Modern Family (season 1)

The television series Modern Family is currently airing it's first season, which premiered on ABC on September 23, 2009 and will end May 2010. It is currently aired on Wednesday's at 9pm after The Middle and before Cougar Town and a rerun timeslot at 8pm. 14 episodes have aired so far.

Critical reception for the series was positive, and it has received numerous nominations, including for the Writers Guild of America, the Golden Globe awards, and won a Directors Guild of America Awards.

Production
Modern Family, produced by Fox Television Studios, was created by executive producers Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, and directed by Jason Winer. The series is filmed in single-camera style in Los Angeles, California. Writers for the first season include creators Lloyd and Levitan, and also Bill Wrubel, Dan O'Shannon, Paul Corrigan, Brad Walsh, Danny Zuker, Joe Lawson and Carole Williams.

Cast
The season has eleven main characters from several families. The Dunphy Family consists of five characters, including Julie Bowen who portrays overprotective mother Claire Dunphy, Ty Burrell who portrays "cool dad" Phil Dunphy, Sarah Hyland who plays typical teenager Haley Dunphy, Ariel Winter who plays clever sibling Alex Dunphy, and Nolan Gould who plays the highly independant Luke Dunphy. The Delgado-Pritchett family includes ageing Jay Pritchett, portrayed by Ed O'Neill, who is married to Colombian native Gloria Pritchett, portrayed by Sofía Vergara, and outgoing son Manny Delgado. The Pritchett and Tucker family includes mild-mannered husband Mitchell Pritchett, the dramatic Cameron Tucker, and their Vietnamese infant daughter Lily Pritchett-Tucker.

Reception
The show received much praise from critics, receiving a 'critically acclaimed' Metacritic score of 86 out of 100. James Poniewozik of Time named it the best show of 2009 after Mad Men, and joined other shows in the ABC Comedy Wednesday as the "Best TV Shows of 2009" according to TV Squad.

Awards
Modern Family has been nominated for numerous awards losing mostly to Glee. The first award it won was Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series for Jason Winer who direction of The Pilot. Modern Family was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy at the 67th Golden Globe Awards and at the 36th People's Choice Awards for Favorite New TV Comedy, but both lost to Glee for both. Modern Family was also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series at the 16th Screen Actors Guild Awards but lost to Glee again. The show is also nominated at the Writers Guild of America Awards 2009 for Comedy Series and New Series and also Episodic Comedy for Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the Pilot. The show was also nominated for Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for Julie Bowen and her portrale of Claire Dunphy, but lost to Lea Michele of Glee for her portrale of Rachel Berry.

Viewership
The most viewed episode was Pilot with 12.61 million watching it making the most viewed episode on ABC that night after Dancing with the Stars. Fizbo is the least viewed episode of the season which was low since it aired Thanksgiving eve. Fifteen Percent is also the tied for the top rated episode tied with the Pilot with a rating of 4.2/11. The average viewership is 9.33 million people so far. The high viewership let to a renewal for a second season by ABC.

Nielsen Ratings

 * Episode 9 aired on Thanksgiving Eve in which most of the original shows hit series lows.
 * Episode 12 and aired against American Idol which took approximately 2 million viewers away.