# Modern Family - Is one of the top 10 sitcoms ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190 "2013-12-26T03:25:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/21 "2013-12-28T02:10:29Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Oh, and Julie Bowen is incredibly beautiful! Really? We’re talking about the writing, acting, comedic, and production qualities of this show, and you are so superficial that you point out the objective attractiveness of one of the stars? I have more respect for this MILF than you, obviously. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/22 "2013-12-28T03:39:35Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Really? > > We’re talking about the writing, acting, comedic, and production qualities of this show, and you are so superficial that you point out the objective attractiveness of one of the stars? > I have more respect for this MILF than you, obviously. [Phil Dunphy] Well played, good sir, well played[/PD] ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/23 "2013-12-28T16:16:53Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > Also, it loses points in my book for being a “two camera” sitcom. That is, single-camera plus a “confessional”; it’s been done to death and has been getting on my nerves lately. Really? The whole point is that it’s filmed in the style of an Osbournes/Kardashians-style reality show, except it’s not reality, it’s entirely scripted and fictional. AFAIK no other sitcom has done that. Am I wrong? I had to cancel cable TV this year due to personal budget cuts, which in today’s Internet age turned out to be easier than imagined. The only show I sorely miss is _Modern Family_. That said, no way does it come close to the all-time top 10 sitcom list – Hot 100 for certain, Top 40 maybe. But even _Married…With Children_ was much more groundbreaking and funny. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/24 "2013-12-28T16:28:33Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Really? The whole point is that it’s filmed in the style of an Osbournes/Kardashians-style reality show, except it’s not reality, it’s entirely scripted and fictional. AFAIK no other sitcom has done that. Am I wrong? The Office did a confessional style show under the conceit that a documentary was being filmed, similar to Modern Family. It worked well for The Office and it works well for Modern Family. The confessional scenes are some of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/25 "2013-12-28T17:03:00Z")
Also, the original Office and doesn’t Prarks and Rec use it too? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/26 "2013-12-28T17:46:08Z")
It is one of the few shows in history that will make me laugh loudly while watching it alone. I can’t think of higher praise. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/27 "2013-12-28T18:25:51Z")
> [@Orr\_G](#): > > Phil cracks me up the most. I’ve seen that actor in a couple of other things, and I never found him to be remotely funny. But on this show, everything he does just tickles me. He gave a very funny acceptance speech on an award show (Emmy?). It made me wonder if maybe he has some input in the writing on the show. Or maybe one of the show’s writers helped him with his speech. Whatever. It was funny. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/28 "2013-12-28T20:43:26Z")
I really don’t get the love for _MF_. It is a very generic, predictable sitcom. Just another _Everybody Loves Raymond_ style show in terms of plots. I watched it when it first came on. Then again later when the buzz continued. I just don’t see much worth watching. The dad makes a bet with the daughter about avoiding tech. You knew right then and there _exactly_ how he was going to lose the bet at the end of the episode. 90+% of the show is _just_ like that. It’s the other, less trite, stuff that baffles me. E.g., the gay couple are in almost all ways the stereotypical, sitcom gay couple. But they throw in a curve once in a while: (speaking of throwing), Cam mentioned that he could throw a baseball thru a sheet of plywood. Nice touch. If they can write interesting, original stuff once in a while, why don’t they do it all the time? Why are we seeing recycled _I Love Lucy_ type plots? Ed O’neill is the only person on the that is actually doing a good job acting but he is given hardly anything that allows him to display it. Everybody else could be replaced by any one of dozens of actors pulled in from a casting call. Okay, Rico Rodriguez would be hard to replace. But the other kids are 3rd rate and the show would be a lot better if they were all replaced. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/29 "2013-12-28T21:25:46Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Ed O’neill is the only person on the that is actually doing a good job acting but he is given hardly anything that allows him to display it. Everybody else could be replaced by any one of dozens of actors pulled in from a casting call. Perhaps they could be replaced, but I think the cast works well together; the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190/30 "2013-12-29T04:05:41Z")
I thought the first 2 seasons had some really sharp writing, but lately it has wandered into Three’s Company territory with such lazy plot points as someone misunderstanding something they overheard: hilarity ensues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-family-is-one-of-the-top-10-sitcoms-ever/677190.md?page=1)