OK, I have to admit it – I haven’t watched the hyped Modern Family since it premièred last fall. Truthfully, I’ve become a bit of cynic when it comes to sitcoms, because, let’s face it, there are only a handful of shows that are really funny and even less shows are consistently humorous.
That being said, I took a gamble and watched last night's episode, and to my surprise it exceeded my expectations. The show IS pretty funny – well, at least, from what I gather.
Between Al Bundy – um, I mean Jay - accidentally killing Manny’s pet turtle by dropping a framed quote (“what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger”) in the tank, to the appearance of Ty’s former girlfriend Denise (Judy Greer), I definitely laughed out loud during the half-hour timeslot.
Mind you, most of my laughter was due to the many one-liners, like when a jealous Claire explained her suspicions of Denise to Ty by saying, “women in their 30s on the internet are like ninjas.” I also laughed particularly hard when Luke thought that Denise was his real mom, thanks to Alex's payback.
Although last night’s episode was funny and I like the dynamics of each family, I wonder if a show can really sustain itself on a few good one-liners. Yes, I know that Modern Family has already been renewed for a second season and that the ratings are relatively good, but if all the episodes are written in a similar fashion as last night’s airing, chances are that the show could run out of steam – quickly. The sceptic in me thinks that if writers add a bit more meat to the show, viewers might stop tuning in when or if season three hits.
Having only seen last night’s episode and bits of one or two other episodes, it’s difficult to know if I’m going to invest my Wednesday nights to Modern Family yet. Hopefully an episode that makes me chuckle a little louder will get me hooked.
Will Modern Family have long-term success? mbenedicto@tvguide.ca or sound off below.
Modern Family airs Wednesdays, 9 p.m. ET/PT on Citytv/ABC
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