The Film
After years of dedicating its lineup to drama, ABC wanted to see if its viewers could actually laugh again -- on purpose. Surprisingly, they picked a winner (literally) with Modern Family. Following the show's Emmy win for Best Comedy, Fox has released Modern Family: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray.
As the family patriarch, Ed O'Neill (Married with Children) heads up an extremely likeable, talented crew. In fact, not since the days of Arrested Development have we seen a family this dysfunctional, or funny, for that matter.
Filmed in a mockumentary style, the family includes O'Neill's Jay, who is married to a much-younger, muy caliente Columbian named Gloria (Sophia Vergara). She also has a son Manny (the underappreciated Rico Rodriguez). Jay has two kids of his own. First up is Claire (Julie Bowen), who lives with her uber-dorky husband Phil (Ty Burrell) and three completely opposite kids (Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter and Nolan Gould). Jay's other offspring is Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), who lives with his partner Cameron (Emmy winner Eric Stonestreet) and their newly adopted baby.
While the sheer numbers may make your head spin, it all works -- very well. Every episode takes a hilarious and often unorthodox look at family life. Instead of coming off corny, it's extremely well written, worries very little about what's PC, and leaves very little time to take a breath during each episode.
The Picture
The Modern Family Blu-ray set is a slight step up from ABC's weekly HD presentation. While it's nothing to bust out for a demo, this 1.78:1 transfer shows how much the show's image has improved with age. The first episode looks especially rough, with a lot of soft shots and less impressive colors. As the episodes progress, the colors get bolder and the detail is more noticeable. Some of that detail is best seen on the actors' faces, as well as in Cam's (Eric Stonestreet) festive attire and (in at least one episode) clown makeup.
The Sound
Like most comedies, this set's DTS-HD Master Audio track has very little to play around with. There's no explosions, sinister soundstrack, or even a laugh track. It's extremely dialogue-heavy. However, even the ambience sounds stick closely to the front speakers. The one moment where you might get blown off the couch is during the show's musical theme. It is does take advantage of the surrounds and is noticeably louder than anything else in this 3-disc set.
The Extras
Fans will not be disappointed in the special features included here. Each disc has its own set of deleted, extended and alternate scenes, as well as the mockumenatry-style interviews. Some of the differences between the episodes are barely noticeable, with an extra line, facial expression or pratfall thrown in.
However, the real meat is on the third disc. "Real Modern Family Moments" is an interesting, but all-too-short (10 minutes) talk with the creators and crew about real-life incidents that served as inspiration for some of the show's funniest moments. There are also behind-the-scenes shorts on two episodes, as well as the character of Fizbo the Clown. Also check out the 13-minute look at what each actor was doing prior to this show. It's informative and really entertaining.
Final Thoughts
Do you really need Modern Family on Blu-ray? Absolutely. However, it's not because of mind-blowing audio or video, although those are extremely respectable. Instead, it's because this is a stellar show and Fox delivered the goods on the extras. This set should hold up well and certainly warrants repeat viewings.
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