Modern Family (season 3)
Encyclopedia
Modern Family
was officially renewed for a third season on January 10, 2011. The season began with a one-hour premiere September 21, 2011 on ABC
in the United States. The series airs at 9:00 pm ET on Wednesday on ABC and is produced by 20th Century Fox Television
and Lloyd-Levitan Productions with creators Steven Levitan
and Christopher Lloyd
as show runners.
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and Lloyd-Levitan Productions and will air on the American Broadcasting Company
(ABC). Modern Family is produced by co-creators Christopher Lloyd
and Steven Levitan
who serve as executive producers and show runner
s with Bill Wrubel as co-executive producer. The season premiere will be filmed at a dude ranch
according to Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet
. The top choice for the setting for the dude ranch was Jackson, Wyoming
. Other cities that were under consideration were Tucson, Arizona
and Bozeman, Montana
. The premiere will also be the first one hour episode for the series. The season will feature the second Christmas episode and the first thanksgiving episode. The season will also add new writers including Cindy Chupack
as co-executive producer and Ben Karlin
as consulting producer.
. The series focuses on Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill
), his daughter Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen
), and his son Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson
) who live in Los Angeles
. Claire is a homemaker
mom married to Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell
); they have three children, Haley (Sarah Hyland
), the typical teenager, Alex (Ariel Winter
), the smart middle child and Luke (Nolan Gould
), the offbeat only son. Jay is married to a much younger Colombian woman, Gloria (Sofía Vergara
), and is helping her raise her pre-teen son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Mitchell and his partner Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet
) have adopted
a Vietnamese
baby, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons). The kids are only required to appear in 22 episodes.
Near the end of the second season, there were rumors of the producers recasting the role of Lily, and changing her age from a baby to a toddler. In July 2011, a casting call for a "3- to 4-year-old daughter of Mitchell and Cameron" was put out by the producers. They eventually cast Aubrey Anderson-Emmons to replace Jayden and Ella Hiller. The season will also feature the developing of Lily's character. There is a possibility of Cameron and Mitchell adopting another baby although it is not definite. The season will also feature Haley's senior year of high school, and her being shown at least one prospect for college. The season will also feature several guest stars. In the season premiere, Tim Blake Nelson
guest starred as a cowboy who "intimidates the guys and sends the girls' hearts a-twitter". Benjamin Bratt
is currently slated to guest star as Manny's biological father and Gloria's ex-husband. This will mark Bratt's second appearance on the series. David Cross
will also have a recurring role on the series as a city councilman who becomes enemies with Claire.
. Aided by winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
for the second time, ratings for the one-hour season premiere, "Dude Ranch
"/"When Good Kids Go Bad
", rose up 18% compared to the previous season premiere, "The Old Wagon
" making it the highest rated episode for the series and the highest rated ABC premiere in six years. "Dude Ranch"/"When Good Kids Go Bad" finished fourth in the ratings with a 6.2 rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The high ratings have led to a rise in cost for an ad, with an average of $249,388 per 30-second commercial, making it one of the highest costing shows of the season.
reviewer Peter Swanson wrote that while the first episode was "the type of wacky-location stunt that's usually reserved for the fifth or sixth season of a dying sitcom", the following episodes "have been better [...] but they're still uneven". He also critiziced the writers for relying too much on "stunt episodes and celebrity cameos, like David Cross". He ultimately gave the season 3 out of 4 stars. HitFix
reviewers Alan Sepinwall and Daniel Feinberg considered the season uneven and Feinberg criticized the season for the multitude of guest stars like David Cross
. Sepinwall also criticized the writing for Bowen's character for being "shrill and angry". Despite this, they both complemented the performance of the kids. James Parker of The Atlantic said, at the beginning of the third season that "Modern Family is very, very funny, almost ruthlessly so," [It's] a bit of a master class in pace and brevity ... The writing is Vorsprung durch Technik
: hectically compressed but dramatically elegant, prodigal in its zingers and snorters but austere in its construction." He found it an exception to his dislike for sitcoms that eschew a laugh track
.
Modern Family
Modern Family is an American television comedy series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, which debuted on ABC on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label...
was officially renewed for a third season on January 10, 2011. The season began with a one-hour premiere September 21, 2011 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in the United States. The series airs at 9:00 pm ET on Wednesday on ABC and is produced by 20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
and Lloyd-Levitan Productions with creators Steven Levitan
Steven Levitan
Steven E. Levitan is an American director, screenwriter and producer of television comedies. He has created such TV series as Just Shoot Me!, Stark Raving Mad, Stacked, Back to You, and Modern Family....
and Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd (screenwriter)
Christopher Lloyd is an American TV screenwriter and producer of Wings, Frasier, Out of Practice, Back to You, and Modern Family...
as show runners.
Episodes
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Crew
The third season of the show will be produced by 20th Century Fox Television20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
and Lloyd-Levitan Productions and will air on the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(ABC). Modern Family is produced by co-creators Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd (screenwriter)
Christopher Lloyd is an American TV screenwriter and producer of Wings, Frasier, Out of Practice, Back to You, and Modern Family...
and Steven Levitan
Steven Levitan
Steven E. Levitan is an American director, screenwriter and producer of television comedies. He has created such TV series as Just Shoot Me!, Stark Raving Mad, Stacked, Back to You, and Modern Family....
who serve as executive producers and show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
s with Bill Wrubel as co-executive producer. The season premiere will be filmed at a dude ranch
Dude ranch
The guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism.-History:...
according to Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet is an American actor, known for his starring role as Cameron Tucker on the ABC comedy Modern Family. Stonestreet has received critical acclaim for his performance in Modern Family and won the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his...
. The top choice for the setting for the dude ranch was Jackson, Wyoming
Jackson, Wyoming
Jackson is a town located in the Jackson Hole valley of Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 8,647 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Teton County....
. Other cities that were under consideration were Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
and Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The 2010 census put Bozeman's population at 37,280 making it the fourth largest city in the state. It is the principal city of the Bozeman micropolitan area, which consists...
. The premiere will also be the first one hour episode for the series. The season will feature the second Christmas episode and the first thanksgiving episode. The season will also add new writers including Cindy Chupack
Cindy Chupack
Cindy Chupack is a screenwriter and executive producer who worked on Sex and the City. Four episodes she produced were nominated for WGA and Emmy awards....
as co-executive producer and Ben Karlin
Ben Karlin
Ben Karlin is an American television producer. He is an eight time Emmy-winning American writer and executive producer best known for his work in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. He is one of three co-creators of The Colbert Report along with Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart...
as consulting producer.
Cast
Modern Family employs an ensemble castEnsemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
. The series focuses on Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill
Ed O'Neill
Edward Phillip "Ed" O'Neill, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the Fox Network sitcom Married... with Children, for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes...
), his daughter Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen is an American film and television actress. She played Carol Vessey on Ed and Denise Bauer on Boston Legal. She is best known for playing Claire Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011...
), and his son Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson is an American actor who portrays Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family. Previously he played the role of Richie Velch in the CBS sitcom The Class. He is openly gay.-Life and career:...
) who live in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Claire is a homemaker
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
mom married to Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell
Ty Burrell
- External links :*...
); they have three children, Haley (Sarah Hyland
Sarah Hyland
Sarah Jane Hyland is an American actress, currently starring as Haley Dunphy on the ABC comedy Modern Family.-Life and career:...
), the typical teenager, Alex (Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter Workman , known in television shows and films as Ariel Winter, is an American teen actress and singer. Winter is best known for her current role as Alex Dunphy in the TV series Modern Family, for which she has won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series, along...
), the smart middle child and Luke (Nolan Gould
Nolan Gould
Nolan Gould is an American child actor best known for his starring role as Luke Dunphy on the ABC comedy Modern Family. He is the brother of Aidan Gould-Acting career:...
), the offbeat only son. Jay is married to a much younger Colombian woman, Gloria (Sofía Vergara
Sofía Vergara
Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara is a Colombian actress, comedian, television hostess and model.Vergara had been widely known for co-hosting two TV shows for Univisión in the late 1990s. Her TV career opened up for her a window of exposure to North American audiences prior to her first notable...
), and is helping her raise her pre-teen son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Mitchell and his partner Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet is an American actor, known for his starring role as Cameron Tucker on the ABC comedy Modern Family. Stonestreet has received critical acclaim for his performance in Modern Family and won the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his...
) have adopted
International adoption
International adoption is a type of adoption in which an individual or couple becomes the legal and permanent parents of a child that is a national of a different country...
a Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
baby, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons). The kids are only required to appear in 22 episodes.
Near the end of the second season, there were rumors of the producers recasting the role of Lily, and changing her age from a baby to a toddler. In July 2011, a casting call for a "3- to 4-year-old daughter of Mitchell and Cameron" was put out by the producers. They eventually cast Aubrey Anderson-Emmons to replace Jayden and Ella Hiller. The season will also feature the developing of Lily's character. There is a possibility of Cameron and Mitchell adopting another baby although it is not definite. The season will also feature Haley's senior year of high school, and her being shown at least one prospect for college. The season will also feature several guest stars. In the season premiere, Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father...
guest starred as a cowboy who "intimidates the guys and sends the girls' hearts a-twitter". Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...
is currently slated to guest star as Manny's biological father and Gloria's ex-husband. This will mark Bratt's second appearance on the series. David Cross
David Cross
David Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
will also have a recurring role on the series as a city councilman who becomes enemies with Claire.
Ratings
Like the previous two seasons, Modern Family aired Wednesday at 9:00pm and is coupled with Happy EndingsHappy Endings (TV series)
Happy Endings is an American television series for the ABC network. The single-camera ensemble comedy premiered on April 13, 2011, as a midseason replacement, with a one-hour premiere of two back-to-back episodes starting at 9:30 pm ET/PT...
. Aided by winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...
for the second time, ratings for the one-hour season premiere, "Dude Ranch
Dude Ranch (Modern Family)
"Dude Ranch" is the third season premiere of the American sitcom Modern Family and the 49th episode overall. The episode originally aired on September 21, 2011 on American Broadcasting Company and ran back-to-back with "When Good Kids Go Bad". The episode was written by Paul Corrigan, Brad Walsh...
"/"When Good Kids Go Bad
When Good Kids Go Bad
"When Good Kids Go Bad" is the second episode of the American sitcom Modern Familys third season and the 50th episode overall. "When Good Kids Go Bad" premiered on September 21, 2011 after "Dude Ranch" in a one-hour timeslot...
", rose up 18% compared to the previous season premiere, "The Old Wagon
The Old Wagon
"The Old Wagon" is the second season premiere of the American sitcom Modern Family and the 25th episode overall. "The Old Wagon" premiered on September 22, 2010.. The episode was written by Bill Wrubel and was directed by Michael Spiller...
" making it the highest rated episode for the series and the highest rated ABC premiere in six years. "Dude Ranch"/"When Good Kids Go Bad" finished fourth in the ratings with a 6.2 rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The high ratings have led to a rise in cost for an ad, with an average of $249,388 per 30-second commercial, making it one of the highest costing shows of the season.
Reviews
The season has received positive reviews from critics. Slant MagazineSlant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
reviewer Peter Swanson wrote that while the first episode was "the type of wacky-location stunt that's usually reserved for the fifth or sixth season of a dying sitcom", the following episodes "have been better [...] but they're still uneven". He also critiziced the writers for relying too much on "stunt episodes and celebrity cameos, like David Cross". He ultimately gave the season 3 out of 4 stars. HitFix
HitFix
HitFix, or the HitFix.com is an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information and providing reviews and critiques of film, music and television...
reviewers Alan Sepinwall and Daniel Feinberg considered the season uneven and Feinberg criticized the season for the multitude of guest stars like David Cross
David Cross
David Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
. Sepinwall also criticized the writing for Bowen's character for being "shrill and angry". Despite this, they both complemented the performance of the kids. James Parker of The Atlantic said, at the beginning of the third season that "Modern Family is very, very funny, almost ruthlessly so," [It's] a bit of a master class in pace and brevity ... The writing is Vorsprung durch Technik
Vorsprung durch Technik
Vorsprung durch Technik is the main strapline, or slogan, and company ethos for the German car maker Audi. It has been used since the 1970s in Audi advertising campaigns all over the world....
: hectically compressed but dramatically elegant, prodigal in its zingers and snorters but austere in its construction." He found it an exception to his dislike for sitcoms that eschew a laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...
.