Modern Family - Season 3 - DVD

Content: In the beginning, Modern Family may have been created in the wake of the success of other so-called mocumentary comedies like The Office, the model for Stromberg, or the critics' favorite Parks & Recreation. But by the third year at the latest, this family comedy has clearly set itself apart from other series in the style of posed documentaries and is now standing on its own, extremely successful legs in the US. The everyday turbulences of three parts of a family are narrated, at the head of which is the grumpy head Jay (Ed O`Neill) with his hot-blooded Colombian wife Gloria (Sofia Vergara) and their son Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Jay`s gay son Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and his partner Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) live right next door, as does Jay`s daughter Claire (Julie Bowen) with her husband Phil (Ty Burnell) and their children Haley (Sarah Hyland), Luke (Nolan Gould) and Alex (Ariel Winter). A big family living so close together - well, that can only ever lead to conflict and turbulent chaos.

And that starts right off in season three with a family vacation at an adventure ranch. Here Phil wants to finally prove to his father-in-law Jay that there's a real guy in him. And Haley's friend Dylan causes a lot of trouble with a big question. But even after this weekend trip is over, there is no peace in the life of the extended family. Because Mitchell and Cameron have decided that they want to adopt another boy, which doesn't seem to go down well with their Lily. Clair, meanwhile, has a whole different set of problems. She wants to protect her children from speeders in her neighborhood. But her petition for a new stop sign falls on deaf ears with the incumbent city council. She then makes a decision: she wants to run for office herself. Phil visits his old college with Haley and reminisces about the good old college days - which is rather embarrassing for his daughter. A family trip to Disneyland, a sporty Thanksgiving and a very special Christmas are also still on the program of the Modern Family this year...

The series manages also in the third season very well to tell actually very conventional, sometimes even a little clichéd stories fresh and enriched with lots of everyday comedy. This is achieved not only by the repeatedly interspersed family interviews and the direct interaction of the protagonists with the camera of the documentary team invisible to the viewer. It is also the very special constellation of characters who actually have nothing in common, but are extremely closely connected through their family ties. And this inevitably makes for delightful situational comedy, which is far from worn out even in its third year.

Modern Family has not yet been able to repeat in Germany the great success that the series celebrates in the United States. Nevertheless, even in this country has now established a small but fine fan base that recognizes that the creators have succeeded here something very special, which is pleasantly different from conventional family sitcoms. The series makes use of the means of the classic family comedy. But these are interspersed with a lot of self-mockery, so that a perfect suburban satire emerges, which behind the very obvious laughs still has much more bite to offer than it may first appear.

Who is accustomed only to the usual sitcom fare, the somewhat special style of Modern Family may initially have a hard time. But the really great cast and many delightfully funny moments alone make it more than worthwhile to get involved with this series. And if you already liked the first two seasons, you simply can't get past these new, very funny episodes! Absolutely recommendable!

Picture + Sound: Technically, the series leaves a good overall impression on DVD. The picture is very clean, the overall sharpness is decent and the coloration looks pleasantly natural. The fact that slight blurring is noticeable in the presentation of smaller details hardly carries any negative weight. The audio, available in Dolby Digital 5.1, makes the amusing dialogue sound powerful from the speakers, but otherwise has hardly any notable surround moments to offer. Overall, the English language version seems a bit more harmoniously mixed than the German soundtrack, where the dialogue seems to be mixed a bit more centrally. Overall, there is for the technical implementation measured by the genre a deserved: good!

Extras: The bonus material of the third season has been spread over all three discs. Starting off on DVD 1 is about 5 minutes of dropped and extended scenes. On top of that, there are three featurettes that look behind the scenes. These cover the family trip to Wyoming (approx. 9:21 min.) and the effort that went into getting the entire crew to the set there. Actor Ty Burell then takes viewers to the set of the episode directed by fellow actor and Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston (approx. 5:25 min.). And finally, we are shown how the kids passed the time while filming in Wyoming (approx. 3:27 min.).

DVD 2 has more dropped and alternate scenes to offer (approx. 9:19 min.). Plus, there's a behind-the-scenes look at the Christmas episode (approx. 5:46 min.) and the episode where Luke and Manny have some adventures where the boys don't really belong yet: behind the wheel of a car! Then, in the longest extra of this box set, Ed O`Neill is shown getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (approx. 16:06 min.), accompanied by hymns of praise from his TV wives Sofia Vergara and Katey Peggy Bundy Segal.

Finally, the last disc then has a few dropped and alternate scenes (approx. 7:15 min.) and amusing outtakes (approx. 8:34 min.) to offer, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the family trip to the Disneyland Resort (approx. 3:05 min.). Good!

Conclusion: Modern Family continued in the U.S. with the third season of its triumphal procession at awards shows and proved again in the third year as a real ratings hit. In Germany, the comedy series is still rather an insider tip, but has also built up a loyal fan base in this country, which can now look forward to 24 new episodes. These are presented in the 3-disc box in good picture and sound quality. In addition, there are a few nice extras, which increase the pleasure of the third season even more. And for it there is then of course also an absolutely deserved: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp