Modern Family : Precursor to the Web Series

across the board, many have praised this sitcom, for its far reaching effects in changing social understanding of issues like Gay marriage. However from an Indian perspective the series is plain funny. As an Indian audience, Star World has a special place, for the pure work it does, for filtering content before bringing it to Indian shores. Firstly, until very recent, it launched a ‘Gold’ line, basically, shows airing simultaneously in the US or UK, predominantly US. Before that, it was selected series, and mostly proven series that used to make it, and Modern Family was one of them to reach India after the fourth or fifth season.
As far as sitcoms go, Modern family is a benchmark. Characters are well defined, exceptional actors, and most important is the consistency, no one goes off character. From the tough from outside Jay, to child from outside Phil, and actually a child Luke, all characters are consistent.
For me, the funniest it Alex. Her humor, comes from extreme wit, she expresses sarcasm very aptly, and yet it is funny as no other character responds to that sarcasm. The funniest scene I remember, when Gloria is trying to surprise Manny on his birthday, and everyone is gathered in a room, hiding, waiting for Manny to come. Gloria very innocently re-iterates the ‘plan’, “we will all hide, and when Manny comes, we surprise him !” and to this Alex has a witty response, ” does anyone have a pen, I need to write this down !”. Hilarious to its core, the series brings out such gems every now and then.

On the flip side, very few episodes are ‘memorable’. They are fun, treat to watch, and leave you expecting more from the series, however very few that spring up instantly, most recent ones maybe.
Digressing here, one pain, once you follow a series as it airs is the mid season break. US television has seasons, and those seasons are also not continuous, in midst of a series, right when drama is at peak, we have a mid season break , and as an Indian audience, you are like, why? why is there no new episode this week!. For this reason, following drama or suspense at it airs is a pain. I know now Burn Notice does not qualify as both, a good drama or deep suspense, yet the breaks made it real frustrating to wait.
Now with Modern family, the good thing is that no story line extends to next episode, so nothing to wait for in the next episode, so frustration is a bit less. Other aspect of it, is the 20 minutes an episode, is brilliant, a short view in middle of work, or while waiting and doing nothing, modern family is a great filler. In some way, its a precursor to the web series format now on the upsurge.
The highlight of the series, in scenes where the characters speak to the camera, nice snippets, showing the ‘inner thoughts’ of the characters are equally funny, and they give a great context, back story to the scene. Its like adding that dash of chat masala on top SPDP.
One episode I just recalled, and is in the line of how friends are ‘Kamine’ (like 100 days Movie). Phil is pushed to ‘be a man’ by his friend to make an impulse buy, a car, sports one, and when Claire says nothing doing, Phil approaches his friend, to buy the same car, the friend just goes off, saying ‘my wife won’t allow it’
Some bits do linger in memory it seems
The ‘stupid’ or ‘clueless’ characters are a joy to watch, Luke, Haley are in the same category, yet they manage to be different as their naivety is in different spheres. One episode when Luke says, I just become silent, stare into the eyes and say ‘Really’, to make the front person think about something, so that I can walk away, is just Gold.
Gloria’s accent always lingers, as does Manny’s mannerism. The interactions between Mitchell, Cameron, and Lily are just hilarious, with a subtle undertone as to how parenting, and it’s challenges are universal, plus the maturity that Lily has is sharp contrast to her ‘fathers’ is just joy to watch.
True to the name, the series, deals with all aspects of family, sibling love and rivalry, deep memories from childhood, parental grudges, unrealized dreams, friction between in laws, the discomfort of family dinners, trips along with the longing to have that special ‘family moment’, is nicely meshed with the modern aspect of it, having a step mom younger than you, a uncle in the same class with you, all bundled up in a nice ‘Bhel Puri’