Everyone’s favorite Pritchett/Dunphy clan is back and as hilarious as ever. Modern Family has won the Emmy award for Outstanding Comedy Series for the past two years, and is up for the award again for this third season, along with 13 other nominations including Best Supporting Actor nominations for Ed O’Neill, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ty Burrell and Eric Stonestreet, and Best Supporting Actress nominations for Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara.
The third season opens with the family on their summer vacation at a dude ranch in Wyoming. Lily is now older, walking and talking, and this allows the writers to do more with her character. There’s a really fun episode where she has learned a new four-letter word and Cam and Mitchell are worried when this ticking time bomb will go off in public.
In the Dunphy household, Haley is applying for college and wondering about her future with Dylan, Alex gets her first kiss and starts dating, and Luke seems to have become a master manipulator. Phil makes a new friend and decides on a career change while Claire contemplates running for Town Counsel after her pleas for a neighborhood stop sign go ignored. Meanwhile, Cam and Mitchel are trying to adopt a baby boy to extend their family, which doesn’t sit well with Lily. And Jay, Gloria and Manny work on becoming a closer family.
The writing this season is as sharp and witty as ever. The series was running on all cylinders all season—there are so many laugh-out-loud moments. Some examples are Haley getting “Uncle” Manny to chaperone her party, Cam accepting a challenge to pick up a woman at bar, and Manny teaching jay to salsa dance. And pretty much any scene involving Phil or Luke Dunphy had me grinning—those two are my favorite characters.
The writers are constantly finding new ways for the various characters to interact. For example, this season Manny and Luke partner up quite a bit. In one episode, they go on a hilarious 3 MPH joy ride to impress a girl, and in another they team up to take out Lily because she is the new “cute one” getting all of the attention. Also, Luke and Gloria are paired up in the “Express Christmas” episode, which leads to some really fun dialog and play on words with Gloria’s accent.
What this series does so well is adding heart to the hilarious comedy. There are so many great episodes this season, such as “Virgin Territory”. This episode combines the humor of Cameron hunting for his missing Tupperware and Phil finding out that Haley isn’t as pure as he thought, with the father-child bonding between Jay and Mitchell and Phil and his daughters. Each episode usually ends with some touching but funny family moment.
The Modern Family cast is hilarious and they all have such great chemistry. So one thing I always enjoy on this show is when the whole ensemble comes together. This season, we see the whole clan go on a trip to a dude ranch, plan and celebrate Christmas in 4 hours, celebrate Thanksgiving with some Punkin Chunkin, and go on a family trip to Disneyland.
This season also has a lot of great guest stars, including Justin Kirk, David Cross, Chazz Palminteri, Jennifer Tilly, Josh Gad, Benjamin Bratt, Philip Baker Hall, Greg Kinnear, Ellen Barkin, Bobby Cannavale and Barry Corbin.
Modern Family is a show that can easily be watched over and over again and the jokes never get old. In the third season, the series is still as funny as every, and I highly recommend picking this set up!
What’s Included on the Blu-ray:
Episodes:
- All 24 episodes of Season 3 (8:36:15)
- Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
- English SDH, Spanish, French subtitles
Extras:
- Deleted and Extended Scenes (22:39)
Disc 1 (6:29) – ten scenes from episodes “Dude Ranch”, “When Good Kids Go Bad”, “Phil on Wire”, “Door to Door”, “Treehouse”, “After the Fire” and “Punkin Chunkin”
Disc 2 (8:56) – thirteen scenes from “Lifetime Supply”, “Egg Drop”, “Little Bo Bleep” and “Aunt Mommy” (including more of Phil’s appearance on the “Smarty Pants” Game Show)
Disc 3 (7:14) twelve scenes from “Election Day”, “The Last Walt”, “Planes, Trains and Cars”, “Disneyland”, “Tableau Vivant” and “Baby on Board” - Destination: Wyoming (9:43)
Behind the scenes featurette following the cast and crew from L.A. to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to shoot the season premiere on location. - A Day on the Set with Ty (5:38)
Cameras follow Ty Burrell as he films the “Election Day” episode directed by Bryan Cranston. - Adventures of the Modern Family Kids (3:35)
Behind the scenes featurette following Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (Lily Tucker-Pritchett), Rico Rodriguez (Manny Delgado), Ariel Winter (Alex Dunphy) and Nolan Gould (Luke Dunphy) having fun outdoors in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. - A Modern Family Christmas (5:59)
Director Michael Spiller and Rico Rodriguez talk about the “Express Christmas” episode. - Driving Lessons (2:55)
Rico Rodriquez and Nolan Gould talk about the “Virgin Territory” episode and their 3 MPH joy ride. - Ed O’Neill Gets a Star (16:46)
Footage from the ceremony honoring Ed O’Neill with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Includes speeches by Steve Levitan, Katey Sagal and Sofia Vergara. - Modern Family Goes to Disneyland Resort (3:11)
The cast talks about filming the “Disneyland” episode. - Gag Reel (8:56)
Everything you’d expect in a fun gag reel. The Sofia Vergara outtakes had me laughing out loud!
Final Thoughts:
I love that these TV show sets from FOX Home Entertainment continue to have the season play option. It keeps track of where you are in the season, so you can easily pick up from where you left off. I originally watched Modern Family on the ABC HD channel, and this Blu-ray looks even better. The picture is incredibly crisp and detailed and the sound is great.
Modern Family gets funnier every time I watch it, and these episodes have a high rewatch value. There are a lot of great extras on this set, including lots of behind the scenes featurettes and a really fun gag reel. The only thing I found missing was cast/crew commentaries. I highly recommend picking this up!
