Modern Family (season 1)

The following is a list of episodes of the television series Modern Family first season, which premiered on ABC on September 23, 2009 and will end May 2010. It is still in pogress with only 12 episodes aired so far. The episode airsin the Wednesday at 9:00 after The Middle and before Cougar Town.

Reception for the series was positive by critics and had numerous nominations: 3 Writers Guild of America nominations, a Golden Globe and several others.

Production
The show's executive producers are the show's creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. It is filmed in single-camera style in Los Angeles, California. The show is produced by Fox Television Studios. Some episodes begin with members of the family being asked a specific question, which forms the wraparound for the entire episode. The show then follows the antics, adventures, and mishaps of the three families as they deal with events of a particular day. Episodes may focus on the role of a father, how the children in each family are doing, etc. Episodes typically close out with a voice-over, where one of the members of the extended family provides their opinions as an answer. Other episodes do not have a wraparound but may follow an event that links all three families, such as the Ohio State-Illinois game in "Coal Digger" or Luke's birthday party.

Writers for the season included were creators Christopher Lloyd, Steven Levitan and others like Bill Wrubel, Dan O'Shannon, Paul Corrigan, Brad Walsh, Danny Zuker, Joe Lawson and Carole Williams. The main director is Jason Winer, but other directors include Randall Einhorn, Michael Spiller and Chris Koch.

Cast
The season has 11 main characters from the family. From the Dunphy Family, which consists of 5 characters include Julie Bowen portrays Claire Dunphy, the overprotective mother of the Dunphy family, Ty Burrell who portrays Phil Dunphy, who sees himself as the "cool dad", Sarah Hyland who plays Haley Dunphy, who is a typical teenager, Ariel Winter who plays Alex Dunphy, who is the most clever and intelligent of the three siblings, and Nolan Gould who plays Luke Dunphy, who is often doing his own thing. For The Delgado-Pritchett family members are Jay Pritchett who is portrayed by Ed O'Neill is on the south side of middle age and married to Gloria Pritchett portrayed by Sofía Vergara is a Colombian native from a small village, which also happens to be the murder capital of the country and son Manny Delgado, who is very out going and not the least bit self-conscious. For The Pritchett and Tucker family, Mitchell Pritchett, who is a low-key or mild-mannered person husband Cameron Tucker, who has a very big dramatic personality and there baby Vietnamese silent daughter Lily Pritchett-Tucker.

Critical Reception
The first season has been met with mostly positive reviews. It received a 'critically acclaimed' Metacritic score of 86 out of 100. Entertainment Weekly gave it an A-, calling it "...immediately recognizable as the best new sitcom of the fall...". In Time's review the show was named "the funniest new family comedy of the year." It has also been compared to the 1970s series Soap, in regards to the multiple family aspect, as well as Arrested Development. Some have made comparisons to The Office and Parks and Recreation, due to their mockumentary formats. The series was also named 2nd on "The Top Ten Shows of 2009" by Time.

Viewership
The most viewed episode was Pilot with 12.61 million watching it. Fizbo is the least viewed episode of the season. The average viewership is 9.33 million people so far. The high viewership let to a renewal for a second season by ABC.

Awards
Modern Family has been nominated for numerous awards losing mostly to Glee. 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 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.

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.
 * Episode 14 and beyond will air against American Idol.