It’s no secret that finding good shows to watch with your kids is a challenge. Sure, there are plenty of shows geared for specific ages and genders, such as…
- Adults can find lots of great, feature-film quality shows on premium channels like HBO and Showtime. Homeland is one of my favorite new shows this fall. Check it out, if you haven’t yet.
- News hounds can watch CNN or Fox or MSNBC for 24/7 breaking news.
- Teens have The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl on The CW.
- Kids and tweens watch Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.
- Dads have the Military Channel, and moms have Lifetime and OWN. Too gender-biased? Yeah, maybe. Then again, I really don’t know anyone who watches OWN, but there must be someone out there, since it’s still on the air.
But finding a show that everyone in the family can watch together? That’s a challenge. A big challenge. But don’t despair, because there are options.
I absolutely love the writing on [amazon_link id=”B0058RN85O” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Modern Family[/amazon_link], and as a bonus, it’s really very funny — in a way where you can see yourself in a lot of those situations. But my favorite thing about the show is that it highlights a lot of different types of families. Yeah, that’s why it’s called MODERN Family, Jane.
The core family is the Dunphy family, a typical suburban American family that includes a father, Phil (Ty Burrell); a mother, Claire (Julie Bowen); a son, Luke (Nolan Gould); and two daughters, Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Alex (Ariel Winter).
But branch out a bit and things get more interesting. Claire’s brother Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) is in a steady relationship with another man, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), and they live together with their adopted Asian daughter Lily (played by twins Ella and Jaden Hiller). Meanwhile, Claire and Mitch’s dad Jay (Ed O’Neill) is married to Gloria (Sofia Vergara), and they live with her son Manny (Rico Rodriguez).
Some might question the family aspect of watching two gay guys raising a daughter on national TV, but to me, it matters not, as long as the parents are responsible and loving to their kids — which Mitch and Cameron are, probably moreso than many traditional families across the country.
Each episode of Modern Family usually has a takeaway message, in that one or more characters learn something about themselves and each other. The bottom line is that in EVERY family — traditional or unorthodox — the love and respect that family members give each other is worth everything. That’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it?
Do you watch Modern Family? Do you watch it with your kids, or is the gay aspect too much for you?
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