MODERN FAMILY Mockumentary-style sitcom chronicling the kinship of the extended Pritchett clan. ABC. Ongoing since 2009.

During the first decade of the 21st century, there have been relatively few domestic sitcoms on American television. Most of them were adequate but not outstanding. One of the notable exceptions has been Modern Family. It manages to take a familiar premise and make it so fresh, so hip, and so wickedly funny, that it demands repeat viewing. It also sends the important message that family comes in all shapes, sizes and orientations. Just like America.

Producers Steve Levitan (Just Shoot Me) and Christopher Lloyd (Frasier) developed the series based on events and situations they encountered in their own families. They shopped the pilot, originally called “My American Family,” to the major broadcast networks. The original premise had a documentary crew film a “typical” household–a “mocumentary” in the style of The Office. But Levitan and Lloyd modified the show to focus on three related families, who occasionally make comments to an unseen film crew. ABC bought the revised pilot; after initial audience testing proved very positive, the series–with its new title–landed on the network’s schedule.

Jay Pritchett (Ed O’Neill, the former Al Bundy of Married...With Children) is the patriarch of the family. After divorcing his longtime wife DeDe (Shelley Long), he married a much younger woman, the beautiful–there’s no other word to describe her--Columbia-born Gloria Delgado (Sofia Vergara). He also adopts Gloria’s pre-teen son Manny (Rico Rodriguez II), who’s wise beyond his young years. Jay has two adult children: Daughter Clare (Prichett) Dunphy is a stay-at-home mom married to realtor Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell); they have three kids–teenager Haley (Sarah Hyland); middle child Alex (Ariel Winter) and young son Luke (Nolan Gould). And Jay’s son, Mitchell Prichett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) is an openly gay attorney who has settled down with his partner, Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet). The pair adopted a Vietnamese baby named Lilly in the pilot episode.

Modern Family uses the quirks of the various characters as a springboard for the situations they find themselves in–Jay’s reluctance to show emotion or deal with uncomfortable issues head-on; Gloria’s feisty, combative nature; Clare’s tendency to be overprotective; Phil’s competitiveness and “be a pal” theory of parenting; Mitchell’s uptight personality; and Cameron’s flamboyance and generosity to strangers.

At a time when the domestic sitcom showed signs of being obsolete, Modern Family changed the rules. It immediately won raves from critics and began building a loyal audience, which only grew in its second season, making it one of ABC’s top scripted series. The Television Academy of Arts and Sciences echoed the critics; in its first season, Modern Family won an Emmy for Best Comedy Series; another Emmy for the pilot’s script; and a third award for co-star Eric Stonestreet (Cameron). “USA Today’s” television critic Robert Bianco summed up the show’s quality in a November 2010 review,

“Not since ‘Frasier’ has a sitcom so confidently blended warmth and wit or more assuredly displayed the best of what TV comedy can offer: a sterling cast from top to bottom; jokes and situations that are amusing, heartfelt and specific; a world that feels real; and a show that invites you to embrace it rather than holding you at a chilly distance. It's too soon to label ‘Modern Family’ a classic, but if any series today seems set to claim that title, it's this one.”

There has been some controversy, however. Some gay rights groups denounced what they saw as the lack of physical affection between Cameron and Mitchell–a situation that was addressed in an early second-season episode. Another episode had Gloria saying “in Columbia, we trip over goats and we kill people in the street. Do you know how offensive that is? Like we’re Peruvians!” Not surprisingly, a pro-Peru group blasted the line. Actress Sofia Vergara responded to the controversy–when asked by a fan about the script–answering (in Spanish): “Get a life!”

And it seems Modern Family is heading for a long and successful one.