Among the latest heavyweights of “sitcoms” on major American channels, the “Modern Family” series is hanging up, a new sign of the slowdown in a genre that is still very popular.
For its final, the series of the chain ABC offered two hours of programs, with a documentary at the opening then an episode in two parts, which will be broadcast Wednesday evening in the United States. The opportunity to have fun one last time the tribulations of the Pritchett clan, which has raged for 11 seasons and 248 episodes.
Even if it continues to produce audiences of good looks, nearly 4 million viewers per episode this season, “Modern Family” is quite far from the standards of its beginnings.
Golden globe
The series brought together an average of 14 million people in 2013-14, at a time when the place occupied by online video platforms was much less.
It was especially during its first seasons that it weighed, seducing the public and the critics alike, to the point of winning a Golden Globe for the best comedy series in 2012, the awards presented by the Association of Foreign Journalists of Hollywood.
“Modern Family” was able to combine the spiciness of removed dialogues and an offbeat staging of fake documentary like “The Office”, with a benevolent tone. “We started in 2009, at a time when comedy was resolutely oriented towards cynicism,” wrote for the Hollywood Reporter Christopher LLoyd, one of the two creators of the series. “And there were a lot of really funny things,” he recalled, “but there seemed to be an opening for a comedy that had feelings.”
The recipe worked, confirming that there was still a demand for a style presented as condemned.
Gay couple
The series was also praised for including a gay couple among its main characters, who adopted a baby girl. It was not the first of its kind, but its recurrence on the screen helped trivialize the presence of gay characters on American television. “Modern Family” also staged a Hispanic woman in a major role, which was done very little at the time.
The character of Gloria, Colombian by origin interpreted by Sofia Vergara, however, also received criticism from the authors, accused of having presented a caricature.
The production managed to complete the filming of the last episode before the confinement linked to the coronavirus.
Finally, “Modern Family” simply aims to bring, as for 11 years, “something a little positive, a little joy in people’s lives,” said Nolan Gould, who plays Luke Dunphy in series, at the “Hollywood Life” site. (dpa / nxp)
Created: 08.04.2020, 23:43
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