Modern Family Season 6 DVD Review + giveaway

Season 6 of the critically acclaimed Emmy winning series Modern Family is available for purchase on DVD from 20^th Century Fox. It stars Ed O’Neill, Sofia Vergara, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Julie Bowen, Sarah Hyland, Rico Rodriguez, Eric Stonestreet, Ariel Winter, and Nolan Gould.

The show has always excelled at taking usual notions of the family unit and traditional sitcom tropes and turning them on their ear to take things to places other shows seem too lazy, complacent, or afraid to explore in a way that is both entertaining and refreshing. Loyal viewers have been able to watch the family and characters grow up over the show’s long run, witnessing the evolution and changes that come with that level of prolonged success. The children have changed from precociously adorable tikes into goofy teens, the adults have been trotted through seemingly every contrived plot device out there, and the humor has begun to lean toward the broader end of the spectrum.

Despite this, Season 6 remains strong and is a compelling offering. Episodes like “Connection Lost” which literally takes place inside the chat browsers and program windows on Claire’s laptop as she is stuck at an airport trying to unravel the increasingly scandalous mystery of her daughter Haley’s disappearance, is proof the show is still innovative and creative. The episode is more than just a gimmick, it offers a deeper look into Clair’s quirks and thoughts as we see her navigate the play by plays of parental damage control from a front row seat. The season’s series finale “American Skyper” also uses technology in a fresh way as Phil finds a way to not miss his daughter Alex’s graduation by attending long distance via video feed on a screen strapped to wheels that putters around https://www.playbuzz.com/the house offering help and warm fatherly advice despite the limitations of his robotic surrogate body.

The set comes with 3 disks containing 24 episodes and special features include deleted scenes, a gag reel, and a featurette following a typical day on set with lead actress Julie Bowen. Most behind the scenes clips can tend to be all grins and giggles showing off what fun goofy times the cast have on set, but this featurette offers a particularly humanizing look at the fraught insecurities involved in being an actress in a surprisingly reveling segment. It opens with Bowen siting in the make up chair as she looks into the camera and tells the world everything about her is fake, from her hair to her eyelashes. Boldly flipping up her locks to show the clip-in extensions she says, “Nobody recognizes me when I go out”. They have to shoot fast that day to be in done in time to screen the “Lost Connection” episode for the cast after they wrap and Bowen mentions she won’t be there because she refuses to watch herself. At one point the camera pans over to Nolan Gould, who plays her son, merrily stuffing his face with a sandwich and Bowen wistfully comments, “He can eat whatever he wants, he just grows. It goes right to his six-pack”. The camera follows her from make-up out to craft services on her hunt for food and to her disappointment she’s missed breakfast and it will be hours until lunch, even though they offer to cook up a meal for her she slinks off defeated saying, “No it’s ok. This is how us actors stay so skinny”. Seeing Bowen struggling with these issues even after years of being on a successful show shines light on the truth about the pressures many women regularly deal with.

That is one of the things about Modern Family that is most endearing though, they deal with real issues like raising step children, divorce, gay marriage, feelings of parental inadequacy, teen pregnancy, and unemployment and don’t ever make the show seem too edgy, forced, a downer, or off-putting. The characters’ flaws, particularities, and non-traditional and outlandish ways of handling the challenges they have face is what makes their world seem familiar and as crazy as our own. Buy season 6 of Modern Family today and make it part of your home.

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* We are Fox Home Entertainment Insiders. We received a copy of the DVD for editorial purposes. Opinions are own.

Laura is a lifestyle and entertainment writer. She loves animation & film, and experiencing new adventures. Her background is in children’s events working with museums and schools to teach kids about everything from bubbles to science and has a passion for discovery and learning.