How's this for an extended family? Patriarch Jay, his fiesty, younger Colombian-born second wife Gloria, and their teenage son Manny; Jay's daughter from his first marriage Claire, her husband Phil, and their two kids; Jay's openly gay son Mitchell, his partner Cameron and their adopted baby girl from Vietnam Lily.
Modern Family revolves around the Pritchett-Delgado-Dunphy clan, an obviously multicultural bunch, a supposedly modern day representation of the American family, with members coming from different backgrounds. On the upcoming ABC series, the family is being taped by a Dutch documentary crew who plans to use them as the subject of a reality-based television series to air in The Netherlands.
The half-hour mockumentary was created by Emmy-winning Christopher Lloyd, best known for playing Doc in the
Back to the Future trilogy. It stars
Married... With Children's Ed O'Neil as Jay, Sofia Vergara as Gloria, Ty Burrell as Phil, Julie Bowen as Claire, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell, and Eric Stonestreet as Cameron.
Banking on the popularity of the
Office format,
Modern Family will also be a single-camera series interspersed with interviews from the characters, usually the couples (Jay and Gloria, Clair and Phil, and Mitchell and Cameron). Each couple has its own challenge, it seems; Jay and Gloria, their age difference, Clair and Phi, their growing kids, and Mitchell and Cameron, adopting a Vietnamese baby.
"While all three families are different," says the promo, "they're all aiming for the same thing. They all want to be the picture-perfect family."
Modern Family quickly became a priority for the network when the pilot was received positively by focus groups, resulting in a 13-episode pick-up ahead of its fall schedule announcement.
- Glenn Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: ABC
(Image courtesy of ABC)