This navigation system's all messed up.
It thinks we're in a park.
Oh my God, it is a park!
Away from the kids!
From 2009 to 2020, the television series Modern Family
provided a satirical look at the ins and outs
of the contemporary face of American suburbia.
The show successfully upended the decades
of sitcom conventions with representations of family
that were largely limited to the post World War
II ideal of the nuclear family, providing representation
that was sorely lacking in much of primetime television.
Although the series certainly had its highs,
it also had its low points as well.
Despite upending many of the traditions of television,
it still was unable to overcome some of the medium's most long
lasting conventions, leading to an episode that
is the epitome of the problems with long running television
seasons.
Oh jeez, look at that.
And now you stepped on it.
What?
What's wrong with me?
In season nine episode 19 of Modern Family,
we get an episode that encapsulates
many of the problems with contemporary television.
The cultural shift from network television
to streaming services has forced the executives
behind the scenes to rethink numerous aspects
of just how television is made.
While the prestige cable or streaming drama
has found a strong place in our modern culture,
network sitcoms like Modern Family
are still seeking how to evolve in this new age.
With so many streaming series out there,
is it possible for sitcoms to maintain that traditional 22
episode season and still maintain our interest?
Without the need to fill out a majority of a year's
worth of programming, streaming television shows
can keep their series concise and eliminate useless fluff
and filler.
As such, Modern Family had to meet those demanding 22 episode
orders season after season.
The show existed in this strange place
where it was following the old ways of producing television
while also being experienced and enjoyed
through the more contemporary methods of streaming services.
The show was available to stream on Hulu the day after it aired,
and full seasons were streamable to new potential viewers
at any time on other streaming services.
The need for the 22 episode season was nonexistent.
The show did not need to be airing constantly
to keep viewers' attention or to prevent people
from falling behind.
The ability to catch up on an entire series
was always just a few button clicks away.
Your mind is scattered, Gloria.
Your mind is going to be scattered.
Manny, hand me the gun!
Beyond being tired and overdone, the plotlines we are given
feel very out of place for the characters
and involve nonsensical conclusions.
Phil and Claire have a rematch of a race from all the way
back in season one, which has some humorous jokes about how
the characters have aged since the initial competition.
I immediately pulled that muscle that
runs from the top of your head down
to the bottom of your feet.
But it also features a running gag about Phil's robot fighting
group, an obscure callback to a throwaway gag eight
seasons prior.
It's a joke that not only is really for hardcore fans,
but it frankly sounds like a more interesting idea
for an episode.
Similarly, this episode features Mitchell's sudden interest
in law enforcement, a character trait that has never
been mentioned or addressed in any capacity in the series up
to this point.
I'm a cop.
I thought that your alternate life was you teaching
at risk youth to street dance.
No, I teach them to believe in themselves
through street dance.
That's what it is.
This plot line especially feels like an attempt by the writers
to grasp at straws because of the way
it ends with some half baked social commentary on how
the power granted to police officers
can lead to the dehumanization of those
who society deems criminals.
Yes, as ridiculous as it may sound,
that massive social issue is addressed
by-- generously-- three to four lines of dialogue.
I don't think that I can just toss someone into prison.
It also goes against Mitchell's established career as a defense
attorney, the person responsible for protecting people
from overreach by law enforcement.
Logically, this is something he should stand against rather
than be inspired by.
Finally, the plotline that gives its episode the title
follows Hailey trying to convince
Gloria to sell her salsa company to her new startup company.
It's ironic that this is the titular plotline,
considering it's completely dramatically inert.
Gloria at first is hesitant to sell the salsa.
She agrees to take the meeting, but she
seems to be trying to sabotage the sale.
Jay believes it's because she does not
want to let go of the family's salsa recipe,
and he rescinds the deal on her behalf.
Gloria is furious because she actually
did want to sell the sauce after all.
As you can tell by this riveting summary,
it's a very tedious plotline that
leaves the characters in exactly the same place
as the start of the episode.
Nobody learns anything about themselves
or the other members of the family.
This only further underlines a major issue
with the choice to put the plots of this episode together.
Structurally, some sitcoms with large
casts like Modern Family attempt to have their diverging
plotlines coalesce into a satisfying
conclusion, whether in a literal sense or thematically,
but that never happens here.
Instead, each of these separate plotlines lines
reach their conclusions without us ever
understanding the larger point of their relationship.
Maybe I was a little rash.
Really?
Maybe a big rash.
Now that's not to say that the current streaming
model is flawless.
One advantage of having a longer season
and a week-by-week structure is that shows will simply
stay in the public's mind for a longer period of time.
When shows are released with an entire season at once intended
to be binged in rapid succession,
the cultural discussion around these shows
tend to burn out over the span of a weekend.
People will discuss the latest season of Stranger Things
with an excited fervor after it drops, but rarely does
that excitement last beyond the first week or two of release.
Our modern entertainment landscape
is so overwhelmed and overstuffed
with shows that are often treated
as content fodder rather than works of art,
and that can be especially damaging for streaming sitcoms.
In fact, it's obvious that part of the reason for the success
of streaming sitcoms like Ted Lasso is due in part
to their week to week release.
Or consider the series Mythic Quest,
a show that released its entire first season at once
in a bingeable model with very little fanfare from audiences.
Once the show switched to a week to week model
for its second season, it began to receive more attention
from audiences.
The major advantage shows like Ted Lasso and Mythic
Quest have over network shows like Modern Family?
Shorter seasons.
Even though they're returning to the older week-by-week release
date schedules, those shows still
implement shorter seasons, which often
gives the show's more focused plotlines and a better
allocation of budgets that creates a stronger visual sense
than most network sitcoms.
We lost our baby in the car, and people are judging us.
I swear to God, I'm going to break it!
Do not break the window!
You'll get glass on her!
Another advantage to the longer seasons of a show
like Modern Family-- it's the fact that the show had plenty
of space to play around with and figure out the personalities
of its characters.
This makes it all the more frustrating
when the show fails to deliver on previously
established personality traits and canon
portrayals of these characters and instead
falls back on two dimensional portrayals that have never
been a part of who these characters are
in the previous eight seasons.
The choice to abridge the 22 episode season
is not only necessary, it's essential for the medium.
By providing a show's writing team
to set the expectations of how many episodes
a series needs to be, the quality of television shows
will inevitably go up.
In order for television to evolve and become
its best self, these shows need to move
beyond the dull, inspired filler episodes
and the unwieldy season orders that make them
necessary in the first place.
Networks are desperate for content to pad out
their streaming services, but it's not
a glut of shows that will make their services popular.
It's quality over quantity that is needed.
Modern Family wasn't always perfect,
but it had strong moments of comedic brilliance
that were dulled as time went on by episodes like "CHiPs
and Salsa" that feel like they were produced to fill a quota
rather than inspired by the passion of the creatives
behind the scenes.
At the end of the day, the old adage proves true.
Less is more.
But what do you think?
Is binging the way to go?
Do you prefer your sitcoms short and sweet,
or do you prefer as many episodes as you can get?
Let us know what you think, and don't forget to like, comment,
and subscribe to Nerdstalgic.