I swear Iâm not writing this because Iâm still pissed Parks and Recreation that didnât win Best Comedy Series at the Emmyâs. Rather, itâs because I know how great Modern Family can be (season one), and how much it struggled through much of season two. It was still a very solid sitcom (any scene with Luke was comedy gold), but not as uproariously funny as freshmen year episodes âFizboâ and âThe Incident.â Below are five ways that the upcoming season of Modern Family, which premieres tonight on ABC at 9 p.m., can improve in areas, however slight they may be, where they didnât do so well last year.
#1. Let the Family, the Modern Family, Come Together
Modern Family is at its best when the three families are all together. That way, thereâs one major plot that can get a good chunk of the 22 minutes per episode, rather than three minor, disconnected stories where all feel too brief. And if you canât think of a good reason to have everyone together (it doesnât have to be every week, either, just more than once every five or six episodes), ditch a family for a week. As Community, The Simpsons, and countless other sitcoms have proven, not every main character has to be in every episode. Give Cameron and Mitchell (and New Lily!) a break one week, and spend more time with Jay and Gloria.
#2. Give Cameron and Mitchell Something to Do, Other Than Bickering
Time and time again last year, Modern Family filled up its proverbial bucket from the well of âFussy Mitchell and unappreciated Cameron disagree on something, only to work things out in the final minutes.â Ditch that obnoxious trope (or if you keep it, let there be some physical comedy in thereâin other words, more Cameron falling into Lilyâs pool, like in âSee You Next Fall,â and less Cameron not seeing Lady Gaga in âGood Cop, Bad Dogâ), and give them something fun to do. When thereâs no consequence of the characters actually breaking up, you can only do the fighting plot so often (see: every Marge and Homer divorce episode after âThe Cartridge Familyâ). But hey, at least weâre finally beyond that stupid kissing controversy.
#3. Fewer Repeat âCharactersâ
Let me clarify: if they want to bring Pepper back, sure, heâs great. But one of the biggest missteps from season two was airing âBixbyâs Backâ and âPrincess Partyâ back-to-back. âBixby,â of course, featured the return of Philâs suave(ish) alter-ego, Clive Bixby, and Claireâs seductive personality, Juliana, and âPrincess Partyâ brought Cameronâs clown Fizbo back to the show. Thatâs too many character callbacks in such a short amount of time. (The broken step gag is still funny, though, because itâs so brief and unexpected.) Try creating new identities rather than rehashing old ones.
#4. No More Crazy Claire
My apologies, but Iâm going to quote myself here, from a recap of âMotherâs Dayâ: âTo teach [her kids] a lesson, Claire makes [them] stay where they areâŚI can buy Claire leaving her mostly underage children to look after themselves in the middle of nowhere, and I can even accept that, occasionally, she just wants to smack them, with the first, presumably Alex, going down and the other two tumbling like dominos behind her, but what doesnât make sense to me is, after her children decide not to apologize for their whiny actions, why the writers would make her so upsettingly creepy. The scene near the end of the episode, where she tries to get Luke, the easiest one of the group to manipulate because heâs so gosh darn honest and good, to say that heâs sorry is just off â Claireâs so desperate for attention and gratitude that she keeps picking at her own son until he breaks down and says what she wants to hear.â
Thereâs your Best Supporting Actress, everyone. I was a full-blown Claire fan in season one, but then her energy levels were ramped WAY up last year, and as documented above, she become overly frantic. Dial back the Bowen, guys, and then things will be fine.
#5. Give the Kids the Same Amount of Screen Time as Last Season
See, itâs not all bad! The best thing about season two of Modern Family was Manny, Haley, Alex, and Luke. Especially Luke. ALWAYS Luke. He was the showâs true MVP (âYou do fun stuff. You put that potato chip in my sandwich. That was a crunchy surpriseâ), and the one who should have walked away with a Best Supporting Actor trophy (no offense, Ty, youâre number two). I somewhat worry, however, that the writers will give the kids TOO much screen time, because they know how popular theyâve become. Having too much of a good thing is, well, a bad thing, and hopefully some child labor law that Iâm not familiar with will restrict how many episodes Alex, Manny, and Luke are in. (That sentence was a lot creepier than I meant it to be.) Haley, on the other hand, is 20 years old, and not only does that weird me out, it also means she doesnât have as much to worry about. If they even out the airtime with the kids, and do the other four things above, Modern Family will return to the heights of season one.
Josh Kurp criticizes because he loves.