A thanksgiving feast for the Modern Family, The New Normal

MANILA, Philippines - The recent surprise wedding of Carmina Villarroel with Zoren Legazpi, in what Entertainment Editor Ricky Lo dubbed as “flashmob-style” ceremonies, underscored the glimmering hope that humanity keeps for the family as a safe harbor in this ailing and aging society. The public’s curiosity was piqued by the twist that this is the second marriage for Mina, who like their twins Cassy and Mavy, was a prime talent for TV commercials in her childhood. We remember with quizzical eyebrows that her first was with model-actor Rustom Padilla, who has long since metamorphosed into a beguiling shrew, named BB Gandanghari.

American television is rife with family-oriented shows that capitalize on the dynamics of families, their shared ups and downs and quest for that elusive perfect harmony. We remember the long-running soaps like Dynasty with its cutthroat Carrington Family, Dallas with JR and the other crafty Ewings, and its spin-off, Knots Landing, where Alec Baldwin made his mark in the cul-de-sac of Seaview Circle, and my all-time favorite Falcon Crest, with the bickering Channings led by Angela, the steel matriarch played by Ronald Regan’s wife, Jane Wyman, and her faithful butler Chao Li, (the only pure-hearted character in the series as the rest were all as sharp talonned as the bird in their family’s escutcheon).

Of course, there are the groundbreaking series on the nuclear and extended family, The Cosby Show, All in the Family, Eight is Enough, The Partridge Family, the outstanding Everybody Loves Raymond and Still Standing, the wacky Malcolm in the Middle and the wackier The Middle, as well as on the unconventional family of choice, the platonic Three’s Company and its spin-off The Ropers, the racy Three and a Half Men, the monster hit Friends, the immortal The Golden Girls and its reincarnation, Hot in Cleveland, and even the sci-fi Third Rock from the Sun.

Two new family sitcoms, both filmed with a single camera set-up — Modern Family and The New Normal — are taking the evolving concept of family into a new level, treading on issues that the once puritan ethic of America would rather put under lock and key.

Modern Family by producers Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, which debuted on ABC on Sept. 23, 2009, is presented in mockumentary style, wherein the characters frequently take the viewers into their confidence by talking directly into the camera. It tells of Jay Pritchett (played by Ed O’ Neill), his second wife and stepson, and his two children and their families. The series, which premiered to critical acclaim, ran away with several Emmys and Golden Globes, including Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (twice in a row) for Julie Bowen, who plays Jay’s feisty daughter Claire. We remember Bowen as the school marm sweetheart of a small-town lawyer in the eponymous series, Ed. The NBC comedy-drama co-produced by David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Incorporated, NBC Productions (now Universal Television) and Viacom Productions (now CBS Television Studios) that aired from 2000 to 2004 starred Tom Cavanagh as Edward Jeremy Stevens, who left New York after a failed law practice and marriage. 

Jay’s gay son, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), a lawyer, and his partner Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) have adopted a Vietnamese baby, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons). Playing Jay’s second wife is Sofia Vergara, the Colombian actress who is giving the Italian icon Gina Lollobrigida a run for her loud and thickly accented voice. She is a stand-out as Gloria Delgado, a beauty salon worker who is a single mother to a Little Man Tate, Manny (Rico Rodriguez).

Thus far, the plot has been thickening with Jay’s split family, his mixed-race, May-December second marriage, the gay partnership and adopted Asian baby of his son, and the sibling rivalry of the three children (Hailey, Alex and Luke) of the only traditional marriage in the extended family, that of Claire and Phil Dunphy. The ensemble cast has essayed ticklish issues in the capers of the adults and children like Hailey’s relationship with her boyfriend, Lily’s cursing during a wedding, the Dunphy kids walking in on their parents en flagrante delicto. Playing the role of Jay’s first wife DeDe (the mother of Claire and Mitchell), is Shelley Long, whom we may remember from the long running Cheers (1982-1993), the NBC sitcom created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles and Les Charles.

It will be recalled that Ed O’Neill was also the protagonist of another hilarious sitcom that aired for 11 seasons (1987-1997) featuring a dysfunctional family living in a fictional Chicago, Illinois suburb, Married with Children. The show, with the famous theme song Love and Marriage, performed by Frank Sinatra from the 1955 TV production of Our Town, was created by Michael Moye and Ron Leavitt. It also starred Katey Segal as the wife to Ed’s Al Bundy and Christina Applegate as the couple’s dumb blond daughter, and is notable for being the first primetime series to air on Fox, which ran from April 5, 1987 to June 9, 1997.

The show was known for handling non-standard topics for its time, which garnered the then-fledgling Fox network a standing among the Big Three television networks. Katey Segal later partnered with the late John Ritter who enjoyed immense popularity in the sitcom Three’s Company, in the short-lived series 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (2002-2005). Applegate now has her own family-oriented series, too, opposite Will Arnett — NBC’s Up All Night.

The New Normal is not over its birthing pains yet as it just premiered this year on NBC, with its pilot episode’s early release on NBC.com before its TV debut. TV producer Bryan (Andrew Rannells) and gynecologist David (Justin Bartha) are a gay couple living it up in Los Angeles with only missing piece in their maverick puzzle — a baby. They meet Goldie (Georgia King), a single mother and waitress from Ohio, who has moved to L.A. with her nine-year-old precocious daughter Shania (Bebe Wood) to escape their former life and start anew. An Endora encarnate (the meddling mother-in-law from the ’60s sitcom Bewitched), Jane (Ellen Barkin), Goldie’s conservative grandmother, follows her family to the city against her granddaughter’s wishes, thus complicating her granddaughter and the gay couple’s neat surrogacy deal. The series has nudged on the scourges of American society like bigotry, materialism and gadget addiction.

Not having a power cast like Modern Family, The New Normal is a dark horse whose mettle is yet to be proven in the coming episodes. In the story titled Bryanzilla in its short annals, Shania has a pretend engagement to a boy at school. Bryan becomes frantic and begins planning what is to be the wedding of his dreams for the smart girl. Goldie is supportive of her daughter’s decision, but Jane is adamant because she believes this is a sacred institution not to be trifled with. David has an epiphany on how important wedding and marriage is to Bryan.

Families, both on TV and the real world, may vacillate from bonding to bickering, but at the end of the day, blood will still be thicker than water, we say. TV families have always found redemption in forgiveness no matter how wounding their intramurals may have been. The enduring theme of solidarity resonates with the biggest American holiday that gathers family members back to home and hearth — thanksgiving. As one of the American founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, wrote: â€œThe happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of Heaven; and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind.”