• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 21, 2024

The WhatsApp spots featuring four of the stars of “Modern Family” are a nostalgic experience to watch even though the show ended its run just a little more than four years ago.

The spots not only reflect and recreate the revered sitcom’s outstanding high quality, but they also demonstrate how memorable the show was.

The spots do not even mention the words “Modern Family,” but the setting -- Phil and Claire Dunphy’s living room couch -- is so instantly recognizable that millions know immediately where they are. It is a warm place to revisit.

These “Modern Family” WhatsApp spots debuted last June during the NBA playoffs on ABC (also the sitcom’s former network) -- specifically “NBA Countdown” on June 17, according to iSpot.tv, which credits BBDO for the series.

The spots must have eluded the TV Blog back then, but they are back and running often this fall. There are at least three of them -- all available to watch on iSpot.

The stars are Phil and Claire -- Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen (screenshot above). In one of the spots, they are joined by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who played Mitchell Pritchett, Claire’s brother; and Eric Stonestreet, who played Mitchell’s boyfriend and then his husband, Cam.

The show’s seven other principal characters are not mentioned by name, and none of them appear -- Ed O’Neill (patriarch Jay Pritchett), Sofia Vergara (Jay’s wife Gloria), Sarah Hyland (eldest daughter Haley), Ariel Winter (Alex, another daughter), Nolan Gould (son Luke), Rico Rodriguez (Gloria’s son Manny) and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (Lily, daughter of Cam and Mitchell).

In the spots -- one :15 and the other two :30 -- Phil and Claire are seen experiencing various issues connecting with family members on their phones, citing issues of privacy and picture quality.

Ferguson and Stonestreet appear in the 30-second spot titled “Group Chat.” In the spot, Phil, Claire and Cam are admiring a photo on Cam’s phone of daughter Haley’s twins, who were born at the end of the 10th season in 2019.

But Mitchell is excluded from the group chat because the three created a new family chat group without him. Naturally, he becomes upset.

“It’s not you!” says Cam. “It’s just your new phone. …”

“Blurry photos, weird likes …,” interjects Claire.

Just then, a young painter working outside of an open living room window joins the conversation. “You know, if your group has different phones, just use WhatsApp. It’s seamless and private,” he says.

When the spot concludes, the copy onscreen reads: “Message seamlessly with everyone. WhatsApp from Meta.”

So why do these spots generate feelings of nostalgia? It is because no sitcom has emerged anywhere in the TV universe that can match the quality and style of “Modern Family.”

None could match it when it premiered in 2009, or at any time during its 11-season run, or in the years since it had its finale in April 2020.

I have been watching a handful of new sitcoms lately for fall TV reviews -- specifically “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” on CBS, “Happy’s Place” on NBC and “Poppa’s Place” on CBS -- and their mediocrity takes my breath away 

All of them bear the earmarks of sitcoms past -- clichéd storylines and stale situations, the same old stereotyped characters, forced comedy that doesn’t work, you name it.

They demonstrate once again that ordinary TV sitcoms come and go and are soon forgotten, but a show like “Modern Family” comes along just once in a generation. 

May we continue to have an opportunity to connect with the Dunphys and Pritchetts -- on WhatsApp or anywhere else.