Modern Family

[Hamatron]

Man, I hate to rain on the love fest, but I can't get into this show. I am still trying to watch it, but it doesn't do much for me. When I watch it I see it as a really bad sitcom that normally I would roll my eyes at. However, they make it look fresh by taking out the laugh track and filming it documentary style. I can't help it... whenever I watch it I just fill in the laugh track and imagine how it would have been if it had been shot in the '90s. It's cute, but the writing is still dated to me.

I'll keep watching when I can though. Perhaps I will be praising it eventually.

[Mugsy]

I really like this show, but I think it will become tiresome quickly. That often happens when something is unusual or quirky. Eventually the writers lose focus or get ridiculous or try too hard.

I actually prefer The Middle, which is just as funny and far more realistic. Anyone who is avoiding it because of Patricia Heaton should rethink. She's brilliant in this, and nothing like the shrew she had to play on Everybody Loves Raymond. The kids are great, very real life.

It's too bad the media always chooses one "pet" show to push each season and not spread the promo around a bit.

[LAX]

I agree about the Middle, Mugsy. I didn't think I'd like it, but they sandwiched it between episodes of Modern Family for a few weeks and I found myself watching it. At first I thought it was a bit like Malcolm in the Middle, with less obnoxious children, but then it grew on me. The kids are a hoot, and I like that the older ones are more like real teenagers than you'd normally see on a sitcom. Patricia Heaton isn't terrible. What bugs me is the youngest kid is named Brick Heck. It sounds like name we'd mock in the baby name thread.

[Deleted]

I decided to give The Middle a try when someone in this thread (can't remember who) recommended it a while back. Whoever you were - Thanks! I still love Modern Family, but The Middle is much more relateable for me, which makes it more fun to watch.

[Deleted]

I was surprised when I wound up liking The Middle as well, Patricia Heaton isn't annoying at all in it! Plus there's Neil Flynn. And the kids actually look like real normal kids, not beautiful 20-somethings trying to pass as teenagers. I do still love Modern Family but I agree that The Middle will probably have more staying power.

[kostgard]

I'm on the complete opposite page with "The Middle." I can't stand it. It isn't a "The Middle vs. Modern Family" thing, I just (unlike others) find "The Middle" way too sitcom-y and artificial.

And weirdly, it isn't because of Patricia Heaton, whom I normally hate with the fire of a thousand suns. She actually doesn't bother me at all here. Brick is cute, but I still see "Dewey" from "Malcolm in the Middle." He looks and acts like him. And the older son looks like the kid who played Peter Brady in the Brady Bunch movies that came out in the 90s. And overall it feels too gimmicky for me.

[Mugsy]

LAX, I think the name "Brick Heck" is supposed to be obnoxious and taunt-worthy. The other brother is named Axel, after all. Brick and Axel are such garage guy names, and then they name their daughter Sue. Snort.

(I know this isn't The Middle thread, but I'm not starting a new one for that show.)

Interestingly, kostgard, while I like Modern Family a lot; of the two shows, I think it's way more gimmicky. Look, there's a gay couple, the May-December couple, a fat guy, a biracial marriage, an adopted Chinese baby girl, and the typical nuclear family with 2.5 kids! It's like every pc sitcom stereotype from the 2000s rolled up into one show. And one family.

[Deleted]

Mar 21, 2010 18:58:28 GMT -4 Mugsy said:

Look, there's a gay couple, the May-December couple, a fat guy, a biracial marriage, an adopted Chinese baby girl, and the typical nuclear family with 2.5 kids! It's like every pc sitcom stereotype from the 2000s rolled up into one show. And one family.

In the original concept for the show, the families weren't related but it was difficult to come up with scenarios where they'd interact enough to make it seem like a cohesive show and not just a bunch of disconnected mini-episodes.

[Deleted]

I like the fact that they're related, even if it is just to add cohesiveness - I don't mind that it's a bit gimmicky because overall, the show never fails to make me laugh out loud at least a couple of times per episode. I far prefer it to the Middle, which really just isn't my thing.

[batmom]

The Middle stresses me out. I have enough work/family/money stress in my own life to want to watch it on tv.

I love Modern Family.