This is a really good show - for one season. It's funny and touching. The characters are real, they have their comedic quirks, and they care about each other. After that, it's just run-of-the-mill, crank 'em out every week, sitcom crap. My 10-year old daughter continued to watch half way through Season 2, but I had to make her stop. I couldn't even stand for it to be on in the background.

But don't let that keep you from watching Season 1.

This happens to most TV shows. The creators have good ideas and do most of the writing for the first season. You come to relate to the characters and want to know what happens to them. But greatness is measured and the creators can't keep it up forever. So they bring in "writers", the guys who crank out insults in place of humor and people getting caught in lies instead of drama. (Oh, and dramatic irony, you know, where the audience knows but the characters don't; like the husband and wife who in Season 1 were so in tune that they completed each others sentences, but in Season 2 have no clue what the other one is feeling, no clue what he really means by that tone in his voice, no clue what any sentient being, like the audience, would know is really going on because now all the characters are completely emotionally retarded. Yeah, dramatic irony. Really hate that.)

But watch Season 1 of Modern Family (and Cheers, Heroes, Once Upon a Time, ....)