I didn’t include either versions of ‘The Office’, because I really wanted to focus on these two shows. I watch both of these shows regularly and despite the critical praise ‘Modern Family’ gets, I still think ‘Parks and Recreation’ is superior. I don’t know if either of them will explain the documentary style of there show, but I like ‘Parks’ format slightly more. I also find myself laughing more with ‘Parks’. I still think ‘Modern Family’ is a great show.
Edit: Can a mod switch the first option to just read “Modern Family”
I like Modern Family, but Parks and Recreation is much better. My favorite mockumentary is Trailer Park Boys. I could never get into The Office, British or American version.
Modern Family’s not a mockumentary, it’s a single camera show with talking head segments. They’ve had shots in there that were absolutely not possible for a documentary crew to take (like the time Luke and Phil sent a remote control car into the crawl space).
Parks and Rec, because I don’t consider Modern Family to be a mockumentary. Parks and Rec barely qualifies either, but does more to mock the documentary genre.
I’ve never considered Parks and Rec to be a mockumentary either. The first season felt a bit like one but the show changed pretty drastically after season 1 and I think virtually everyone agrees it was a change for the better. Even in season 1 I didn’t think it was a mockumentary. I can’t imagine watching the show imagining there’s a pretend documentary camera crew there filming them, as in the Office or Trailer Park Boys. It’d be a completely different show.
I would have gone with Parks and Rec but (IMHO) they take the characters a little too far over the top. I really like the Andy and Ron characters but they go just a little too far. But then P&R has Rashida Jones…hmmm…but MF has Julie Bowen…tough call.
They do that. But they don’t do it in a way that mocks the documentary genre. It’s probably going to become a standard way of including ‘asides’ in shows without an overt ‘breaking the fourth wall’ moment. Parks & Rec has limited that part of the show, but they have mocked the documentary genre and in a few moments made the concept part of the plot. But neither show really does much of it at all.
I think “mocks the documentary genre” is a little narrow of a definition. I think it applies more broadly to “comedy done in a pseudo-documentary style” and a show with talking heads segments would apply.
As I recall, the first season was more overt about the documentary style and they’ve since phased that concept out aside from the talking head bits.
The tiny girl and the chubby boy are so annoyingly written and acted that it’s hard for me to watch Modern Family. They’re about a half-step up from Full House. I hated Parks & Rec when I first saw it, but I eventually relented and tried watching some more current episodes, and it turns out I think it’s hilarious.
I think it makes more sense to think of shows like Modern Family and Parks and Rec not as mockumentaries, but as “camera-as-character” narratives. You know, like when Ferris Bueller or Zack Morris does an aside and talks to the camera. It’s clearly not a mockumentary, just a narrative tool.
I never really cared if The Office ever explained it’s format, but anyone who’s been watching it knows that it IS in fact a Documentary.
I think Modern Family is the least likely to explain why the characters have “Talking Head” moments. It just seems funny to me that they would do something as ‘whimsy’ as you described; To just address us, the audience, (which is what Bueller and Morris do), with no explanation.
Even Wiki says that: “NBC, already broadcasting The Office and Parks and Recreation, decided against taking on a third mockumentary style show. ABC accepted the series and picked it up for a full season.”