DVD Review: Modern Family The Complete Seventh Season

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Release Date: September 20, 2016
Rating: TV-PG
Running Time: Approx. 531 minutes

Enjoy a new chapter of love and laughter with Season 7 of Modern Family, winner of five Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. Quackery rules the roost when Phil adopts a trio of orphan ducklings and the rebellious Dunphy kids spread their wings. Meanwhile, Cam and Mitchell face financial hurdles and wild frat boys, Jay and Gloria “farm” out Joe’s preschool education and Manny leaps into the dating game. But will the big question finally be answered: are Haley and Andy destined to be together? The laughs, lunacy and love have never been more alive.

A wonderfully large and blended family, the Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker clan gives us an honest and often hilarious look into the sometimes warm, sometimes twisted, embrace of the modern family. Modern Family stars Ed O’Neill, Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez, Aubry Anderson-Emmons and Jeremy Maguire.

Season seven of Modern Family was strong. But family craziness never ends. So. Inspiration never dies here and the writers are able to keep cranking out the good stuff, season after season. There was so much to look back on and love about this past season. Alex and Sanjay planning their breakup for when they leave for college. Haley and Andy coming to terms with how they feel about each other. If there was one love story to swoon over this season, it was this one. Then there’s the rest of the Dunphys and the others…

Some of my favorite story lines this season include Phil asking Luke to help him show a house and Luke not being the least bit interested, Claire excited about bringing the girls to Bring Your Daughter to Work Day but it not going at all how she expects, Claire and Phil going on a double date and Claire telling Phil not to foot the bill, and who could forget Claire trying to get rid of Phil’s ducks? Now that last storyline was a bit message heavy. Sometimes the show gets too sappy. But I can forgive that for all of the funnies it delivers.

Then there’s Manny having an embarrassing moment with Claire, Jay and Gloria throwing themselves into pre-school competition. And I think everyone can relate to the moment when all of them looked for an excuse to get out of going to Lily’s soccer game. Replace soccer game with any school event and you can relate. Surely. Watching them all fumble for the right excuse was priceless.

Some of my absolute favorite episodes this season? “Phil’s Sexy, Sexy House” in which almost everyone unknowingly sneaks into a fancy house that Phil is selling. “Thunk in the Trunk” in which Phil feels like a housewife and Jay is jealous of the attention Gloria is getting due to her sexy sauce ad, and finally, Mitch and Cam rent the apartment above them and spy on their guests. “I Don’t Know How She Does It” in which Claire secretly has her assistant handle her household duties, Mitch and Cam try to figure out why they’ve been blacklisted from the gay weddings of their friends, and finally, Jay, Gloria, and Manny each trying to keep a secret from each other.

Also, “Express Yourself,” “The Party,” “Man Shouldn’t Lie,” “White Christmas,” and “Crazy Train.” Oh my goodness,”Man Shouldn’t Lie,” can we talk about that for a second? Watching Mitch and Cam try to persuade the drummer in a Christian rock band to come out of the closet…. laugh out loud funny. Absolutely hysterical. One of the funniest moments this entire season.

Bonus Features:
* Storming the Set: The Making of An Episode (5:22 minutes) – In this feature, Executive Producer, Danny Zuker takes viewers behind the scenes in the writer’s room and on the set of the show. There’s not much to see here that fans haven’t seen or heard before if you’re a fan who’s seen any of the special features from the previous six seasons but it’s still great to see how passionate Danny Zuker still is after all of these seasons. That truly is wonderful to see.

* Extended Version of “Thunk in the Trunk” – I was especially delighted when I saw that the extended episode would be for “Thunk in the Trunk” as it’s easily one of the best episodes of the season. So if you loved this episode, you’ll love the extended episode even more. It’s not extended by much (about four minutes) but all that is here that wasn’t in the initially aired version is worth catching.

* Deleted and Alternate Scenes (6:31 minutes) – There are just over a dozen deleted and alternate scenes on the DVD, all of which are funny, only one of which is laugh out loud funny so I guess it’s a good thing these didn’t make the final cut.

* Growing Up Modern Family (5:14 minutes) – In this feature, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, and Rico Rodriguez talk about their characters’ growth throughout the seven seasons and the parallels with their characters’ lives and their own. It’s quite an interesting retrospective and really something awesome that the kids can look back on years from now with reverence.

* Kids in the Spotlight (2:58 minutes) – In this feature, Ty Burrell, Rico Rodriguez, and Nolan Gould, talk about Kids in the Spotlight Inc. which is a non-profit organization that trains youth in foster care programs and other underserved youth to create, write, cast and star in their own short films. We get to see a bit of footage from an event which is great. It’s awesome to see a show give back and not only give back but put some of the spotlight on other deserving people on their special features.

* Gag Reel (7:11 minutes) – If you’re looking for bloopers, wait until 1.25 minutes in to get there. Don’t know why they didn’t cut the best of bit and just dive right in.

Own Modern Family: The Complete Seventh Season on Blu-ray and DVD today.

Watch an all new season of Modern Family Wednesdays at 9/8c only on ABC.