dido greek
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Modern Family, "The Bicycle Thief": The devil wears paisley
Quick thoughts on episode two of "Modern Family" coming up just as soon as I dance for my baby... The fear when a comedy does a pilot as confident and funny as the "Modern Family" debut - one that was so good it even has other, Emmy-winning comedy writers raving about it - is that the writers used up all their best jokes on the pilot, and they've got nothing left for the series.
"The Bicycle Thief," thankfully, put those fears to bed.
The three branches of the family tree were kept largely apart - and the women were kept on the sideline on top of that, playing spectator to the fatherhood theme - but that gave a chance for Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Ty Burrell and Ed O'Neill (and Rico Rodriguez, who plays Manny) to shine. Cameron's frustration at having to rein in his more flamboyant qualities was a particular highlight, but Phil's horror as the divorced hottie wheeled the third bike up the driveway was also hilarious, and very well set-up.
Nothing fancy or groundbreaking here - there was even another heartwarming monologue by Ed O'Neill at the end - but funny and well-executed. I'm pleased, and I'm in.
What did everybody else think?
Cougar Town, "Into the Great Wide Open": I'm getting too old for this stuff
Some quick thoughts on tonight's "Cougar Town" coming up just as soon as I put peanuts in your wine... Opinion seemed split on the series pilot, with some people finding it funny and others finding it too desperate to work. I fell largely on the "funny" side (though there's always a flop sweat element to Courteney Cox's performances, in any role), and while I didn't find "Into the Great Wide Open" nearly as funny, it actually made me feel more confident about the show's long-term prospects than the pilot did.
That's primarily because of the scene near the end where Jules yells at Ellie from across their lawns about how she understands what she's doing is stupid, and that everyone's laughing at her, but she doesn't care because she wants to try it. That level of self-awareness on Jules' part is crucial; if she's deluded about how she's acting, and how it looks, the show gets unbearable in a hurry.
On the other hand, it's worth noting that most of the jokes that worked in this one involved the men, whether it was Ellie's husband's frustration at being a pawn in her feud with Jules (and then enjoying some time alone at Grayson's bachelor pad) or Travis' mortification on having to ride on his dad's golf cart. Bill Lawrence candidly admitted that the original cut of the pilot felt too much like it was written by guys pretending to understand a woman's problems. He and Kevin Beigel have since hired a bunch of female writers (including Mara Brock Akil from "Girlfriends"), and maybe their episodes will more evenly distribute the laughs than Lawrence's script did here, but that's something to keep an eye on going forward.
What did everybody else think?
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