DVD/TV Series Review: Modern Family: Season 8

The 22-episode 8th season of Modern Family aired during the 2016/2017 TV season. All of the main cast members returned. The show also included many recognizable actors in guest and recurring roles, including Fred Willard, Nathan Fillion, Ernie Hudson, Martin Short, Joely Fisher, Shelly Long, Elizabeth Banks, Peyton Manning, Victor Garber, and Charles Barkley (to name just a few). Chances are, anyone reading this by now knows what the show is. It is definitely one of those sitcoms that finds what works and does not deviate much from the formula. That is not to say every episode of the show is the same. They are not. Even after 8 seasons, the writers have managed to come up with enough material to make the show enjoyable. All the characters are continuing to develop in different ways. The actors seem to still enjoy their characters and, even after all these years, do not seem to be phoning it in at all. While an argument can certainly be made that the show was getting a bit long in the tooth by the 8th season (it would eventually last 11 seasons), it was still worth watching.

What knocks the set down for me is the DVD presentation. It is another show that Fox is being cheap about with the DVDs. As some may know, Fox prefers to have people stream the shows. It will put out very bare-bones DVD sets for some shows, blu-rays for a very select handful of shows. The shows that do get physical media releases have almost no extras. The only extras for this season are about 6 minutes worth of deleted scenes and a 5 or 6-minute gag reel. There are no commentary tracks, no behind-the-scenes features, or anything like what has appeared in the physical media releases for prior seasons of the show. Unless you are getting the sets because you have the other seasons in a collection, you are not missing anything by streaming the show.

DVD/TV Series Review: Modern Family: Season 7

 

The 22-episode seventh season of Modern Family aired during the 2015/2016 TV season. I will not go into too much detail on the season itself. Anyone who has stuck with the show this long really knows the formula it follows. This season pretty much sticks with the same story/stories of the week, with tiebacks to previous plot lines/jokes every so often. That said, the show is still developing the characters (mainly the kids, but the adults, too, to a lesser extent), the acting is still great, and I think the writers are coming up with funny, enjoyable stories. I think an argument can be made that it is getting a bit "long in the tooth" as a show, but I think most fans will still find it enjoyable.

The DVD set is a three-disc set and is pretty on par with what they have been since the show stopped being released on blu-ray. It has adequate A/V quality but nothing to write home about. There are a handful of extras, including deleted scenes, a gag reel, a feature on the kids growing up on the show, focused on Rico, Ariel, and Nolan, and then a featurette on a charity Ty Burell is involved with called Kids in the Spotlight. Okay, for what is there, but not a ton. Really, I think the only reason to get the DVDs over just streaming the episodes is if you have the prior seasons and want to have the full collection. Otherwise, unless you really want the handful of bonus features, the A/V quality will probably be better (or at least as good) steaming them.

DVD/TV Series Review: Modern Family: Season 6

 

The sixth season of Modern Family had 24 episodes that aired during the 2014/2015 TV season. The show itself continues to be very funny, well-acted, and cleverly written. One of the main themes this year is Alex finishing high school and getting ready for and trying to choose a college. The writers and showrunners seem to want to totally overdo the "Alex is a nerd who does not care about her appearance and dresses her like a lumberjack with the most awful glasses they could find" thing. The younger characters, if the show is going to continue on much longer, are going to have to develop beyond what they are to keep the show fresh. And given that Ariel Winter is so very not a flannel-wearing tomboy, allowing her character to move beyond that now is one way the show can do that. While there is some of that with the adult characters, they are definitely more set, and aside from introducing new situations for them to be in (such as Claire and the internet episode) or robot Phil in the season finale, there is not nearly as much room for character development among them as there will be as the younger actors continue to age.

One of the great additions to the cast as recurring characters was Dunphy's new neighbors, the LaFontaine family, played by Steve Zahn and Andrea Anders. Zahn as a distributor of medical marijuana is hilarious, and having them as sometimes friends and sometimes enemies of Claire and Phil on a limited basis is great. The storylines for the rest of the cast really continue to be more of the same. Each of the individual families gets some focus throughout the season, and then there are storylines that involve the entire family. Every so often, there are callbacks to a prior season's episodes and storylines. The Hailey/Andy storyline that was introduced in the 5th season continues this season (especially toward the end), and we get to see that Beth (played by Laura Ashley Samuels) is actually real, and their story leads into kind of a cliffhanger at the end of the season.

The DVD release this season is better than the season 5 release, but it is still horrible that the show (especially as popular as it continues to be, even if there has been a decline in popularity) does not continue to be available on blu ray as it was during the first 4 seasons. There are not a ton of extras, a few behind-the-scenes and making-of features on some of the episodes, including the internet episode (which was almost entirely shot on iPhones, a few deleted scenes, and a gag reel. Good for what is there, but not as much as in prior seasons. There are no commentary tracks on any of the episodes this year, which is a shame because those were entertaining. If the extras are not a huge deal for you, then streaming it will get you the same audio and video quality (or better) as the DVDs will. So, while the DVD release is lackluster the show itself is still funny and worth the time to watch.

DVD/TV Series Review: Modern Family Season 5

 

The fifth season of Modern Family aired during the 2014-2014 TV season and included 24 episodes. All of the series regulars were brought back this season, and the show continued its format as a procedural sitcom that has one or two longer arcs that span multiple episodes. In season five that was a Cam and Mitchell engagement-to-wedding story arc that ran throughout the season. As has been the case in prior seasons, there were on-location episodes. This season, they did one episode in Vegas and one in Australia. The final two episodes of the season focused on Cam and Mitchell's wedding and had somewhat predictable disasters that almost ruined the day. Of course, everything ended up being okay in the end. They did get a little over the top and repetitive with the storylines during the season about almost canceling and moving the wedding, but by the end, it was a funny and touching episode.

For those who actually get the discs, the quality is very subpar. First of all, after making the first 4 seasons available on blu-ray, the studio completely went the cheap route and made it only available on DVD, which many of the non-CGI heavy shows are doing. Although Modern Family is still popular enough that it should have still been available on blu-ray. Then, to add insult to injury, the DVD transfer is horrible. Unfortunately, FOX has focused far more on streaming their shows and made the physical media almost an afterthought. On top of all that, there are very few extras. There are scenes on disc 2, then a couple of behind-the-scenes features on the location episodes, a couple featurettes on the wedding episode, and a gag reel. Okay, for what is there, but not as much or as much quality as in the past. The show itself is still great and very funny. The writers do a good job of giving all the characters good storylines throughout the season, and giving the actors great material to work with. There are definitely some episodes, however, in which the kids were kind of relegated to the background, with the storylines for the adults being given precedence. The shitty DVD quality aside, the writing and acting on the show continue to be top-notch, and it is worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Modern Family: Seasons 1-4

 

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.