had been together for 2 years…I wanted to die!
Maybe Modern Family writers will “steal” one of these situations and put them in the show?
This giveaway was sponsored by SimchaBucks — want to know how much money to spend on a wedding gift? Try Simchabucks’ wedding gift calculator.
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DVR Play Ground Emmys
DVR Play Ground gave 3 out of their 5 weekly “Emmy” to Modern Family:
MODERN FAMILY’s Ed O’Neill, for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. Now that William Shatner is no longer eligible for his annual Emmy nod, voters are going to need another rich old white guy they can shower with praise. Enter Ed O’Neill, who in MODERN FAMILY’s fourth outing of the season continued to set the perfect tone for the craziness that goes down in the Dunphey-Pritchett abode. With bonus points for his faux outrage towards son Mitchell upon ‘discovering’ that ex-wife Dede was a surprise Sunday-night dinner guest.
MODERN FAMILY’s Shelley Long, for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. And speaking of ex-wife Dede. Shelley Long’s performance as Jay’s sexually-frustrated uber-critical ex-wife who has yet to move on from the mortifying ‘incident’ that had her creating quite the scene at Jay and Gloria’s wedding not only had us howling with laughter (”I knew they were perfect for each other when I saw his wallet and her boobs!”), but had us checking Amazon for CHEERS DVDs. Seriously, we had no idea Shelley Long was that funny, or that she was capable of such a bang-on Gloria impersonation!
MODERN FAMILY’s “Do Me,” for Outstanding Music and Lyrics. Come’on admit it, you too haven’t stopped singing Dylan’s opus to girlfriend Haley. Find the song here.
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Full Season for “Modern Family”
- Image via Wikipedia
Great news! So although the rating went down this week to 8.5 million, 5.3/8 (Aren’t you watching live? Who uses Tivo/Hulu?), ABC has given full season, nine episode orders to three fall comedies: “Modern Family,” “Cougar Town” and “The Middle.”
We really like “The Middle” (coming from a “flyover state” in the Midwest), so watch it if you haven’t yet; but we love “Modern Family,” and we are very excited for the rest of the season.
Not yet renewed: ABC’s Kelsey Grammer half-hour “Hank,” but that is not a big loss (or a big surprise for that matter given the low ratings).
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Watch Modern Family Episode 3
Here is the full Modern Family Episode 3
Rickey has a good recap of the episode and Alan Sepinwall from The Star-Ledger said the following about this episode:
“Come Fly With Me” wasn’t as laugh-out-loud funny as the first two episodes, though it had its moments, particularly Mitchell’s rapidly-developing love of CostCo (“Cam, what is this place?”) and a milk-mustachioed Manny turning out to be such a good listener for Claire’s problems.
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Modern Family’s Steven Levitan Interview
Movie Line has an interview with Modern Family‘s Steven Levitan. Here are some interesting Q&As:
How is running Modern Family different than the shows you’ve run in the past? How have you modified the process?
Well, I’m running it with Christopher Lloyd, so that’s automatically different. We’re sharing the leadership so we have to constantly check in with each other and sometimes battle it out, you know, “Which way are we going to go here?” But otherwise, you hope to make fewer mistakes with time but there are always new mistakes to be made. I’m not as freaked out by all of this as I was at the beginning. It’s becoming more natural to me. We’re just trying to get as far ahead as possible. I always say, that breaking stories is like Indiana Jones and the big ball. You try to get as far ahead as possibly but by the end of the season, that boulder is right behind you.
How long does it take to shoot an episode?
Five days.
Did you have a sense while writing the pilot that ABC was the best place for the show?
We wanted to do a show about family and we thoughtABC was the right place for it. We pitched it around and several people wanted it. ABC wanted it the most and we took it there. We’re not really good at filling orders. We feel like it’s got to come from our hearts and what we want to write about and then you find the right place for it.
And when you pitched it, did you already have the script?
Actually, for the first time ever, for me, I did a Key Note presentation on the computer because we had so many characters. I thought it would be too confusing otherwise for people to keep it all straight. So I used actors that I wanted or liked or pictures of people that looked like what was in our heads and we took it in and said, “This is our show,” and did a five minute Key Note.
Wow. A PowerPoint.
Yeah, the Mac version of PowerPoint. It was cool. We pitched it three places and three places wanted it. It worked.
The biggest concern was, where does this have the best chance of succeeding. ABC, NBC and CBSwanted it. We didn’t pitch it at FOX. And Steve [McPherson] really wanted it and you know, he’s an old friend, and the series just felt like ABC.
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Modern Family Episode 3
MODERN FAMILY Episode 3, “Changes” “Come Fly with Me” (updated 10.07.09: episode name change), will air on Wednesday October 7 at 9:00 p.m.
Video sneak peak can be found in this post.
Episode Synopsis: MODERN FAMILY Episode 3, “Changes” – After some nudging, Jay begrudgingly takes Phil out to fly his new model airplane — that is until a maneuver goes awry. Meanwhile, when Gloria drops Manny off to play with Luke, she ends up volunteering to take Alex dress shopping, and Claire finds herself sitting down for an unexpected brother and sister heart-to-heart with Manny.
Source: Daemons TV
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Sofia Vergara Interview [source: Crave Online]
Sofia Vergara, who plays Gloria Delgado-Pritchett On Modern Family, has an interview in Crave Online.
Here are some interesting Q&As:
Crave Online: Does Modern Family match your sense of humor?
Sofia Vergara: Yeah. I’ve done a lot of comedy but it’s pretty much in the same kind of stuff. The character is great because it’s very easy for me because she’s a Latin woman from Colombia. She has kind of like my personality so it’s fun.
Crave Online: It’s great that your character is Colombian like you. Have you been asked to play other types of Latinas that felt distant to you?
Sofia Vergara: No, not really distant because Latin people, we’re all kind of the same but we have specific differences like foods or music. But I think our personalities are all in general the same. We all have the same values with family. We all have the same morals so it’s like all the same.
Crave Online: Is your character a trophy bride or is there more to their relationship?
Sofia Vergara: I think in a way it’s a trophy wife to Ed which I think is perfectly good. I think it’s very normal and it doesn’t have to be taken as something bad I think because it’s a reality of course. Any man that age that has opportunity to marry a woman like her would do it, you know. If she’s a good woman, somebody that is going to do good things for his life. Obviously, this is a couple that they share other things in common and other things not in common. But I think she doesn’t care about that because he’s very good to her and she is good to him.
Read the full interview in Crave Online.
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Going to a wedding?
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