What I’m Watching: Modern Family

Modern Family: Season 4, Episode 11 “New Year’s Eve” (B+)

I’ve become somewhat frustrated with this show recently because of its never-ending awards streak, which I thought was well-deserved but a bit excessive at this point. It could well continue with a Best TV Series – Comedy/Musical Golden Globe win tonight, so we’ll see if that further detracts from my affection for the show. But for now, I did enjoy this episode, which focused on a holiday we’ve already passed but gave all of the characters something fun and unusual to do. In fact, the only two doing something normal were Jay and Gloria, with the former trying to enjoy himself while the rest of his family is elsewhere, and the latter giving in to the urges created by her pregnancy. An unexpected cameo from Billy Dee Williams was random but fun, and enjoyable mainly for Jay’s reaction to it. Claire desperately seeking to rekindle her passion with Phil was nice, and he was rather sweet when he realized what was bothering her. Ending up at a nudist party was more horrifying and hilarious than what I had expected from the bellhop’s initial invitation. Cameron and Mitchell trying to stay up until midnight and feel young again was a blast, and it was good to see them free from Lily for a while. Alex and Haley teaming up to deal with Luke trying to have a girl in his room was fantastic, and Manny’s reaction to her friend that wasn’t into him was priceless. The adults on this show are great, but please, let’s have some more opportunities for all the kids to be together too.