ABC Comedy Wednesday Round-Up

The Middle
The 5th season premiere of The Middle was everything that's great about this show. The characters are both sweet and touching, and hilariously flawed. That makes for great comedy, as does the relatability of the show. Anyone who's ever left for college or dropped their kid off at college knew just what the Heck's were going through. Heck, anyone who ever shopped at Bed Bath and...er... Between knows what they were going through. With Season 5, The Middle's still going strong.

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Back in the Game
This new series didn't quite hit a home run, but Psych alum Maggie Lawson delivered a fantastic performance as the spunky tomboy single mom Terry. I was less enthused by James Caan's "The Cannon," but that may just be because his character isn't very likable. Although I'm guessing he'll grow on the audience as he grows on Terry and her son. I'm intrigued by the ragtag group of athletes who make up the "Angles." If this is a show about lovable losers, I'll keep on watching. With comedies, the true laughs come when we see ourselves in the characters.

Source: abc.go.com

Modern Family
I'm a viewer, but no superfan of this award-winning ABC comedy. I was disappointed to see this show win the Emmy over The Big Bang Theory and 30 Rock on Sunday night. I have two big problems with Modern Family.

For one thing, while the show claims to confront "modern" issues, they tend, as comedies often do, to land squarely on the stereotype. In the first episode that aired this week, that's exactly what happened with Mitch and Cam's proposal storyline. Not to mention the fact that the plot just seemed a little stale. You can only do the "See, they're a normal couple!" thing so many times. I don't think anyone except the writers doubt the validity of the two's relationship.

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For another, the characters on the show are utterly un-relateable to most of the show's American audience. Their SoCal mini-mansions are evidence of just how 1% these families are.

The one really fantastic joke was of course, delivered by Ty Burrell's Phil Dunphy, who played his daughters off of one another's perceived worst/best qualities. But one great joke isn't enough for me. I watch Modern Family because my TV stays on between the aforementioned comedies and Nashville.