I've been checking out this new TV series Modern Family, and while it's not as spectacular as I hoped, it's a solid and promising show. Up All Night is an exemplary episode of this series. Now, with this series, when I hear it's a mockumentary following a family, and people are making Arrested Development comparisons, the question becomes "how could this show not be an AD rip-off?" It turns out this is not a rip off (although they do say "Come on!"). The characters are different- not as wacky or lovable as the Bluths, but not flat or boring. In this very episode, a gay couple get pretty clownish in debating what to do with their adopted baby girl, with one of the fathers riding the other's back. This isn't the funniest show, but the dialogue flows, not dependent on pop culture references, bathroom humour or a laugh track, and for that reason it can be said Modern Family is a quality show.
Up All Night, like the other episodes, follows three branches of one family. Here a common theme is spoiling kids, with the question of whether a crying baby should be comforted and Manny getting presents from his usually negligent biological father. A third storyline involving a dad who needs to go to the hospital doesn't quite fit with that theme but it's not a problem to have a subplot. The episode kind of drops the Manny's dad storyline without resolution, but on the plus side, the kids talking about irritating things their parents say has a ring of truth to it. The 21st century has seen a new kind of great comedy- Arrested Development, 30 Rock, The Office. Add this to the list.
Up All Night, like the other episodes, follows three branches of one family. Here a common theme is spoiling kids, with the question of whether a crying baby should be comforted and Manny getting presents from his usually negligent biological father. A third storyline involving a dad who needs to go to the hospital doesn't quite fit with that theme but it's not a problem to have a subplot. The episode kind of drops the Manny's dad storyline without resolution, but on the plus side, the kids talking about irritating things their parents say has a ring of truth to it. The 21st century has seen a new kind of great comedy- Arrested Development, 30 Rock, The Office. Add this to the list.
