This is a very funny opener to the 8th series of the show, telling some good stories that manage to combine black and farcical styles all in 20 mins.
Great fun.
Great fun.
2 Reviews
A Tale of Three Cities
studioAT10 October 2021
Another meh-eff season premiere
helsinki02722 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
There are two types of comedy - shenanigans-based and humanity-based. It's basically all very simple: You either need to invent elaborate plot contrivances, or have very relatable, lifelike characters. Or BOTH.
The first 4 seasons of Modern Family used to combine these two elements beautifully, in ideal proportions. It was, perhaps, not very hard to do, though, because all the kids on the show were cute and cuddly, all the middle-aged adults were in their prime, and Jay the Patriarch was still an intimidating presence.
Now, almost ten years later, all of this is not the case. The boys are not cuddly anymore. The Dunphy girls still are, but Haley is an ADULT now, which the show has been refusing to acknowledge for two years now. Alex, meanwhile, has grown up to become pure chunky hotness, but the show treats her as neither chunky nor hot. As far as the screenwriters are concerned, she's just a nerd. (Yeah, you know, that's our Alex, just another plain ole geek - boobless, buttless, buck-toothed, mouse-haired, bandy-legged, acne-faced thing. Boys sure don't dig girls like that.) The adults are nearing 50, yet their characters are exactly the same as in season 1 (when they were all under forty), except without the freshness and zest.
Jay is, ahem, old. Little Joe still has that robotic voice. About Lily, it's still to early to make a judgement. Her daddies are as annoying as usual.
To SUMMARISE: We demand more shenanigans and more character likability! As simple as that.
P.S. Dear screenwriters, rely more heavily on Haley, Alex and Manny - give them interesting friends and non-bland private lives. Flesh them out. The kids' story lines may easily take care of 50% of this season's entire running time. That stuff will write itself: sleepovers, parties, virginity loss, good-natured pranks, camping trips, That's what life is all about, isn't it? But it's also about: peer pressure, academic challenges and insecurity. (For some reason, Mitch was always assigned to man these latter three departments. Mitch, and not kids. Yeah, our insecure little Mitch, afraid of everything. Even though he was supposedly assertive enough to endure law school, come out, marry another dude and even adopt a foreign child of different race. Real insecure. Ugh-huh.)
For the rest of the cast, get PRIME MATERIAL. Maybe an online writing contest with a big prize (like, a 100 grand) will get you some P.M.? You know: plots like clockwork, jokes that double you over, emotions like a good semi-indie movie. You yourselves used to be able to do all this, but after the wedding, the spirit just fizzed out. We want it back. We want to be inebriated with MF goodness.
Also: Dub Joe over. Make Lily-Aubrey take speech lessons and don't hesitate to shoot multiple takes until you get her voice to sound right, not wheezy, nasal, choky or clipped. Why do I care? You see, since it was revealed last season that Cam and Mitch don't have much of a sex life anymore, Lily is, therefore, pretty much the main reason for their couple's existence as a couple. That makes Lily pretty pivotal. Yet with that voice of her, it's hard for the girl to project pivotalness.
With love,
Bоris.
The first 4 seasons of Modern Family used to combine these two elements beautifully, in ideal proportions. It was, perhaps, not very hard to do, though, because all the kids on the show were cute and cuddly, all the middle-aged adults were in their prime, and Jay the Patriarch was still an intimidating presence.
Now, almost ten years later, all of this is not the case. The boys are not cuddly anymore. The Dunphy girls still are, but Haley is an ADULT now, which the show has been refusing to acknowledge for two years now. Alex, meanwhile, has grown up to become pure chunky hotness, but the show treats her as neither chunky nor hot. As far as the screenwriters are concerned, she's just a nerd. (Yeah, you know, that's our Alex, just another plain ole geek - boobless, buttless, buck-toothed, mouse-haired, bandy-legged, acne-faced thing. Boys sure don't dig girls like that.) The adults are nearing 50, yet their characters are exactly the same as in season 1 (when they were all under forty), except without the freshness and zest.
Jay is, ahem, old. Little Joe still has that robotic voice. About Lily, it's still to early to make a judgement. Her daddies are as annoying as usual.
To SUMMARISE: We demand more shenanigans and more character likability! As simple as that.
P.S. Dear screenwriters, rely more heavily on Haley, Alex and Manny - give them interesting friends and non-bland private lives. Flesh them out. The kids' story lines may easily take care of 50% of this season's entire running time. That stuff will write itself: sleepovers, parties, virginity loss, good-natured pranks, camping trips, That's what life is all about, isn't it? But it's also about: peer pressure, academic challenges and insecurity. (For some reason, Mitch was always assigned to man these latter three departments. Mitch, and not kids. Yeah, our insecure little Mitch, afraid of everything. Even though he was supposedly assertive enough to endure law school, come out, marry another dude and even adopt a foreign child of different race. Real insecure. Ugh-huh.)
For the rest of the cast, get PRIME MATERIAL. Maybe an online writing contest with a big prize (like, a 100 grand) will get you some P.M.? You know: plots like clockwork, jokes that double you over, emotions like a good semi-indie movie. You yourselves used to be able to do all this, but after the wedding, the spirit just fizzed out. We want it back. We want to be inebriated with MF goodness.
Also: Dub Joe over. Make Lily-Aubrey take speech lessons and don't hesitate to shoot multiple takes until you get her voice to sound right, not wheezy, nasal, choky or clipped. Why do I care? You see, since it was revealed last season that Cam and Mitch don't have much of a sex life anymore, Lily is, therefore, pretty much the main reason for their couple's existence as a couple. That makes Lily pretty pivotal. Yet with that voice of her, it's hard for the girl to project pivotalness.
With love,
Bоris.
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