Modern Family (season 4)


On May 10, 2012, ABC renewed Modern Family for a fourth season two months after the third season of the show received 14 Primetime Emmy Award nominations. The fourth season of the comedy television series, Modern Family premiered September 26, 2012 and ended on May 22, 2013 on the American Broadcasting Company in the United States.

Production

On May 10, 2012, ABC renewed Modern Family for a fourth season. Filming for the fourth season began on July 30, 2012, and the season premiered on Wednesday, September 26, 2012.

Cast

Modern Family employs an ensemble cast. The series focuses on Jay Pritchett, his daughter Claire Dunphy, and his son Mitchell Pritchett who live in Los Angeles. Claire is a homemaker mom married to Phil Dunphy ; they have three children, Haley, the typical teenager, Alex, the smart middle child and Luke, the offbeat only son. Jay is married to a much younger Colombian woman, Gloria, and is helping her raise her teen son, Manny. Mitchell and his partner Cameron Tucker have adopted a Vietnamese baby, Lily. The kids are only required to appear in 22 episodes.

Episodes

Reception

The fourth season of Modern Family was met with mixed reviews. Willa Paskin of Salon gave the season a negative review, writing, "As Modern Family has gotten older, its characters, and their dynamics, have settled into grooves, some more discordant than others." Halfway through the season, Rachel Stein of Television Without Pity wrote, "much as I liked the pairings and some of the dialogue, is just another contrived episode of Modern Family we can cite when we talk later about how a different show should have won the 2013 Emmy for Best Comedy."
On the other hand, Robert Bianco of USA Today gave the season a positive review, calling it "TV's most appreciated great comedy." In addition, The A.V. Club was often complimentary towards the season. All 24 episodes were reviewed, with "A-" and "B" as the most common letter grades assigned to a given one. Donna Bowman, reviewing "Goodnight Gracie," wrote that there were "few comedies on television more satisfying" when the season was at its best.
Some of the more well-received episodes include "Schooled," "Yard Sale," "Diamond in the Rough," and "Goodnight Gracie".

Ratings

Awards and nominations

Primetime Emmy Awards

The fourth season received twelve nominations at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards in total, including its fourth consecutive nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. The ceremony for the Primetime Awards was aired on September 22, 2013 on CBS. The Primetime Creative Arts Awards took place on September 15, 2013.