Modern Family

Assuming anyone actually read this blog before September, hopefully you're back now that something new has been posted. Life has rudely gotten in the way of any recreation I've been meaning to do, and that includes this blog. Things are starting to return to normal now, and I will hopefully be back to making regular posts to this damn thing again. Comic book reviews will be returning. Exciting new movie trailers and funny/awesome videos will be posted. Maybe every now and then I'll do a movie review. And I can't forget the TV reviews. The season was just starting as I made my last post, and we're already into November sweeps. And really, it's TV that's brought me back.

Have you been watching Modern Family? No? Shame on you. It's the best new comedy on TV, surpassing my original candidate, Community. It stars Julie Bowen, who was probably most recently seen in Weeds and Boston Legal; Al Bundy; that hot Latina woman from that Donal Logue show from a season or two ago that was originally about robbing Mick Jagger; and some really excellent child actors.

The show is shot documentary style, a la The Office or Parks and Recreation. It follows an extended family. You've got your nuclear family of Julie Bowen, her husband and their three kids. Then there is her gay brother, his partner and their adopted baby daughter. Finally, Al Bundy is Julie (I'm really bad about character names at this point. I think I'm watching too many things to keep every character straight) and the gay guy's dad, and he's married to the hot Latina, and she's got a son from a former marriage. This kid steals every scene he's in, whether it's kicking a girl's ass in a fencing competition of just drinking a pot of coffee with his breakfast because he's got a rough day of second or third grade ahead of him.

There was absolutely no draw to this show other than curiosity. Community was the only new sitcom that I was looking forward to. Nothing else looked remotely interesting, not even a show about a family in Indiana with the janitor from Scrubs (which, by the way, is mildly amusing...the youngest kid has an interesting oddness about him). But I read a few good reviews, and I decided to check out Modern Family on Hulu. Wow. It's just...damn...funny. There's nothing particularly new about it and it can be a little predictable, but the acting is just spot on and you can't help but to laugh.

And now I'm going to do my best Levar Burton impression by saying, "But don't take my word for it." I'm embedding the 4th episode, available on Hulu (the site gets the last five episodes). This one involves Ed O'Neill's (THAT'S his name!) ex-wife, played by Shelly Long (not Katey Sagal, sadly, because she's being awesome over on Sons of Anarchy) stopping by and making everybody crazy. Watch it, see if you don't love it, then catch up via Hulu. It's how I get my fix.