Even in its fifth season Modern Family continues to be at the top of its game, with a collection of 24 episodes that provide new laughs every time you re-watch them. The series is a hilarious family comedy about an extended family, and all the craziness that goes on in their lives.
One of the over-arching themes of the fifth season is the planning and events that lead up to Mitchell and Cam’s wedding, including the bachelor party (or lack thereof), the ceremony itself, and the various snags they face along the way. Every year the show does an episode that serves as an excuse to take the entire cast on a “family” vacation. This season Phil wants to explore his roots, so the Pritchett/Dunphy/Delgado/Tucker clan heads to Australia, the place where Phil was conceived.
My absolute favorite episode of the season (and one of my all-time favorites of the series) also involves the family going on a trip. The “Vegas” episode actually doesn’t even include the kids at all—it just follows the three adult couples as they head to Vegas for the weekend. While Phil auditions for a secret society of magicians, Gloria tries to prevent Jay from seeing/purchasing Rebarka (the female counterpart to his dog butler Barkley) and Mitchell tries to avoid the advances of an ex. All of this leads to a classic madcap bedroom farce filled with miscommunication and accidental room-swapping. And at the center of all of the misunderstandings is brilliant guest star Stephen Merchant as the well-meaning, non-judgmental hotel butler. The episode also features hilarious guest stars Fred Armisen and Patton Oswalt.
Some of the season’s other fun storylines include Luke and Manny starting high school, Claire working at Jay’s closet company; Phil becoming a real-estate gigolo of sorts; a visit from Cam’s older sister; and Mitch and Cam fighting over the same outfit. We also see Gloria and Jay hire manny Andy (Adam Devine) and the friendship that forms between Haley and him; Jay reuniting with his old colleagues, Cam becoming the football coach, Cam and Mitchell trying to get the year’s hottest Christmas toy for Lily, and Phil going to jail. Other fifth season storylines include Claire and Phil spying on Luke, a lice outbreak, Haley accompanying Phil to his annual realtor’s banquet, Gloria invoking mafia-like techniques to get Lily to confess to an incident she claims baby Joe was responsible for, an ugly wedding cake topper, and Phil caught in a lie that is spiraling out of control.
My two favorite characters on the show have to be Phil Dunphy and Lily, and both of them get some hilarious material this season. The fifth season also sees some top comedic talent join our favorite extended family as guest stars—just look at this amazing list: Justin Kirk, Andrew Daly, J.P. Manoux, Dianne Farr, Amy Yasbeck, Nathan Lane, Fred Willard, Jordan Peele, Elizabeth Peña, Jesse Eisenberg, Jane Krakowski, John Benjamin Hickey, Chazz Palminteri, Jennifer Tilly, Eddie McClintock, Rob Riggle, John Heard, Aisha Tyler, Will Sasso, Rhys Darby, Elizabeth Banks and Barry Corbin!
As for the DVD presentation, unfortunately Fox Home Entertainment has decided to drop the Blu-ray format this time around. The audio quality is great and makes use of the surround and stereo channels to add depth to the viewing experience. On the other hand, when I first started watching the episodes, I found the the picture to be less sharp and a bit muddier than I am used to—I pretty much watch everything in HD these days. However, it didn’t take long for my eyes to adjust and become used to the standard definition picture. Afterwards, I didn’t really have any issues with the quality of the picture. That said, I find this new trend trend of dropping the Blu-ray option for shows that originally aired in HD really disappointing—especially since the first four seasons of this award-winning program were previously released on Blu-ray. Plus it also poses a problem of how you store this larger DVD case along with the smaller Blu-ray seasons on your shelf.
As for bonus features, the DVD contains around 33 minutes of bonus material including extended footage added back into one episode, 4 more deleted/alternate scenes, 3 behind-the-scenes featurettes and a gag reel. What is included is really entertaining, but it would have be great if they would have also added some audio commentaries. This is a really fun show and it would have been nice to hear more behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the writers and actors.
What’s Included:
Episodes: (516 min)
- All 24 episodes of the fifth season:
“Suddenly, Last Summer”, “First Days”, “Larry’s Wife”, “Farm Strong”, “The Late Show”, “The Help”, “A Fair to Remember”, “ClosetCon ’13”, “The Big Game”, “The Old Man & the Tree”, “And One to Grow On”, “Under Pressure”, “Three Dinners”, “iSpy”, “The Feud”, “Spring-A-Ding-Fling”, “Other People’s Children”, “Las Vegas”, “A Hard Jay’s Night”, “Australia”, “Sleeper”, “Message Received”, “The Wedding (Parts 1 & 2)” - 480p / Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese
Extras:
- Extended Episode – The Big Game (22:59)
This extended version of the ninth episode of the season runs 1 min and 22 seconds longer than the televised version. The extra footage is seamlessy spread throughout the episode, and primarily consists of additional footage of Cam coaching the team. - Deleted and Alternate Scenes (2:11)
Four short scenes that include Jay kissing-up to his mother-in-law; Luke struggling to meet the garbage truck; Brett looking for an apology from Cam & Mitchell; and Gloria having a conversation about her father with Darlene. - Modern Family in Australia (8:34)
The cast and creators talk about filming this season’s vacation episode down under. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with executive producers Danny Zuker & Steven Levitan and stars Ariel Winter (“Alex Dunphy”), Sarah Hyland (“Haley Dunphy”), Ty Burrell (“Phil Dunphy”), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Mitchell Pritchett”), Eric Stonestreet (“Cameron Tucker”), Rico Rodriguez (“Manny Delgado”) and Nolan Gould (“Luke Dunphy”). - A Day with Jesse (5:48)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson takes viewers through the day of filming the scene where Mitch and Cam try to break into the dry cleaners to get Cam’s tux. We see Jesse in the make-up chair, harassing a stand-in, hanging out with Aubrey (“Lily”), asking producer Ben Karlin for more lines, and finally filming the scene. - Modern Family in Vegas (4:07)
Go on location in Las Vegas as executive producers Brad Walsh & Bill Wrubel discuss the premise of this season’s “Vegas” episode. Intercut with the discussion are behind-the-scenes footage and a guest appearance by actor Eric Stonestreet. - Mitch & Cam’s Wedding {7:55)
A behind-the-scenes look at the two-part season finale. Executive producers Dan O’Shannon, Bill Wrubel, Abraham Higginbothamm and Jeffrey Richman talk about planning the wedding and writing the series’ first two-parter. Stars Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson also give their thoughts on the episode and what it means for their characters. - Gag Reel (8:16)
This extended gag reel starts off with a montage of some of this season’s great physical humor moments, and then gets into the usual prop malfunctions, crack-ups, forgotten/flubbed lines and a dance montage, and finally finishes up with a string of unintelligible dialogue from Sofía Vergara.
Final Thoughts:
Modern Family remains one of the comedies I look forward to watching every week as it is consistently funny and always delivers some great laughs. The show also has a high rewatachability factor, which is why I love these DVD releases—I can watch my favorite episodes and scenes over and over again and still laugh every time. Also on the DVDs is a small but fun collection of bonus materials that every fan of the show will enjoy. While I am disappointed that Fox Home Entertainment chose not to offer a Blu-ray release this time around, the episodes themselves are enough to make the DVD highly recommended.
