Modern Family

I'm hopping on the bandwagon and have just finished my very first episode of Modern Family.

I think Modern Family is an extremely creative concept on many levels. While I already quite enjoy the comedic mockumentary aspect I think that the idea of showing real families is incredibly - and humorously - enjoyable.

Of course shows that display the "perfect family" are truly enjoyed by people like me (Full House, The Brady Bunch, Family Ties, etc.) however, there is something about the honesty and brutality of the real family that is truly entertaining.

One of my favourite television shows growing up was Roseanne - a show which did not include the perfectly fit and always hair-and-make-up-ready mother like Mrs. Brady but instead a rather fuller-figured Roseanne Barr who never hesitated to give one of her kids a firm backhand or tease her husband rather harshly.

The three Connor kids on Roseanne dealt with real issues like pregnancy, smoking, drugs, alcohol as well as an unwed aunt with two kids.

Few would look back at this show however and think of it as a nasty, awful show that displayed a loss of humanity. No, people look back on a hilarious show that had people connecting to real issues and relatable humour.

On that note, I'd just to like to express my excitement for perhaps a new addiction: The Modern Family.

Reruns

I have every season of Friends, every season of Sex and the City, every season of Full House and every season of Brothers & Sisters.

By owning every season for a number of years, one can only imagine how many times I've watched each episode... let's just say, enough times to know every word of Friends and Sex and the City and almost every word of the other two.

Today I got to thinking about why we watch reruns. We know what stories are going to arise and we know how each story's conflict will be resolved in the next 20 minutes. So why bother?

Perhaps because these characters, these people suddenly feel like our friends, our family.

I always catch myself saying "I love Samantha!" "Chandler would do that!" "Kevin always makes me laugh."

We tend to talk about TV show characters as if they are real people in our lives. Perhaps that is the true beauty of owning DVDs of these shows... We don't just watch them for the sake of a laugh or need for drama...we watch them to visit old pals.

There will be times when over the course of a couple weeks, I'll watch 4 seasons of Full House and by the end of it, I feel the need to see my old friend Carrie again. It's like I miss her.

Sounds crazy doesn't it... but ask yourself this: how'd you feel if you never saw your "friends" again?