‘Modern Family’: Back to school in October?

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Everyone welcome me with open arms, or at least force yourself to. I’m Gerrick, and I’m the new Show Tracker for “Modern Family.” I won’t lie. I’m majorly obsessed with this show, and I’m willing to fight to the death with anyone who says this isn’t the best new show of the fall. On ABC.

Thanks to a rerun of “The Simpsons” and with no “Glee” to watch, I was able to catch “Modern Family” live on TV for the first time all season — a major accomplishment for me — and I didn’t have to be huddled in front of my computer sitting through awkward commercials on Hulu.

For all of you not watching the show, let me catch you up to speed quickly. The mockumentary-style show follows an awkwardly blended family that includes the patriarch, Jay (played by original family guy Ed O’Neill), and his much younger wife, Gloria (Sofia Vergara), and together they raise Gloria’s son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez II). Jay’s two kids and their families include daughter Claire (Julie Bowen) -- who has the typical American family, although her husband is close to insane (and I love him for that) -- and son Mitchell, whose boyfriend, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), is unabashedly flamboyant.
You all caught up now? OK, good.

It was back-to-school time for the families — a plot I’ve could have done without considering it’s October and my schedule says you should be having the traditional Halloween episode. Catch up, ABC.

Manny, who is proud of his heritage, planned on going to school in a traditional Colombian poncho (hey, at least I’d get my costume for the night). He wanted to make a good impression on his American classmates, but Jay wasn’t impressed and asked Gloria an equally insensitive yet hilarious question, “Am I driving him to school, or is he riding his burro?”

While Jay was busy talking Manny out of displaying his roots, Claire and her husband, Phil, were busy arguing over who got up earlier to get the kids ready. Phil thought Claire, who rose at 6 a.m. every day, was showing off for the cameras and quipped, “That’s you? I thought we had a raccoon.”
Phil (Ty Burrell), much like Cameron, makes every scene he’s in his own. Both are always spot on, and last night was no exception. Like when Phil decided to race Claire, who just wanted to enjoy her day off. And when Cameron spent much of his time dressing adopted Vietnamese daughter Lily as iconic pop stars, including Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross (“The RCA years.’ Yay! More costumes!), and placed a huge afro on her head, later describing it as “ghetto fabulous.”

I know it’s only a few episodes in, but I have a beef with the show, and it comes to my boys Cameron and Mitchell. I love how ABC continues to show gay couples on their prime-time shows ... but ... Cameron and Mitchell look like BFFs and not lovers. Have they even kissed? Wait, have they even hugged? They aren’t like Jay and Gloria, from whom you can at least get the hint that they are madly in love, or Claire and Phil, who have a natural chemistry.
Maybe I’m asking for too much from ABC. I mean, after all, you gave me a back-to-school episode in late October.

Any other ‘Modern Family’ fans out there? What do you think?

— Gerrick Kennedy

(Follow me on Twitter @GerrickKennedy.)