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2009-10 Midseason
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2008 Summer Season
Best Of 2009
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Series Premieres

44 Past Life
Fox, Tuesday

56 Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp Season Seven
VH1, Monday

59 Undercover Boss
CBS, Sunday

44 The Michael Vick Project
BET, Tuesday

44 Kell on Eath
Bravo, Monday

82 Damages Season Three
FX, Monday

60 La La Land
Showtime, Monday

72 The Inbetweeners
BBC America, Monday

77 Emma
PBS, Sunday

71 Caprica
Syfy, Friday

54 Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Starz, Friday

40 The Deep End
ABC,

67 24 Seaon Eight
Fox, Monday

70 Human Target
Fox, Wednesday

78 Archer
FX, Thursday

70 Big Love Season Four
HBO, Sunday

73 Chuck Season Three
NBC, Monday

51 Demons
BBC America, Saturday

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.

Modern Family

EMAILPRINTSERIES: ABC, Wednesday 9:00p (30 minutes)

Modern Family
86
8.5 User Score:

Show Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Created By: Christopher Lloyd
Steven Levitan

First Air Date: September 23, 2009

Summary

Starring Ed O'Neill, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Sarah Hyland, Nolan Gould, Ariel Winter, and Rico Rodriguez

The comedy explores the idea of what is the modern idea of a family.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser

This fast-paced mockumentary perfectly captures the experience of parenthood.

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100

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

Modern Family has the finest cast of any new fall show and, thank goodness, this excellent comedy gives these talented performers the kind of sharp material they deserve.

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100

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

In a fall season surprisingly flush with good sitcoms, the best new comedy by far--and it's not that close of a race - is Modern Family on ABC.

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91

Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker

Modern Family works because it does something the network sitcom hasn't managed in years: It offers a comic equation for almost every audience segment, while never blanding out the characters for mass consumption.

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90

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

The family comedy gets a welcome and winning update in ABC's Modern Family, the fall's best new sitcom.

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90

TV GuideMatt Roush

This show earns its laughter with sharp writing, brilliant casting and characters that hit very close to home while often striking a nerve (mostly the funny bone).

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90

The New York TimesGinia Bellafante

Tthe best new half-hour of funny television in a season rife with half-hours of funny television.

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90

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

Long on heart, brimming with great characters, smartly cast, expertly written and funny from start to finish, Family is the obvious choice for best new fall comedy--and possibly best series.

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90

TimeJames Poniewozik

This is the funniest sitcom pilot of the fall.

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90

SalonHeather Havrilesky

Instead of the usual family sitcom curse of clichés and bad "Full House" jokes, Modern Family captures the absurdities, quirks and freakish flaws of today's extended family in ways that feel lively, unique and just dark and mean-spirited enough to be...well, accurate.

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88

New York PostLinda Stasi

It's funny, it's vicious, it's politically incorrect--in other words, everything that "Community" wants to be and isn't.

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88

USA TodayRobert Bianco

The best of the bunch, and the best new series of the fall, comes first.

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88

Slant MagazinePeter Swanson

Most of the episodes so far have ended with a simulacrum of a group hug, an acknowledgement that, even though they don't always get along, this family loves one another. So far, these moments have worked on the show, but the formula could get tired.

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83

NewsdayVerne Gay

Modern Family is good. Better than good. Really good. O'Neil--dry and wonderful as ever--and Vergara (considerably less dry) are a winning combination.

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80

VarietyBrian Lowry

Flitting among three storylines, it's smart, nimble and best of all, funny, while actually making a point about the evolving nature of what constitutes "family."

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80

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

It’s not too early, however, to heap praise onto this astute, well-written show and its many specific wonders.

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80

Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara

Modern Family is sharp, timely and fresh, complicated enough to be interesting but with a soft, sweet center because, and I'm speaking loudly so even cable channels can hear, there is nothing wrong with that.

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80

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

Though I enjoyed NBC’s pilot for Community a little bit more, "Modern Family" has as assured and entertaining a start as you could hope for.

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80

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

ABC is taking it one step at a time as it uses its biggest hit, "Dancing with the Stars," to give three of those shows a fighting chance. At least one of them actually deserves it. That would be Modern Family.

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80

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

Any one of these families has the potential to power a decent sitcom, but Modern Family manages to juggle all three in a balancing act that is not just funny, but heartwarming, and when was the last time you saw that on TV?

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80

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

For the first time since Married...With Children stood the genre on its head two decades ago, somebody has come up with a new take on the family sitcom, and the results are riotously funny.

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80

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

It's like three, maybe four sitcoms all squeezed into one, and quite an enjoyable one.

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80

Washington PostTom Shales

[The mockumentary style is] used not to excess but to success, which is just what this wise, clever and bighearted comedy ought to be.

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80

Wall Street JournalDorothy Rabinowitz

For their part, Messrs. Levitan and Lloyd set their ambitious sights on a rare kind of comedy, and they have, it appears, found the gold.

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80

SlateTroy Patterson

The pacing of the show's jokes, which heralds a welcome respect for the quickness of the audience, helps all the humor pop. Of course, good-old dumb physical juxtapositions don't hurt, either.

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70

PopMattersLeigh H. Edwards

With its deft writing and sharp performances, the show is a telling snapshot of how families live now.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this show is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 107 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Adam gave it a4:
Not painful, but not laugh out-loud funny. Worth a smile or two per show though.

Tim gave it a10:
Awesome show. keep up the great work and more episodes please.

Red John gave it a10:
This is the only network comedy that I genuinely look forward to.

Susan I gave it a10:
One of the best ensemble casts I have ever seen. The writing is outstanding. This is the only primetime show I watch. Terrific!

Kevin C gave it an8:
Basicly a rehash of the GREAT 2006 comedy series Sons & Daughters. Very Funny

Angela S. gave it a10:
Witty, fast , thoroughly entertaining for the whole family and in a quirky way more true to life than we'd like to admit! A real winner!

Evan Q. gave it a9:
I don't usually like all these new comedy shows, but this show seems to have a new and genuine quality. The large cast is diverse and their different styles of comedy blend into a nice mix of situational comedy!

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