LOS ANGELES ABC took a major gamble in September when it opted to launch four new half-hour comedies as a two-hour package on Wednesday nights.
All of the networks have had trouble launching even one new comedy over the past decade, and those that survived often had starts behind an established comedy where they got spill-over viewers.
ABCs bold plan introducing Hank, The Middle, Modern Family and Cougar Town has generally worked. Other than Hank, an obvious stinker that died quickly, the other shows have found audiences.
Modern Family about a quirk-filled, multigenerational family is the biggest new comedy of the year and found success without having that lead-in support from an established hit show. It has averaged about 10 million viewers each week, making it consistently a top 25 show.
Even some of the cast members are befuddled by the shows popularity. Ed ONeill, who plays family patriarch Jay Pritchett, had success on another quirky family show in Married With Children. And yet he doesnt know why Modern Family has become so popular so fast. Im really amazed by the show. Its confusing to me. Im not used to this sort of comedy. Im not sure how its working. I just know it is, ONeill says during an interview on the set.
The show uses similar storytelling techniques to The Office, where a fake film crew documents the antics of the twisted limbs on the family tree. Its fast-paced as the show bounds from sit-down interviews to voyeuristic moments.
The story centers on ONeills character, who married a hot, younger woman (Sofía Vergara) with an offbeat son (Rico Rodriguez) at a time when he should be enjoying life as a grandfather. His children have their own foibles. Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and his partner Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) are first-time parents of an adopted baby from Vietnam. Daughter Claire (Julie Bowen) must deal with a host of wife and mom problems, including a husband (Ty Burrell) who thinks he is the hippest dad on the planet.
Sarah Hyland, who plays hormone-charged teen Haley, suggests that the show has attracted such a large following because viewers see similarities between characters on the show with their own relatives. Theres either that flamboyant uncle or that weird dad or the hot family member who everyone wants to be with but no one can. Its just a somewhat exaggerated version of everyones lives, Hyland says.
Bowen says its less complicated. We are not curing cancer here, she says. Were just talking about ordinary things in a funny way.
A lot of the ordinary things in the scripts come directly from the cast.
That happened when Bowen talked about how her husband once wired their entire house for cameras and ended up leaving holes in the walls. She got to watch her TV husband make the same mess.
Vergara offers the best explanation for why Modern Family has succeeded where so many other new comedies have failed.
Its a perfect storm. Its a combination of things like the writers, the actors and the characters, she says. And, we are having so much fun on the set that I think you can see that.
TV and movie critic Rick Bentley can be reached at rbentley @fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6355. Read his blog at fresnobeehive.com.
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