# Modern Family 4/13/11 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 14, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321 "2011-04-14T02:51:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/1 "2011-04-14T02:51:31Z")
I have to say that the writing on this show is probably the best currently on all of TV, network or cable. ## Clever, and usually not too over-the-top, I can’t remember another sit-com that I have enjoyed this much since Hank…😉 “Does the carpet match the drapes? I’m not sure, I haven’t really been down inside there for a while.” ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/2 "2011-04-14T03:42:28Z")
I just did a search to see if the show has been discussed and this post came up. I just finished episode eight or so of season one (the one where Ed O’Neill gets the dog butler). Every time I finish an episode, I think, “Each one is better than the one before.” At first I was a bit disappointed because the show is such a cross between Arrested Development and The Office, but it didn’t take too many episodes for it to start becoming its own. They’ve introduced some techniques that don’t come across as gimmicks. The writing is clever and snappy and witty. I’m already looking forward to season 2. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/3 "2011-04-14T05:49:42Z")
Great episode! “Years from now, some of these kids will still be talking about how I Sondheimized them.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/4 "2011-04-14T09:29:47Z")
I just started watching this show a few episodes ago, and it keeps getting better, as I become more familiar with the characters. “W E L O V E T H E F W O R D” ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/5 "2011-04-14T10:53:50Z")
One thing I love about this show is that the writers never let the gag go on too long. Funny misunderstandings (like the van) would quickly fall into Three’s Company shtick if played out over the whole episode. But just for a few scenes and resolved? Hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/6 "2011-04-14T12:23:44Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > One thing I love about this show is that the writers never let the gag go on too long. Funny misunderstandings (like the van) would quickly fall into Three’s Company shtick if played out over the whole episode. But just for a few scenes and resolved? Hilarious! That’s a really good point. It may be a side effect of the fact that they cram three mostly separate storylines into each episode, but it works pretty well. (We just watched the preschool episode from earlier in the season, and Cameron’s abrupt American Indian imitation lasts _just long enough_ to be hilarious—drawing it out any longer would have been excruciating.) ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/7 "2011-04-14T12:36:07Z")
Some of their sight gags are on par w/ \*Airplane \*and that’s a compliment! I fell over laughing on my couch when the F Word showed up. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/8 "2011-04-14T13:34:04Z")
“That’s what it should say on the van.” ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/9 "2011-04-14T13:34:05Z")
“It doesn’t matter, I’ll go home with anyone!” “That’s what it should say on the van.” I loved the Sondheimize line … also broke out laughing at the FWORD display. And how about Mitchell’s freakout when he came out of the auditorium? “No intermission?!?! What are we, animals?” ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/10 "2011-04-14T13:39:08Z")
I know its only a 30 minute show, but I wish they had Donnie interact with everyone, not just Jay & Manny & Gloria. I bet Phil catches a lot of flack from Donnie. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/11 "2011-04-14T16:03:02Z")
Loved everything about it except the contrived bit of Phil trying to hide the van’s ads. Felt very I Love Lucy/old school. Loved the fact that Claire got hot about the fact that the callers preferred her… ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/12 "2011-04-14T16:08:02Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > One thing I love about this show is that the writers never let the gag go on too long. Funny misunderstandings (like the van) would quickly fall into Three’s Company shtick if played out over the whole episode. But just for a few scenes and resolved? Hilarious! Not only this, but as I’ve mentioned before, they always manage to successfully pull off jokes that you can see coming a mile away. When Jay was rigging the chair so it would collapse when his brother sat down, I knew right away that it was going to backfire on him, but I still laughed out loud when it happened. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/13 "2011-04-14T16:49:05Z")
“Now all of you get out there and sing your little hearts out!!! Oh, except for you sweetie; I just want you to mouth the words.” ---
**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/14 "2011-04-14T16:53:15Z")
“She took the scenic route, but she got there” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/15 "2011-04-14T17:07:30Z")
Dude, you should mark those sticks. ETA: … or was that the next episode? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/16 "2011-04-14T17:29:10Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Dude, you should mark those sticks. > > ETA: … or was that the next episode? Yes, but still worth mentioning! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/17 "2011-04-14T18:29:56Z")
The minute I saw the letters I knew they would be scrambled somehow at the big moment. But how they ultimately were still had me cracking up. That’s some good writing. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/18 "2011-04-14T19:17:27Z")
They were walking the ragged edge of what they can get away with for a family show last night, and I loved it! “You always throw water on my dreams. You give me wet…dreams. Yeah, I heard it as it was coming out of my mouth.” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/19 "2011-04-14T19:22:25Z")
I love whenever Phil gets giddy interpreting things one way and then his rapid retreat as he realizes Claire’s going in the opposite direction. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321/20 "2011-04-14T21:47:29Z")
The show is great and I’m a big fan, but I’m kind of tired of the “talking to the camera” mockumentary technique. Too much of it on TV now with _The Office_ and _Parks & Recreation_ using it too. I think it makes for lazy writing to get jokes across or to advance the plot. _Modern Family_ has a good enough cast and interesting stories to not have to “break the fourth wall” in order to move the stories along. Besides I can sort of see the use of documentary cameras in an office type setting, but cameras inside people’s homes?? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-4-13-11/578321.md?page=2)