Modern Family is a wonderful comedy that aired on ABC from 2009 to 2020, starring Ed O'Neil, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Sarah Hyland, Eric Stonestreet, Nolan Gould, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Rico Rodriguez, Aubrey Anderson, Ariel Winter, and Sofia Vergara. This is a blu-ray box set of seasons 1-4. If you have not seen the series but have heard how great it is, believe it. It is one of the funniest shows on television. The easy comparisons to make are to shows like The Office, Parks and Rec, and Arrested Development. If you like any of those shows, then you will probably like this one as well. But I would say it is a blend of those two with a little bit of Married With Children and the shows it was making fun of, like The Cosby Show, Family Ties, etc, then you would get Modern Family. It has a message of family love and togetherness that the more sappy 1980s sitcoms had, with a little bit of the dysfunction of Arrested Development or Married With Children sprinkled in. But part of the reason it is so funny is because you can buy it as being a "real" family dealing with real situations. In fact, a lot of the moments that are put into the show are based on the writers' real experiences.
The series tells the story of a family headed by Jay Pritchett (played wonderfully by Ed O'Neil), his daughter and her family, his gay son and his partner and their adopted daughter, and his "trophy wife" and stepson. Sometimes, the entire family interacts with each other, and sometimes, it is the members of the individual families. They are interviewed documentary style (for a reason that is not really explained) and those are cut into whatever story is playing out. The comedy is not as off-color as it could get in Arrested Development or Married With Children, but there are times when you definitely are surprised at what they get away with. It does have a similar flow to The Office and Parks and Rec, where the jokes could combine what someone is saying, someone else reacting, and something visual in the background.
O'Neil is definitely the most well-known cast member. It is hard to hear him without thinking of Al Bundy, but the character is very different. He is more like a crusty old grandpa in this one, whereas Al Bundy was a middle-aged loser. Julie Bowen and Ty Burell have great chemistry and play off each other so well. I honestly think their interactions make the show work as well as it does. Even though the show is the definition of an ensemble cast, it gives all the characters great stories to work with, even though there are times when an episode is devoted to one or two characters over the others.
As far as this set. Unlike some season packs where you just get the individual season sets packaged separately, this has all 12 discs in one flip/keep case. Kind of like how the individual season sets would be packaged just in one large case. The discs play fine in US blu-ray players as long as you update the firmware on your player. Unlike what the one-star reviewers on Amazon seemed to think, they are coded to be able to play in the US (the set appears to be Region Free), but if you have not updated the firmware on your player (presuming you have one that can be updated), they may not play. I believe that this set is now out of print, and the subsequent seasons were all released on DVD. The A/V quality of the blu-ray is good, but it is not really a show that necessarily needs to be seen in HD.
Each season has deleted scenes and family interviews on each disc. The third disc of each season set has all the behind-the-scenes and making-of features, and there are commentary tracks on select episodes. In all, I would say the extras for each season amount to around 45 min of material, give or take. Definitely enough to make those who like going through that stuff happy. I came late to this show, and I am glad I listened to the people who said how great it was. If you like slightly off-beat sitcoms, this is definitely worth checking out.
The series tells the story of a family headed by Jay Pritchett (played wonderfully by Ed O'Neil), his daughter and her family, his gay son and his partner and their adopted daughter, and his "trophy wife" and stepson. Sometimes, the entire family interacts with each other, and sometimes, it is the members of the individual families. They are interviewed documentary style (for a reason that is not really explained) and those are cut into whatever story is playing out. The comedy is not as off-color as it could get in Arrested Development or Married With Children, but there are times when you definitely are surprised at what they get away with. It does have a similar flow to The Office and Parks and Rec, where the jokes could combine what someone is saying, someone else reacting, and something visual in the background.
O'Neil is definitely the most well-known cast member. It is hard to hear him without thinking of Al Bundy, but the character is very different. He is more like a crusty old grandpa in this one, whereas Al Bundy was a middle-aged loser. Julie Bowen and Ty Burell have great chemistry and play off each other so well. I honestly think their interactions make the show work as well as it does. Even though the show is the definition of an ensemble cast, it gives all the characters great stories to work with, even though there are times when an episode is devoted to one or two characters over the others.
As far as this set. Unlike some season packs where you just get the individual season sets packaged separately, this has all 12 discs in one flip/keep case. Kind of like how the individual season sets would be packaged just in one large case. The discs play fine in US blu-ray players as long as you update the firmware on your player. Unlike what the one-star reviewers on Amazon seemed to think, they are coded to be able to play in the US (the set appears to be Region Free), but if you have not updated the firmware on your player (presuming you have one that can be updated), they may not play. I believe that this set is now out of print, and the subsequent seasons were all released on DVD. The A/V quality of the blu-ray is good, but it is not really a show that necessarily needs to be seen in HD.
Each season has deleted scenes and family interviews on each disc. The third disc of each season set has all the behind-the-scenes and making-of features, and there are commentary tracks on select episodes. In all, I would say the extras for each season amount to around 45 min of material, give or take. Definitely enough to make those who like going through that stuff happy. I came late to this show, and I am glad I listened to the people who said how great it was. If you like slightly off-beat sitcoms, this is definitely worth checking out.
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