Thursday, July 19, 2012
For those reading this blog feel free to drop a post of critique, value,
interest, thumbs down, or high 5, your comments are invaluable. Is it too wordy and long? Boring? Clear and precise? Unclear? Thank you in advance for your patience with my first ever blog attempt.
As time goes by in our fast paced lives not only does technology change but so do our interests ..... or at least that is what media leads us to believe. Content on television is decided in part by what the masses want and the best way to keep the interest of the public is to entertain them in their living rooms, their friends living rooms, and wherever the communication can be viewed to bring people together to enjoy the sitcom, movie, drama series, reality TV, etc. As my Journalism teacher Rob Priewe best described for this assignment "They say that television mirrors society." My attempt at this blog is to address what I feel the type of culture that is currently "reflecting back at us today."
Modern Family is a sitcom that has been "on air" since 2009. I have only been watching the comedy for about one season or so now and find it very entertaining even though there is not a family or friend in my life that this mirrors the image of them to a "T" but it surely is a great impression of the variety of my friends and family!
Modern Family is just that- a modern day family that would not shock anyone to see: A brother, sister and father that have their own families now: The Father (Jay Prichett) a wealthy retired man is now married to an sexy ardent stay at home mother (Gloria Delgado-Prichett) that is close to the age of the two adult children and is Latino with a very intelligent pre-teen son (Manny Delgado) from a previous marriage. The educated lawyer son (Mithcell Prichett) is in a gay marriage with (Cameron Tucker) who used to be a clown but now is the stay at home daddy for their adopted Vietnamese 3 year old daughter (Lily Tucker-Prichett) who will do and say what she wants as the two fathers are not in the teaching belief of saying "no" but rather to redirect her. Jay's daughter (Claire Dunphy) an eager safety and smarts first and foremost over zealous stay at home mom is married to real estate agent Phil Dunphy and they have 3 children: 2 teenage daughters that could be anything but similar. Haley Dunphy the typical popular high school student applying to colleges with a boyfriend and carefree attitude towards school and grades. Far from the to the book and get it done perfect Alex Dunphy also in high school. Middle school son Luke Dunphy fits into the typical stereotype boy that is into being a kid and making silly mistakes as he is not on the intelligent side but has a lot of compassion and a funny wit that he inherited from his dad Phil.
The setting is in a rich suburb in California where the neighborhood watch would be in place. Far from perfect harmony but it is a family that shows support and love in the end with the expected bickering that takes place just to keep it comedic and realistically interesting. The style of this program is portrayed to help anyone viewing it to be able to relate to the characters. The presence they portray is not snobby even though one can tell they all come from money. The way the storyline is written out during the different segments of acting is there is a time where the character stop and make eye-contact with the camera man and tell their point of view or just a tidbit of some fact that gets the audience more in tune with their way of seeing what is happening- similar to the way the "Office" does when they are acting but not as extreme as the reality TV shows. It is similar to "Two and a Half Men" or "Roseanne" and the squabbles that always take place yet in the end the family is happy with one another and content for the time being. The other similarities between those two shows is that they mostly take place in the one house whereas the Modern Family takes place at all of the different family member's houses. What makes this sitcom so different is that there is no other show that I know of that tackles the every day life experiences in such a funny way and uses all the stereotypical circumstances that could be thought up without going to too far of an extreme and tied them all up in to one show called the "Modern Family" as some of us know it.
Gay couple, adopted Vietnamese child, teenage problems, correct ways of parenting, working father and stay at home mom, differences of personalities and IQ of children in the same family, retired man married to a beautiful Latino woman, marriage bickering, opinionated children, could the writers have covered any more stereotypes? I think that the way that the writers tie each episode's story line together makes it very entertaining and comedic. If I were an outsider coming to the US I would think that the US is a very flexible varied type of country where anything is possible and the value of family is there with differences not being an issue.
The date of the Modern Family episode "Tableau Vivant" that I will be speaking of today was aired on July 18, 2012- a re-run, but one I had not seen before. The time was 9:00PM Pacific Standard Time on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), (according to Wikipedia this network has been on air since 1948, was first created in 1943, and currently owned by the Walt Disney Company).
This particular episode was about the family dynamics of brothers and sisters both youth and adult and how they intermingle, as well as how the in-laws get intertwined in our lives. The roles that parents and spouses have in raising children and communication amongst each other.
The storyline and main theme of this episode was how the different family members were at "odds" with each other to the point that there were several different arguments that were taking place between all of them not as a whole group - but individually. Then as the sitcom proceeded the arguments only escalating to the point of repulsion however, in the end concluded with the multi-family dinner at a local restaurant that had named a sandwich after Jay. This sitcom is filmed on set and occasionally on location; this episode was on set.
Jay who is played by Ed O'Neill who is known as the father from the old popular sitcom "Married With Children." Mitchell has made guest appearances as a judge on the "So You Think You Can Dance" reality show. Gloria has been in some of the Pepsi commercials. If you would like to view these characters for reference and how you may recognize them and their claim to fame you could try these two sites:
http://www.wetpaint.com/modern-family/characters
http://www.IMDb.com - and type in Modern Family
The strengths of the show are that it is so easy to relate to and keep your attention on what is going to happen next with it being hard to sit there straight faced. Laughing is such a great thing to have going for a show when it is on at such a prime time of evening relaxation. With the ever changing story but the same plot the weakness I believe is that it will eventually become so redundant and hard to come up with a new storyline, and the eldest daughter not that she plays a huge role in the show, but she will go off to college and make it hard to keep her in the show and the bratty adopted daughter will "grow out of her bad habits." What makes it so memorable is that since it is so easy to relate to so many lives it is easy to bring up in conversation amongst family and friends.
My opinion compared to the website: http://www.tv.com/shows/modern-family/reviews/
is similar not all of the reviews are the same as my personal opinion, but the overall review of 8.3 is close to what I would rate the show with an 8 out of 10. xLegacy wrote on April 30, 2012, "A funny show. It has a lot of classic jokes and the diversity of the characters is a good addition to make it more likeable. Overall good, funny show." - Rated it a 9.0 I would really have to agree with xLegacy on this and what they had to say. On the other hand, this next rater I would have to disagree with callie532002 January 13, 2012, wrote: "I think this is one of the worst shows on TV." I disagree based on all of what I have said already on how I like the show and because this viewer didn't give any specifics. So, it is very hard to relate to their views when there is nothing to reference to except for their broad statement.
My dislike for the sitcom is the multiple commercials!!
If you would like to view an official fan website of the "Modern Family" it can be found at
http://modern-family.tv/
Prime time Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an award that has been given to the Modern Family Series in years 2010-2011 and this is given from the critics. I would have to say that it was very hard to actually find a website that had bad comments to really point out about the show and would really appreciate it you as a reader would be able to post something for me if you are able to find any. Preferably with a little bit more detail than the comment that callie532002 wrote in the statement I quoted above.
The one fact that amazed me (and always seems to when I hear what actors are making an episode) is how much of an increase in pay these actors will be receiving with the coming season! If you are interested in checking it out for your self to be amazed the website is:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/modern-family-cast-and-producers-settle-differences-avoid-a-lawsuit/2012/07/29/gJQAVW1OJX_blog.html
I do not watch this on a weekly basis nor does my family or friends it is on occasion and is entertaining every time we watch it. Not all of my friends or family watch it and it is a rare occasion that when it is brought up in conversation that the other has even seen the same episode in discussion. As much as I like this sitcom I would not become a Facebook fan or a Twitter follower- but along those lines there are some very funny quotes and scenes from the show that I could see myself tweeting.
The commercials that are aired during this sitcom are so very different and are directed to what I see as anyone but young children. So ages pre-teen on up. What the ads and commercials tell me about this sitcom is that they as advertisers know that there is a wide range of viewers that watch it and they want to take advantage of catching all of them in someway and not stereotyping or targeting only one or just a few audience members. The gender of these ads also are non-specific and are being directed towards both the men and women single as well as married. I don't think that race had a role in any of these ads as they seemed to be very diverse in all of them and not too specific to any one location. I feel that many of the ads were directed towards the working class that can afford the fancy cars that were aired in the commercial. The food commercials could have been directed to any group as well. I think that the phone commercials were directed more towards the adult group as well as teenagers as they all mentioned the iPhone in the commercial at least one time. As one can see in no particular order the ads for the products and services that were advertised during this episode were:
McDonald's new spicy bites and a new Burger King burger trying to show the juiciness of their products, and the healthier snack of Yoplait yogurt and the multiple flavors, and Silk soy and almond milk, then a mother that says "no" to so many things except for the new Oscar Mayer select 100% beef hot dogs, Olive Garden has a deal for 2 guests for $25 can have a 3 course meal, 50% off sale at Lens Crafters, a movie trailer for the Dark Knight Rises which is rated PG -13 was shown twice, a movie trailer for a not yet rated "The Campaign," a new TV sitcom to start in the Fall titled "The Neighbors, "Wipe out" a TV reality game show was aired, an all new episode of "Final Witness" on next, "Maybeline super stay 14 hour lipstick was advertised twice, Neutrogena advertised for their #1 acne product, car commercial for the Ford Escape SUV and the Kia Optima was shown with the option to lease, Nissan Altima getting the viewers attention with the incentive of spending less time at the gas station, with all these car commercials the Oregon Credit Union aired their commercial letting the viewer know "what's next for you" they are here, LG's commercial was for the discounts they were having for their appliances, Sprint, Verizon, AT&T all advertised and name dropped the iPhone in each commercial, for recreation Roseburg, Oregon advertised to come and visit the "Land of Umpqua," their was one health screening commercial that emphasized getting various tests done to stay in good health, and then lastly the news snippet about a naked man that was found in the kitchen of a Lane County Oregon resident.
Something that you may not have known about this show is that for the 64th Emmy Awards the cast received 14 Emmy nominations!
If what I have said so far hasn't shown reason enough to watch this show at least once.......here is possibly a reason to persuade you to watch this episode or at least another episode of the sitcom "Modern Family"........ There was a huge jump in their viewers from when this episode that I watched compared with the previous week's viewers were: (710,000) that watched the episode titled "Baby on Board"- (which actually also was aired on July 18, 2012 as a rerun). The the amount of viewers that watched this episode ("Tableau Vivant") was an astonishing 10.07 million viewers!!
What I have learned from this assignment is that writing a blog is extensive hard work and I hope that I can learn to get better at it and get good feedback for next time. What surprised me about the show the most is that it has been airing for nearly 3 years now! I have never really had a lot of free time to watch TV but had I known about this show when it first aired I think I would have had a bit of a better insight into the show as I only had time to watch a few select episodes that I have not seen yet. I do feel that the shows I have seen as they are on TV gave me a decent look into the characters as well as the numerous websites that I tried searching through to help me along with this project.
As time goes by in our fast paced lives not only does technology change but so do our interests ..... or at least that is what media leads us to believe. Content on television is decided in part by what the masses want and the best way to keep the interest of the public is to entertain them in their living rooms, their friends living rooms, and wherever the communication can be viewed to bring people together to enjoy the sitcom, movie, drama series, reality TV, etc. As my Journalism teacher Rob Priewe best described for this assignment "They say that television mirrors society." My attempt at this blog is to address what I feel the type of culture that is currently "reflecting back at us today."
Modern Family is a sitcom that has been "on air" since 2009. I have only been watching the comedy for about one season or so now and find it very entertaining even though there is not a family or friend in my life that this mirrors the image of them to a "T" but it surely is a great impression of the variety of my friends and family!
Modern Family is just that- a modern day family that would not shock anyone to see: A brother, sister and father that have their own families now: The Father (Jay Prichett) a wealthy retired man is now married to an sexy ardent stay at home mother (Gloria Delgado-Prichett) that is close to the age of the two adult children and is Latino with a very intelligent pre-teen son (Manny Delgado) from a previous marriage. The educated lawyer son (Mithcell Prichett) is in a gay marriage with (Cameron Tucker) who used to be a clown but now is the stay at home daddy for their adopted Vietnamese 3 year old daughter (Lily Tucker-Prichett) who will do and say what she wants as the two fathers are not in the teaching belief of saying "no" but rather to redirect her. Jay's daughter (Claire Dunphy) an eager safety and smarts first and foremost over zealous stay at home mom is married to real estate agent Phil Dunphy and they have 3 children: 2 teenage daughters that could be anything but similar. Haley Dunphy the typical popular high school student applying to colleges with a boyfriend and carefree attitude towards school and grades. Far from the to the book and get it done perfect Alex Dunphy also in high school. Middle school son Luke Dunphy fits into the typical stereotype boy that is into being a kid and making silly mistakes as he is not on the intelligent side but has a lot of compassion and a funny wit that he inherited from his dad Phil.
The setting is in a rich suburb in California where the neighborhood watch would be in place. Far from perfect harmony but it is a family that shows support and love in the end with the expected bickering that takes place just to keep it comedic and realistically interesting. The style of this program is portrayed to help anyone viewing it to be able to relate to the characters. The presence they portray is not snobby even though one can tell they all come from money. The way the storyline is written out during the different segments of acting is there is a time where the character stop and make eye-contact with the camera man and tell their point of view or just a tidbit of some fact that gets the audience more in tune with their way of seeing what is happening- similar to the way the "Office" does when they are acting but not as extreme as the reality TV shows. It is similar to "Two and a Half Men" or "Roseanne" and the squabbles that always take place yet in the end the family is happy with one another and content for the time being. The other similarities between those two shows is that they mostly take place in the one house whereas the Modern Family takes place at all of the different family member's houses. What makes this sitcom so different is that there is no other show that I know of that tackles the every day life experiences in such a funny way and uses all the stereotypical circumstances that could be thought up without going to too far of an extreme and tied them all up in to one show called the "Modern Family" as some of us know it.
Gay couple, adopted Vietnamese child, teenage problems, correct ways of parenting, working father and stay at home mom, differences of personalities and IQ of children in the same family, retired man married to a beautiful Latino woman, marriage bickering, opinionated children, could the writers have covered any more stereotypes? I think that the way that the writers tie each episode's story line together makes it very entertaining and comedic. If I were an outsider coming to the US I would think that the US is a very flexible varied type of country where anything is possible and the value of family is there with differences not being an issue.
The date of the Modern Family episode "Tableau Vivant" that I will be speaking of today was aired on July 18, 2012- a re-run, but one I had not seen before. The time was 9:00PM Pacific Standard Time on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), (according to Wikipedia this network has been on air since 1948, was first created in 1943, and currently owned by the Walt Disney Company).
This particular episode was about the family dynamics of brothers and sisters both youth and adult and how they intermingle, as well as how the in-laws get intertwined in our lives. The roles that parents and spouses have in raising children and communication amongst each other.
The storyline and main theme of this episode was how the different family members were at "odds" with each other to the point that there were several different arguments that were taking place between all of them not as a whole group - but individually. Then as the sitcom proceeded the arguments only escalating to the point of repulsion however, in the end concluded with the multi-family dinner at a local restaurant that had named a sandwich after Jay. This sitcom is filmed on set and occasionally on location; this episode was on set.
Jay who is played by Ed O'Neill who is known as the father from the old popular sitcom "Married With Children." Mitchell has made guest appearances as a judge on the "So You Think You Can Dance" reality show. Gloria has been in some of the Pepsi commercials. If you would like to view these characters for reference and how you may recognize them and their claim to fame you could try these two sites:
http://www.wetpaint.com/modern-family/characters
http://www.IMDb.com - and type in Modern Family
The strengths of the show are that it is so easy to relate to and keep your attention on what is going to happen next with it being hard to sit there straight faced. Laughing is such a great thing to have going for a show when it is on at such a prime time of evening relaxation. With the ever changing story but the same plot the weakness I believe is that it will eventually become so redundant and hard to come up with a new storyline, and the eldest daughter not that she plays a huge role in the show, but she will go off to college and make it hard to keep her in the show and the bratty adopted daughter will "grow out of her bad habits." What makes it so memorable is that since it is so easy to relate to so many lives it is easy to bring up in conversation amongst family and friends.
My opinion compared to the website: http://www.tv.com/shows/modern-family/reviews/
is similar not all of the reviews are the same as my personal opinion, but the overall review of 8.3 is close to what I would rate the show with an 8 out of 10. xLegacy wrote on April 30, 2012, "A funny show. It has a lot of classic jokes and the diversity of the characters is a good addition to make it more likeable. Overall good, funny show." - Rated it a 9.0 I would really have to agree with xLegacy on this and what they had to say. On the other hand, this next rater I would have to disagree with callie532002 January 13, 2012, wrote: "I think this is one of the worst shows on TV." I disagree based on all of what I have said already on how I like the show and because this viewer didn't give any specifics. So, it is very hard to relate to their views when there is nothing to reference to except for their broad statement.
My dislike for the sitcom is the multiple commercials!!
If you would like to view an official fan website of the "Modern Family" it can be found at
http://modern-family.tv/
Prime time Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an award that has been given to the Modern Family Series in years 2010-2011 and this is given from the critics. I would have to say that it was very hard to actually find a website that had bad comments to really point out about the show and would really appreciate it you as a reader would be able to post something for me if you are able to find any. Preferably with a little bit more detail than the comment that callie532002 wrote in the statement I quoted above.
The one fact that amazed me (and always seems to when I hear what actors are making an episode) is how much of an increase in pay these actors will be receiving with the coming season! If you are interested in checking it out for your self to be amazed the website is:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/modern-family-cast-and-producers-settle-differences-avoid-a-lawsuit/2012/07/29/gJQAVW1OJX_blog.html
I do not watch this on a weekly basis nor does my family or friends it is on occasion and is entertaining every time we watch it. Not all of my friends or family watch it and it is a rare occasion that when it is brought up in conversation that the other has even seen the same episode in discussion. As much as I like this sitcom I would not become a Facebook fan or a Twitter follower- but along those lines there are some very funny quotes and scenes from the show that I could see myself tweeting.
The commercials that are aired during this sitcom are so very different and are directed to what I see as anyone but young children. So ages pre-teen on up. What the ads and commercials tell me about this sitcom is that they as advertisers know that there is a wide range of viewers that watch it and they want to take advantage of catching all of them in someway and not stereotyping or targeting only one or just a few audience members. The gender of these ads also are non-specific and are being directed towards both the men and women single as well as married. I don't think that race had a role in any of these ads as they seemed to be very diverse in all of them and not too specific to any one location. I feel that many of the ads were directed towards the working class that can afford the fancy cars that were aired in the commercial. The food commercials could have been directed to any group as well. I think that the phone commercials were directed more towards the adult group as well as teenagers as they all mentioned the iPhone in the commercial at least one time. As one can see in no particular order the ads for the products and services that were advertised during this episode were:
McDonald's new spicy bites and a new Burger King burger trying to show the juiciness of their products, and the healthier snack of Yoplait yogurt and the multiple flavors, and Silk soy and almond milk, then a mother that says "no" to so many things except for the new Oscar Mayer select 100% beef hot dogs, Olive Garden has a deal for 2 guests for $25 can have a 3 course meal, 50% off sale at Lens Crafters, a movie trailer for the Dark Knight Rises which is rated PG -13 was shown twice, a movie trailer for a not yet rated "The Campaign," a new TV sitcom to start in the Fall titled "The Neighbors, "Wipe out" a TV reality game show was aired, an all new episode of "Final Witness" on next, "Maybeline super stay 14 hour lipstick was advertised twice, Neutrogena advertised for their #1 acne product, car commercial for the Ford Escape SUV and the Kia Optima was shown with the option to lease, Nissan Altima getting the viewers attention with the incentive of spending less time at the gas station, with all these car commercials the Oregon Credit Union aired their commercial letting the viewer know "what's next for you" they are here, LG's commercial was for the discounts they were having for their appliances, Sprint, Verizon, AT&T all advertised and name dropped the iPhone in each commercial, for recreation Roseburg, Oregon advertised to come and visit the "Land of Umpqua," their was one health screening commercial that emphasized getting various tests done to stay in good health, and then lastly the news snippet about a naked man that was found in the kitchen of a Lane County Oregon resident.
Something that you may not have known about this show is that for the 64th Emmy Awards the cast received 14 Emmy nominations!
If what I have said so far hasn't shown reason enough to watch this show at least once.......here is possibly a reason to persuade you to watch this episode or at least another episode of the sitcom "Modern Family"........ There was a huge jump in their viewers from when this episode that I watched compared with the previous week's viewers were: (710,000) that watched the episode titled "Baby on Board"- (which actually also was aired on July 18, 2012 as a rerun). The the amount of viewers that watched this episode ("Tableau Vivant") was an astonishing 10.07 million viewers!!
What I have learned from this assignment is that writing a blog is extensive hard work and I hope that I can learn to get better at it and get good feedback for next time. What surprised me about the show the most is that it has been airing for nearly 3 years now! I have never really had a lot of free time to watch TV but had I known about this show when it first aired I think I would have had a bit of a better insight into the show as I only had time to watch a few select episodes that I have not seen yet. I do feel that the shows I have seen as they are on TV gave me a decent look into the characters as well as the numerous websites that I tried searching through to help me along with this project.
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