I know what you’re thinking: Modern Family just won best comedy at the Emmys for the second year in a row, Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell cleaned up the best supporting acting categories, and the show added best directing and writing to boot. Hurray!
But that doesn’t mean the series is perfect, and the show’s third season premiere proved just that. Is the sitcom great, full of laughs, and always enjoyable? Yes. Is it the best comedy on TV today? No. Does it have the best cast? … Here’s where we run into a problem.
Mitchell Pritchett Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s character is a horrible human being. I’m not sure what he’s supposed to seem like, but he never fails to come across as overwhelmingly selfish, self-centered, and shockingly abusive to Cameron (Eric Stonestreet). He never treats Cam the way anyone should treat anyone, let alone their life partner and the co-father of their child. I won’t say there aren’t moments when he’s funny — usually confined to scenes with sister Claire or father Jay — but he really is terrible. Is the character’s behavior supposed to prove that humor can be found anywhere, especially when it comes to how he and Cam interact as a couple? Maybe, but I don’t find it funny. I can see Cam’s future including him finally breaking free of their abusive relationship and seeking happiness elsewhere … maybe in a circus.
Baby Lily Granted it was beyond weird that Lily, as played by Ella and Jaden Hiller, was a mute for two seasons, but new Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) skews too far in the other direction, to the extent that she was a major player in Cam and Mitchell’s second episode story line. The show does a great job of using all the kids as characters and not as props — I do love that — but Lily is still a toddler. As much as they talk (and talk, and talk, and talk) the writers shouldn’t feel compelled to make up for two seasons of muteness in one night.
Gloria Delgado-Pritchett People love Gloria … and that’s great. But let’s be honest here: wasn’t she much better in the first season, when she was being utilized as a complete person and not just showcased for a handful of personal characteristics that stand out? Yes I’m talking about her chest, but I’m also talking about the shrill whining, the scheming, the questionable grasp of English, and the violent threats. There was more to her back in season one, and that’s because everything was less exaggerated, allowing her to be fully three dimensional. I know she got more public attention in season two than in season one, but that doesn’t mean that the show needed to take a sharp turn in order to send her down that “flashy” path. Slowly, slowly she’s turning into less character, more caricature.
Manny Delgado He’s awesome, no question. But as with his TV mother, the writers sunk their teeth into something that stood out about the character, and have continued to ride it well past its natural death. Is it funny that a little kid like Manny is old beyond his years? Sure. But don’t beat it to death … use it wisely. It’s like Brick’s (The Middle) weird whispering thing. For a while in season two it was being forced, and the result was that it lost its humor. The writers are still struggling to find that working balance again, but at least they’ve realized their overenthusiastic mistake. Manny faces the same problem, but so far the writers don’t appear to have noticed. Let’s hope they do soon.
Meanwhile, while members of the other two families shape up, why not overexpose the Dunphys? Family member for family member they’re awesome … go for it!
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Sep 26, 2011 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
Not only are many of the characters becoming caricatures (some in the Dunphy family, too–although Luke, the boy, is even better this year than before), but the writers have developed an overreliance on standard sitcom plots. The last time I saw kids planning to move into the attic was “The Brady Bunch”. It feels like the writers have become very lazy. Grab a couple standard sitcom plots, apply the characters to them in the same tired ways, cash in another Emmy. I like the show, but it needs an infusion of ideas, and a cast that stands up for itself and demands more than one salient character trait for each of them.
I have to agree with both of you. It was so funny and clever season one — and unique, different structurally and storyline-wise than most sitcoms. Or at least if they used a typical plot, the outcome was refreshingly different. Last season it was still funny and had its moments, but it has been becoming more typical. It reminds me of Leverage — season one was nearly perfect, and they haven’t been able to reproduce that.