Modern Family [** SPOILERS **]

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Anyone who's interested in getting a look at ABC's new comedy with Ed O'Neill, the pilot is currently doing the rounds in the usual places. ***Please, don't ask us where you can see the pilot, as we can't give the answer***

I thought the pilot was hilarious. Very well written and some very funny moments. I think the series has a style very similar to the office or arrested development and really hope the first series does well ratings wise, because this will probably be one of my new favourites this season.

J-blk

Great stuff - though cheesy as hell, I always enjoyed old "Married with children" reruns, so it's good to see Ed O'Neill back in a comedy.

BTW, the "official" US premiere is on Wednesday, September 23 so for anyone watching the pilot now, there will be about 3 weeks until a new episode.

Basq

Aww Peg..!

JP Liz

This fall’s funniest new comedy now boasts one of this fall’s biggest casting coups: Edward Norton!

The two-time Oscar nominee has closed a deal to guest-star on ABC’s uproarious mockumentary Modern Family.

In the November episode, Norton will play the bassist of a famous band whom Claire (Julie Bowen) hires as an anniversary surprise for husband Phil (Ty Burrell).

What’s Norton’s Family connection? (C’mon, you knew there had to be one.) He and Burrell are longtime friends (the two co-starred in an Off-Broadway revival of Lanford Wilson’s Burn This and in the second reboot of The Incredible Hulk). Also, rumor has it Norton watched the Modern Family pilot and loved it to the point of obsession. We’re talking watching it multiple times and memorizing every line kind of obsession.

You can see what all the fuss is about when Modern Family debuts Wednesday, Sept. 23.

JP Liz

Modern Family’s a hit!

The funniest new comedy of the fall attracted 12.7 million viewers in its debut last night.

TarfHead

Just finished watching the premiere.

Good. A good new comedy. Maybe, in time, great. For now, it's one I'll continue to watch.

Basq

Great pilot!

Damn fine cast of comedic actors.. with a very witty script and a suprisingly original idea.

I'm very impressed!

"Moar puhlease!"

J-blk

Dunno, found it incredibly slow paced for ~ 25 minute show with practically no laughs at all. Can't really see why it's getting good reviews and all but now that the basic setup is out of the way, we'll see how it develops...

TarfHead

J-blk wrote: »

Dunno .. incredibly slow paced .. practically no laughs at all ..

WTF :eek: !
Why The Face :P

Basq

J-blk wrote: »

Dunno, found it incredibly slow paced for ~ 25 minute show with practically no laughs at all. Can't really see why it's getting good reviews and all but now that the basic setup is out of the way, we'll see how it develops...

Simply put, it was an intelligent well-observed and intelligent comedy - not dumbed down like the comedies coming out of the US of late.

On reflection, Ty Burrell (Phil) was the star of the pilot!

"I'm cool dad, that's my thang. I'm hip, I surf the web, I text. LOL: laugh out loud, OMG: oh my god, WTF: why the face"

EDIT: Snap Tarfhead!

EDIT 2: Wait a second..

J-blk wrote:

Great stuff - though cheesy as hell, I always enjoyed old "Married with children" reruns, so it's good to see Ed O'Neill back in a comedy.

J-blk wrote: »

Dunno, found it incredibly slow paced for ~ 25 minute show with practically no laughs at all. Can't really see why it's getting good reviews and all but now that the basic setup is out of the way, we'll see how it develops...

Eh... split personality, J-blk?!

Richard Dower

I watched both Cougar Town and Modern Family....i disliked Cougar, no interest....wheras Modern made me laugh, it had interesting characters and very offbeat stuff. So yes i think this may be the show to follow....one hopes it dosen't fall apart in subsequent episodes.

Richard Dower

Can i add i have always thought Julie Bowen could pull off comedy, she has the face for it...even though she's hot!

She did quite well in Ed etc.

J-blk

basquille wrote: »

Eh... split personality, J-blk?!

Nope, the original post was made when the pilot leaked and I was indeed looking forward to it, it had positive buzz early on and Ed O'Neill back in a comedy sounded promising.

The "cheesy as hell" bit was in reference to "Married with Children", not "Modern Family"...

I never got around to watching the pre-air though, so I only watched the "official" pilot yesterday and wasn't impressed by it. Yes, it is possible that some people don't like every single show everyone else likes...

I'll still give it a chance though, pilots can easily be pretty weak and in setting up a premise, get wasted a lot of the time IMO. But on the pilot alone, I'm not exactly thrilled about it.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Had another look at episode one, and it's even funnier the second time. It's incredibly refreshing to see an intellectual comedy come out of the US. Really looking forward to the next episode. This is easily my favourite new show of the season at the moment.

Poochie05

Just a heads up to those of us who don't have cousins in America, this is listed in Digiguide as starting on Sky 1 on 15 October.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Poochie05 wrote: »

Just a heads up to those of us who don't have cousins in America, this is listed in Digiguide as starting on Sky 1 on 15 October.

@8.00pm if I'm not mistaken.

lostexpectation

its a bit like that thing on bbc1

MagicMarker

lostexpectation wrote: »

its a bit like that thing on bbc1

Eastenders?

Watched the pilot today, thought it was alright. I don't think I've ever seen a pilot that has been brilliant but there's always improvement with each episode, and this one has a lot of potential!

Basq

lostexpectation wrote: »

its a bit like that thing on bbc1

Jesus.. narrow it down, which "thing"?!

lostexpectation

erm that thing with yerman from mock the week

dubmick

excellent new comedy.

Why the face

lol

lostexpectation

the young family bits are like with "Outnumbered" and add arrested development, ill watch it for jule bowen

Richard Dower

Yeah Julie Bowen is a good-un.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Episode 2 was excellent. Good to see all the humour wasn't used up in the pilot.

gazzer

I love the gay couple in it. The bit where they 'announced' the new baby was hilarious.

The guy in the gay couple who is related to the family is played by a great comic actor. He was very good in a show called The Class which for some bizzare reason was cancelled after 17 episodes.

J-blk

Well, I wasn't impressed by the pilot but this episode was great - definitely showing potential now.

I liked all three aspects to the story as well and it had some great lines:

- "Meryl Streep could play Batman and she'd be the right choice".
- "He keeps us grounded". "Yeah, like fog in an airport" .

Ty Burell was great - best part of the episode. "Classic me" .

I'm glad to see it's much better than I originally thought. None of the other new comedies have been too promising so far (Community is getting better too, but the jury is still out on that one).

Richard Dower

Had the reverse effect, thought second ep. not as funny as the first....but the super hot Brandy MILF made up for it.

dubmick

Sky One are showing this from the 15th of October. Really loving it so far, very funny comedy.

JP Liz

Its one of the better new comedies

Also Starring LeVar Burton

3rd episode is fantastic as well. The entire cast are excellent, even the kids. Manny was hilarious in this episode and loved the whole Jay/Phil storyline this week.
I really like the format of the show... the interview style works really well.

L31mr0d

Yeah it's very good imo. Kinda like a cross between the Office (US) and Arrested Development (if at least 1 or 2 of the characters where likable)

Setups are a little predictable but the writing and acting is top notch

J-blk

Yep, it's really growing on me now. I do love Ty Burrell's "Phil" and given how much he has featured in the first 3 episodes, it seems the writers do know they are on to something with his character.

Ed O'Neill was great too, if for nothing else, his facial expressions around Phil are very funny. The subplot with the gay couple at CostCo had its' moments too. Gloria is the only character that kind of annoys me still, but I think it's the accent: it just seems a bit forced and over the top. I like the interview segments though where she talks about Manny's dad and the reactions she gets from Jay .

EdgarAllenPoo

My god the years haven't been kind to Ed O'Neil, I didn't even recognize him in episode one until the scene at the football(soccer) match.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

I really like Gloria. Her expressions are brilliant and the conversations with Jay are hilarious.

FouxDaFaFa

JP Liz wrote: »

This fall’s funniest new comedy now boasts one of this fall’s biggest casting coups: Edward Norton!

The two-time Oscar nominee has closed a deal to guest-star on ABC’s uproarious mockumentary Modern Family.

Had seen the trailer and thought it would be worth a look. You've now convinced me to watch it.:D

J-blk

It's been picked up for a full season (yay!), along with "The Middle" (yay! - again...) and "Cougar Town" (WTF?!):

While there's been no word on the horrid Hank, ABC has ordered full season pick-ups for the rest of their Wednesday comedy block.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/10/09/abc-orders-full-seasons-of-the-middle-modern-family-and-cougar/

JP Liz

Starts on TV3 next week also

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Yay, for full season.

JP Liz

Shelley Long is guest starring. She plays DeDe Pritchett, ex-wife of Jay and estranged mother of Claire and Mitchell. She's back in town on Wednesday's hilarious episode to apologize for "the incident" that took place at Jay's wedding to Gloria — don't worry, you'll see it in a flashback. Long's appearance is a one-off for now, but producers are hoping she'll recur.

I really liked the Bicycle Thief episode. Very, very funny moments. Ed O' Niel is a fantastic actor and was somewhat wasted in Married With Children (before the pitchforks come out, it's still one of my favourite childhood comedies) - he was excellent in John From Cincinnati.

the scenes with the gay couple are pretty hilarious - the whole creche thing was really well done and even the part where they show the baby to the rest of the family

CoDy1

Watched pilot tonight, wasn't expecting much but was quiet impressed!! I'll def watch next week.

spank_inferno

Watched it tonight also (sky seemed to really insist I did).

As pilots go, I thought this was really good.
Pilots can often be too focused on exposition and character setup, but this one had some decent plot threads and some very good laughs.

I'll watch again for sure

And Sofia Vergara Dios Mio!!

Basq

Sofia Vergara is HAWT but her accent is unbelievably irritating!

applehunter

Looks good.

Thought the bit about people walking on the right hand side of the mall walkways was very funny.

Hrududu

I watched the first episode last night on Sky. It was alright. It seemed a bit confused about whether it was a mocumentary or not. Aside from the interviews there were certain scenes that were shot to look like documentary. But then others werent.

Also all the funny bits were trailed endlessly in the ads, which isn't the shows fault but made me enjoy it less. I might watch episode 2 next week (and avoid all the ads) but so far, meh.

L31mr0d

basquille wrote: »

Sofia Vergara is HAWT but her accent is unbelievably irritating!

"I've got Gloria... I've got Gloria"

I actually don't mind her accent . Series has been consistently good so far though, pretty much guaranteed a good few laughs per episode.

TarfHead

E03 the Incident

The standard is being maintained. The writers are good about haring around the lines.

I kind of saw Dylan's song coming last night & it was not any less enjoyable for that. And the follow-on scene.

J-blk

TarfHead wrote: »

I kind of saw Dylan's song coming last night & it was any less enjoyable for that. And the follow-on scene.

Yep, as soon as the parents were convinced how sweet he is and that their daughter could definitely go to the concert, I figured the song would be something horribly inappropriate .

There's a "music video" version of it too:

http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/10/15/check-out-dylans-do-me-video-from-modern-family/

J-blk

Another strong episode tonight with "Coal Digger" - I laughed throughout, especially with Phil and Gloria's little exchange . She even acknowledged that people make fun of her accent... Jay and Cameron had some very funny stuff too. I'm surprised how much this show has grown on me cause I wasn't too impressed with the pilot but it has been going from strength to strength.

Basq

J-blk wrote: »

I wasn't too impressed with the pilot but it has been going from strength to strength.

This show is by far the best new show this season.

Definitely the best comedy anyways.. surpassing both 'The Middle' (which is becoming a bit formulaic) and 'Community' (which just thinks it's funnier than it actually is).

Also Starring LeVar Burton

I just love all the characters in this... Can't find flaw with anyone. When Claire and Phil got called into the school and it was revealed that the person Luke had been fighting with was Manny I nearly pissed myself and then the 6 of them trying to explain how they were related to each other was great.