And I Just Hope That it Doesn't Get Cancelled

I've been catching up on some of the new fall shows with hulu (love!), and without a doubt, Modern Family is the best new program of the season.

It reminds me of a cross between Arrested Development and The Office with a little 30 Rock thrown in for good measure. Which, for some people, might make them run far, far away. But I'm hoping that they won't.

Modern Family revolves around three different families: The Dunphy's - married sixteen years with three kids; the Pritchett's - married six months in a May-December kind of way, with one young son from a previous relationship; and a committed gay couple who have recently adopted a baby from Vietnam. They are all related, and it's amazing.

As the patriarch of the clan, Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill in a wonderfully-acted, understated role) has recently remarried Gloria, a younger woman of Latino heritage. Her son, Manny, is an adorable roly-poly boy of eleven who wears his heart on his sleeve. Their storyline revolves around Manny wanting to profess his love for a sixteen-year-old girl. He's written her a poem and everything! Jay wants to stop him from making a fool of himself, but Gloria thinks that they should encourage him to be himself.

Jay's daughter, Claire, is married to Phil Dunphy, and they have three kids: daughters Haley and Alex, and son Luke. Haley is the eldest, in high school with a wild streak, Alex is the intelligent, dry-humored, mature-beyond-her-years middle child, and Alex is the youngest and a bit of a screw-up. The first episode revolves around Haley bringing a boy over for the first time, Luke shooting Alex with a Nerf-like BB gun, Phil attempting to prove that he's a "cool dad," and Claire attempting to stop Haley from becoming a slut. Because she was a total slut at Haley's age, apparently.

Mitchell and Cameron start the episode on a plane with their newly-adopted daughter, Lily. Everyone on the plane thinks that she is just adorable until Cameron arrives at his seat. Then the passengers get judgemental and there is a hilarious scene where Cameron lectures the whole plane on love. It's painful and amazing, just like any episode of The Office.

The episode ends at Mitchell and Cameron's, where Cameron has invited Mitchell's whole family for dinner, but mainly to introduce them to Lily. It's all kinds of hilarious and awkward, but ends on a sweetly upbeat note.

Here are a few lines from the episode that had me rolling, though they are, of course, better in context.

Mitchell: "May I take your multi-colored coat and bejeweled cap?"

Cameron: "I can't turn it off, it's who I am!"

Jay: "She's one of us now. Let me see the little pot-sticker."

Phil: "Where's the baby oil?"
Claire: "It's on our nightst... just find it!"

I highly recommend Modern Family. Watch it on hulu today!