MY LUKETONIUM! NOOOOOOO!
You guys. I don’t know if it’s because I woke up an hour later than I intended to, or because I was having an awful work dream, or because I’ve just had an emotionally draining week, but I watched last night’s Modern Family this morning… and I did not really enjoy it at all. I don’t really know what the deal is with this show, but, you guys, it’s changed. It is not the show I started watching mid-Season 2 and went back to Season 1 and DEVOURED because it was so fucking funny. I think it boils down to this: It used to be a sitcom that did new and inventive things, or at least the same sitcom-y things in new and inventive ways that made once-hackneyed storylines seem new and refreshing and hilarious again. But now… recently, it’s just become a sitcom. It has its moments, but more and more I feel like it’s run out of ideas. Or at least run out of ways to transform these ideas. That’s why I titled it with the quote I did. Last night’s ep just wasn’t Modern Family.
I will admit that the parenting argument between Claire and Cam was pretty entertaining, especially given the parenting article I read just yesterday, despite the fact that, you know, I don’t have kids. But there were two things about the episode that just… didn’t do it for me. One was something we’ve seen time and time again, and I’ve mentioned it before, and the other completely took me out of the episode. So much so, that I can’t even give y’all my typical recap. I have thoughts, and they need to get out.
First of all, what we’ve all seen before. Basically this moral of this episode is “try to see things from their eyes.” You know, don’t be quite so selfish and try to see how others might see a situation. Claire didn’t agree with Cam’s “never say no” parenting “technique,” Gloria was jealous of this waitress who worked at a diner whom everyone else in the family adores and seems to know Jay on a person (but not carnal, as far as I can tell) level, and Phil had to “fire” Mitchell from a favor he was doing for Phil’s firm. They all took it personally, and there were definitely funny moments. But when the episode culminates in people pairing off and being the voice of reason to the other person… and then having them all show up at the diner to eat Jay Pritchett sandwiches (which sound disgusting, by the way, especially since Gloria describes it like so: “It’s like a fish and a turkey beat themselves with a pepper.” Gross.), was exactly what we all expected to happen, and it wasn’t even that heartwarming. This show can DO heartwarming. It has done it SO WELL in the past, but this episode had no fire – except the one Luke started and extinguished. The chats were all… typical, and expected.
And maybe I’m just expecting too much from this show, or something. Maybe I’m wanting it to be something that it’s not. And I know that not every single episode is going to be a goddamn gem, but this show had TWO seasons that were not this predictable. And what’s worse is that I feel like the characters have kind of become caricatures of themselves. That’s not always a bad thing, and we don’t see it in every episode. But it’s like when we get handfuls of episodes where Mitchell has issues with his childhood and Jay. Of COURSE this is realistic. Daddy issues don’t go away overnight. I know this. But when we get the same story line over and over and over again and drama and hurt feelings and blah blah blah, but it’s all going to be resolved in a hug. It doesn’t work for me anymore. These kinds of sitcoms don’t work for me. Modern Family has become… *gulp*… formulaic. And I hate it. Read the rest of this entry »
