Modern Family
ABC | Release Date: May 12, 2009
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
87
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
People WeeklyTom GliattoDec 15, 2010
Season 1 Review: This remains far and away the best prime-time sitcom: crisp and farcical, but very kind. [25 Oct 2010, p.37]
100
USA TodayRobert BiancoOct 21, 2010
Season 2 Review: Not since Frasier has a sitcom offered such an ideal blend of heart and smarts, or proven itself so effortlessly adept at so many comic variations, from subtle wordplay to big-laugh slapstick to everything in between Read full review
100
People WeeklyTom GliattoOct 20, 2010
Season 2 Review: Modern Family flows along as seamlessly perfect as it did last year. [25 Oct 2010, p.37]
100
Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser
Season 1 Review: This fast-paced mockumentary perfectly captures the experience of parenthood. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: Modern Family has the finest cast of any new fall show and, thank goodness, this excellent comedy gives these talented performers the kind of sharp material they deserve. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Season 1 Review: In a fall season surprisingly flush with good sitcoms, the best new comedy by far--and it's not that close of a race - is Modern Family on ABC. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker
Season 1 Review: Modern Family works because it does something the network sitcom hasn't managed in years: It offers a comic equation for almost every audience segment, while never blanding out the characters for mass consumption. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: Long on heart, brimming with great characters, smartly cast, expertly written and funny from start to finish, Family is the obvious choice for best new fall comedy--and possibly best series. Read full review
90
The New York TimesGinia Bellafante
Season 1 Review: Tthe best new half-hour of funny television in a season rife with half-hours of funny television. Read full review
90
TimeJames Poniewozik
Season 1 Review: This is the funniest sitcom pilot of the fall. Read full review
90
SalonHeather Havrilesky
Season 1 Review: Instead of the usual family sitcom curse of clichés and bad "Full House" jokes, Modern Family captures the absurdities, quirks and freakish flaws of today's extended family in ways that feel lively, unique and just dark and mean-spirited enough to be...well, accurate. Read full review
90
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: The family comedy gets a welcome and winning update in ABC's Modern Family, the fall's best new sitcom. Read full review
90
TV Guide MagazineMatt Roush
Season 1 Review: This show earns its laughter with sharp writing, brilliant casting and characters that hit very close to home while often striking a nerve (mostly the funny bone). Read full review
88
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: The best of the bunch, and the best new series of the fall, comes first. Read full review
88
New York PostLinda Stasi
Season 1 Review: It's funny, it's vicious, it's politically incorrect--in other words, everything that "Community" wants to be and isn't. Read full review
88
Slant MagazinePeter Swanson
Season 1 Review: Most of the episodes so far have ended with a simulacrum of a group hug, an acknowledgement that, even though they don't always get along, this family loves one another. So far, these moments have worked on the show, but the formula could get tired. Read full review
83
NewsdayVerne Gay
Season 1 Review: Modern Family is good. Better than good. Really good. O'Neil--dry and wonderful as ever--and Vergara (considerably less dry) are a winning combination. Read full review
80
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: Flitting among three storylines, it's smart, nimble and best of all, funny, while actually making a point about the evolving nature of what constitutes "family." Read full review
80
Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Season 1 Review: It's not too early, however, to heap praise onto this astute, well-written show and its many specific wonders. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara
Season 1 Review: Modern Family is sharp, timely and fresh, complicated enough to be interesting but with a soft, sweet center because, and I'm speaking loudly so even cable channels can hear, there is nothing wrong with that. Read full review
80
Washington PostTom Shales
Season 1 Review: [The mockumentary style is] used not to excess but to success, which is just what this wise, clever and bighearted comedy ought to be. Read full review
80
Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
Season 1 Review: For the first time since Married...With Children stood the genre on its head two decades ago, somebody has come up with a new take on the family sitcom, and the results are riotously funny. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: It's like three, maybe four sitcoms all squeezed into one, and quite an enjoyable one. Read full review
80
Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Season 1 Review: Though I enjoyed NBC’s pilot for Community a little bit more, "Modern Family" has as assured and entertaining a start as you could hope for. Read full review
80
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Season 1 Review: ABC is taking it one step at a time as it uses its biggest hit, "Dancing with the Stars," to give three of those shows a fighting chance. At least one of them actually deserves it. That would be Modern Family. Read full review
80
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 1 Review: Any one of these families has the potential to power a decent sitcom, but Modern Family manages to juggle all three in a balancing act that is not just funny, but heartwarming, and when was the last time you saw that on TV? Read full review
80
SlateTroy Patterson
Season 1 Review: The pacing of the show's jokes, which heralds a welcome respect for the quickness of the audience, helps all the humor pop. Of course, good-old dumb physical juxtapositions don't hurt, either. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalDorothy Rabinowitz
Season 1 Review: For their part, Messrs. Levitan and Lloyd set their ambitious sights on a rare kind of comedy, and they have, it appears, found the gold. Read full review
75
Slant MagazinePeter SwansonOct 20, 2011
Season 3 Review: In an era when cable TV writers can focus their talents on just 10 or 12 episodes at a time, 24 exceptional installments of a network comedy is an increasingly tall order, even for the creators of a show that remains the best family sitcom on TV. Read full review
70
PopMattersLeigh H. Edwards
Season 1 Review: With its deft writing and sharp performances, the show is a telling snapshot of how families live now. Read full review
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