Fresh off their successful run at the Emmys — in which all six adult members of the cast were nominated, and in which the show walked away with five major awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series — Modern Family kicked off last Wednesday with an hour-long block that premiered the first two episodes of their third season.
Both, in an explosion of apparent contradictions, demonstrated what is so successful about this situation comedy while also exposing the show's greatest weakness.
"Dude Ranch" used the ensemble cast to it's full potential, intertwining plot lines made use of tensions between various character pairings. As with most TV shows that involve child actors, much has changed over the summer — Luke's voice dropped, Dylan height is now indistinguishable from a tree's, and Lily talks now! — but the witty dialogue, lovable characters and stellar physical comedy remains the same.
Chaos reigns supreme as the family takes a vacation to a ranch in Wyoming: Claire is having trouble accepting Dylan as a match for Haley; Mitchell turns to Luke for help as he doubts his ability to raise a son; Phil has been practicing his cowboy skills (shootin', ropin' and pancake eatin') in order to impress his father-in-law, but Jay is unfortunately distracted by the cowboy constantly feeling up Gloria; Alex has her first kiss stolen from her. All this comes to a head when Claire hysterically ruins Dylan's marriage proposal to Haley, sending him sprinting towards the woods and the family is forced to spread out to search for him. It all ends, sadly, in the departure of Dylan's character from the show, though not before one last profound song ("I rode a horse for the first time today / Wasn't surprised when it NEIGH.")
The second episode, "When Kids Go Bad," employed the time-tested trope of using children to highlight their parents' shortcomings. Manny somewhat confusingly steals a girl's locket, though it is Gloria who ultimately is unable to come clean. Lily is reacting poorly to the idea of a baby brother, but this is due to Cam's smothering and Mitchell's inability to share. Claire is taunted by her family for her obsessive need to always be right, though the episode reveals in its final moments that this is because Jay always has to be right.
Both of these episodes had their strong points. The cast demonstrated why they all received Emmy nods, though Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen really proved why it was the two of them that won. The camera work was slyly hilarious, such as in "When the Kids Go Bad" when Cam considers whether he coddles Lily (cut to a montage including a shot of a deadpanned Lily standing next to the shower, holding Cam's hand.) The hour passed quickly — its dialogue smooth, it's comedy chuckle-inducing and its stories entertaining.
And yet, while impressive, the hour of Modern Family failed to show the audience something that haven't seen half a dozen times already.
Everything's been done before: Phil getting hypnotized by pretty women, Claire being shown as bossy and obsessive, men closer to Gloria's age than Jay hitting on her, Mitchell jumping to conclusions about Cam's parenting style, Haley and Alex manipulating Luke, Cam being overbearing, Manny being picked on in school, so on and so forth.
These are viable plot conflicts, and it is possible that this is simply the writers enforcing continuity within the series, but it's becoming more and more apparent that this is the show falling back on old gags, gags that are known to have worked in the past. Modern Family has become entirely too safe.
The key to any great TV show is development, the ability to grow from its initial concept and evolve with its characters.
On the whole, Modern Family has failed to do so. And despite it's award-winning status, pleasant entertainment and undeniable chemistry, if the series fails to grow and develop, it's current success might find itself to be extremely short-lived.
