Modern Family Kicks Off Third Season

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Check.

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Check.

Writing for a Comedy Series. Check.

Directing for a Comedy Series. Check.

Outstanding Comedy Series. Check.

“Modern Family”, a show detailing the lives of three unconventional families, started their new season with unusual fanfare. On Sunday, the show swept the Emmys, winning a multitude of awards, and becoming—as host Jane Lynch noted—“The Modern Family Awards.” Actors Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen, who play couple Phil and Claire Dunphy, won early in the night, but the trophies accumulated rapidly as the ceremony commenced, culminating with a repeat win for Outstanding Comedy Series.

While there will be those cynics that will use the show’s big night as justification for backlash and complaints of commercialization, the fact is that “Modern Family” has a universality that allows both the college student and the middle-aged man to come together and laugh. And this accessibility is not a bad thing. If anything, it’s a prime display of a group of writers and actors who are brave enough to avoid a niche audience, and instead tackle the grueling task of appealing to the mass. It’s what distinguishes good shows from great shows and what ultimately drew in Emmy voters. The charm of “Modern Family” comes from providing smart humor that is not only all-inclusive, but also resonant, which is ever so apparent its back-to-back episodes that kicked off season three last Wednesday.

The first episode, “Dude Ranch,” starts off with the crew during their vacation at Lost Creek Ranch where the local cowboy guide Hank (Tim Blake Nelson) eloquently proclaims, “You’re going to ride. You’re going to rope. You’re going to shoot.” Needless to say, the episode interweaves various plotlines as Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) contemplate adopting another child in addition to Lily (who has been replaced by actress Aubrey Anderson-Emmons), Phil struggles to please father-in-law Jay (Ed O'Neill), and Haley’s boyfriend Dylan goes missing.

The success of “Modern Family” lies in its grounding to reality and striking a delicate balance between slapstick humor and subtlety. Never relying on tropes like food flinging and crude zingers, its humor comes primarily from a recognition that the everyday things are typically the funniest things. Too often sitcoms devolve into the loudest, most obnoxious jokes and outlandish situations. With the start of the season, “Modern Family” acknowledges that—while not every person has had never-to-be-heard-again shenanigans in Las Vegas—everyone has felt the awkwardness of a first kiss like Alex (Ariel Winter) in “Dude Ranch,” or gone to indescribable ends to prove that they are right like Claire in the second episode of the night, “When Good Kids Go Bad.”

The characters of “Modern Family” encompass a wide range of personalities from different backgrounds that strikes a chord of resemblance and kinship. Chances are that the viewing audience knows a Gloria (Sofia Vergara) or that they are a Claire, and that’s what makes the emotional element show so significant and rich. The show is not a series of errors and comedic mishaps. It’s a real narration about the ordinary lives of three very different families that are interconnected.

As Phil states perfectly, “…we may have lost a man, but out there in the range under that great big sky, we found a part of ourselves we didn’t know was there. Like the horny cowboy said we would.” Welcome back, “Modern Family.” Wednesday nights have been lacking without you.