I am not a fan of people who come to something knowing what they are getting into and then complaining about it for being what it was always going to be; I don't mean the relative quality of those things – but just the base things that they should have known about the event, genre or whatever. For example people who watch a musical and complain about the singing – not the quality of the singing, but just the fact that songs are there at all. I dislike such stupid criticisms and I dislike it even more when I am guilty of it – as I am with Modern Family.
The first thing to make clear is that I find the show so far to be really funny and easy to enjoy. Each 20 minute episode has generally several threads utilizing the whole family and it works well to mean we don't put a lot of pressure on any one aspect of character of the construct. It is also very well written, with funny lines and a range of styles of laugh, with some awkward, some excessive, some physical, some silly and so on. I'm not entirely sure that the fly-on-the-wall camera actually works (it seems to be switched on and off to suit – but it is a device that so many shows seem to use as a norm now, so it actually doesn't feel odd because of this familiarity). As a mainstream sitcom it is just what you could hope for and there is a reason it continues to do well, because it manages to feel subversive, but yet still totally accessible to all viewers, and it manages to feel dangerous with some of the material, while never going far from the safe sitcom base of family, lessons and life.
And it is the more genre flipsides there that stick with me – even though I absolutely know it is unfair to come to a network sitcom and expect it not to be a sitcom. I do just wish that it didn't so frequently come back to a point of sentiment, and that it didn't always feel so incredibly polished and produced – again, I get that this is precisely what it is, but I still hope for just a little grit in this perfectly refined ointment. As with the first season, the guest stars work against my enjoyment; mainly because the show doesn't need them, but also that it reminds me that right from the start this show had a huge amount of resources available for it. The main cast though are very good and generally make the most of their material; again I wish the characters were not quite so polished and sitcom but I know it comes with the turf.
It is a good sign when your only complaints are pretty much invalid, and so it is with me and Modern Family. I have too many reservations to really love it, but I do enjoy it for what it is as it is very polished and professional in its production. Accept it for its genre flaws and you'll find a very good example of what the network sitcom does well.