Modern Family is a widely known television show that has won almost 50 awards, from Primetime Emmys to Television Critic Awards.  Airing on ABC with all new episodes, this series has had 8 seasons.  Like the old, popular family TV series Full House, Modern Family also features a big family.  Modern Family features many popular actors and actresses such as Sofia Vergara (Gloria), Ty Burrell (Phil), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell), Ariel Winter (Alex), Aubrey-Anderson Emmons (Lily), and many more.  The show follows the daily lives of three immediate families: the Pritchetts, the Pritchett-Tuckers, and the Dunphys, that are all related.  It’s a very genuine drama that demonstrates real possibilities, such as fires, divorce, and discrimination.

The episodes, filmed partially in documentary style, show the viewer different perspectives.  It also lets them know what’s going on in characters’ heads.  This contributes to the show by allowing watchers to know things like surprise birthday parties and marriage proposals, which builds suspense.  Although I don’t have a big family, I still find Modern Family relatable.  For example, I can connect with Alex, the middle child of Claire and Phil Dunphy.  She also loves to win and likes to rub it in people’s faces.  The diversity of characters, such as an adopted girl from Vietnam, a Colombian mother and son, and married gay men that are opposites of each other, mainly grab your attention.  The issues that Modern Family deals with are things that people of all ages, sexualities, and nationalities can connect to.

The actors are wonderful representations of their characters.  For example, Luke, the middle Dunphy child, is played by Nolan Gould.  While Gould is brilliant and graduated high school when he was 13, his character Luke is more simple minded.  It’s interesting to watch the kids grow and their personalities change. When I look back at the first few episodes and I compare them to the latest, his and other characters of the shows’ maturity, growth and physical development is obvious. This adds to the realistic factor of the show, along with it being humorous which is the greatest combination a television show can have. Modern Family makes me laugh and cry, which is something that’s difficult to do.  The relatable characters are the best aspectof the series. For example, Jay and Gloria demonstrate that adults can be as petty and immature as children, if not more.  Haley, Luke, and Alex Dunphy have a sibling bond one can only get from growing up together, one that stays strong no matter how much they insult each other.  Mitchell and Cameron, a homosexual couple, struggle to raise their adopted Vietnamese daughter and deal with the stereotypes that come with being gay.  Only one of them is gay in real life, but Cameron plays his flamboyant role so well that most fans don’t know this.

Not only are the actors good at depicting their characters, they click well with each other.  The entire cast has amazing chemistry, so good that sometimes I forget that it’s a TV show and that they aren’t actually a family.  The cast doesn’t seem forced, which is why they have won multiple awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.  The episodes all circle around about the same group of people, but it doesn’t become repetitive because the brilliant producers and writers, Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, and many additional writers, know how to create humorous, lively, and interactive content that viewers enjoy.

Along with the simplicity of the show, viewers often are able to accompany the characters along their conflicts and daily lives.  One season generates an average of 9-12 million views, and this isn’t hard to believe considering it appeals to such a broad audience.  With the combination of humor and a visual representation of diversity and the modern life in America, Modern Family continues to provide entertainment many find relatable.