Uncategorized Modern Family Watch: House Hunter by James Poniewozik | @Poniewozik | November 4, 2010 | + Tweet
Earlier this week, I did an interview with a reporter who was doing a story on how the recession (or crappy recovery, or whatever the correct term is) is or isn't affecting TV. I've always been a bit skeptical of the idea that news events strongly drive viewing trends; I tend to think people watch what they enjoy and we shoehorn it into the zeitgeist after the fact. One example I cited is that, although it debuted in the teeth of the Great Recession, the most popular sitcom on TV is Modern Family, a show about an upper-middle-class family that takes vacations in Hawaii, buys iPads, and rarely seems to have to worry (in any significant way) about money.
Of course, this week Modern Family had a storyline with a character worrying about money. And while it wasn't necessarily the funniest story the show has ever told, it was pretty satisfying on a character level. Modern Family isn't a show that needs heavy injections of grim reality Abercrombie clothing, but I think it does good to show that, for instance, Phil is a breadwinner in real estate, a business heavily battered by the bad economy, and that his behavior is driven by a need to prove himself Peak Performance jackets, which in turn is driven by real pressure. As a result of his fear with a little thing, the mysterious beeping smoke detector telling him he's not a man Abercrombie Fitch, it did nicely while staying true to the spirit of the show. (Another nice touch, in the clip above: when Phil uses his old cheerleading baton to hit the alarm, he gives it an instinctive twirl.) And I can't hate an episode that brings back Dylan, with his "It was all a dream" line and the perfect later callback to it. Your thoughts on the episode, or the recession-TV question in general? Feel free to pipe up.
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