When Good Kids Go Bad (#1.10)

Why Modern Family is really only the 5th or 6th best comedy on TV right now...

I am probably going to get yelled at for this one a little bit, but I say BRING IT ON!

"No, people.  Let's be smart and bring it off." - SpongeBob Squarepants

(Part starts at about 6:15)

I obviously have reasons for my opinions, but please, feel free to prove me wrong.  I love a good TV discussion.  Anyway, here are three of my reasons why Modern Family is only the 5th or 6th best comedy on TV right now.

1. Story-lines have gotten very repetitive.

Every week, the story revolves around each of the show's main couples (Phil and Claire, Mitchell and Cam, Gloria and Jay) not getting along.  The stories may or may not involve the children, but for one reason or another, the couples will be at odds.  Gloria finds another way to remind Jay that he is old and she is eccentric.

Phil wants to have fun, and Claire is the giant buzzkill that brings him down to Earth.  Cam does something to annoy Mitchell, and Mitchell tells the camera about how he's always putting up with these situations.  For the most part, I buy the differences between Phil and Claire as minor squabbles in a marriage.  And I can deal with Jay and Gloria's generational differences.

But honestly, after so much disagreement between Mitchell and Cameron, I find it hard to believe that they would actually still be together.  I get it - couples fight and argue and disagree.  But they still have to have a basis for their relationship.  Cameron and Mitchell annoy each other so much I don't see how they could have liked each other enough to have gotten together in the first place.  How about, instead of couples fighting, we mix up the combinations?  Let's go back to the sibling-love story-lines with Claire and Mitchell.

Let's see Cameron and Jay battling it out in some sporting event or competition.  Even the kids, who used to be more mixed into the stories, get treated like occasional comic-relief.  Alex wasn't even in the last episode.  This is (or was) a fantastic ensemble cast - why not use that to the best advantage?  Let's not get stuck in the same rut the writers have made out of these characters' relationships.

2. The jokes have become increasingly broad.

Some recent shows I would attribute the word, "broad" to are Two and a Half Men, 2 Broke Girls, How to Be a Gentleman, Mike & Molly, and Whitney.  They appeal to the broadest possible audience with few jokes that would alienate any person that might be watching.  This means that many of the jokes are obvious and predictable and the characters are more like cartoons than real people.  This is not smart comedy.  Modern Family was once very smart and very fresh and original.  The cast was large and unique with not only a gay couple with an adopted Vietnamese baby girl, but also an old guy married to a much younger and much better looking Columbian woman.  It really was a modern family (sorry, I couldn't help myself).

But then sometime toward the end of the second season, it's as if MF got caught up in its own success and starting writing for the larger audience it had acquired.  Instead of the intricately planned out, inter-weaving story-lines from "Slow Down Your Neighbors," we get the painful saga of Mitchell and Cameron inexplicably getting the wrong car at the valet.  The latter story was not only boring (Our lives suck. No, wait! They don't!), but involved more than one conversation that was easily predicted (Cameron and Mitchell in the car as it gets beaten by a crazy lady with a baseball bat).  Also, who did not see it coming that the guy Claire befriends and thinks is gay turns out to actually be straight?

Last week's episode, "Treehouse," was a slight turn in the right direction thanks to some great guest stars.  Cameron putting the moves on Leslie Mann was a lot of fun and Kevin Hart's entrance as a neighbor and new friend for Phil showed great promise (spin-off with these two, anyone?).  I'd like to see more progress in that direction.

3. The characters have become stereotypes of their former selves.

Remember when Cameron painted his face for football games?  You know how now he simply runs around screaming like a little girl?  The girl scream was funny once or twice, but it seems to have transformed an actual human being into a stereotype of an effeminate gay man.  Gloria is now such a crazy, shrieking foreigner, you'd never know she used to school the wise, old Jay on a thing or two.  And Luke - the silly kid who doesn't seem to have his head screwed on too tight - yes, he says and does some stupid things, but why not let him have the moment after making Phil think over the real reasons behind building the treehouse?  It was ruined when they cut to Luke's talking-head, explaining how he uses the phrase (Are you, Dad?  Are you?) arbitrarily and not just when it seems poignant.  The characters were great when they were real and complex, but now it seems too easy to label each of them with a single descriptive word.

For the record, I still watch Modern Family weekly.  I still laugh while I watch.  The point is that it is not what it once was and I frequently find myself disappointed in it.  Maybe I hold it to higher standards.  Maybe it really is getting worse, but everybody else is blinded by its flashy new Emmys.  Who knows?  In any case, it is still leagues ahead of the other shows I mentioned up there.  Although, there are plenty of others ahead of it still.  And because I know you've been curious this whole post about what comedies I rank ahead of it, here you go:

1. Parks and Recreation

2. Community

3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

4. Raising Hope

TIE 5./6. Happy Endings & Modern Family

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject, whether you agree or disagree, and which comedies you cherish these days!

* It should also be noted that had 30 Rock started this fall and not waited until midseason, it would likely be higher than Modern Family on my list, as well.