Modern Family proves once again that you can put a thin coat of shiny paint on an old, boring car and sell it as a sports-car.

The show isn't necessarily terrible per se, actually it's watchable and at times even somewhat fun. Still nothing near the level of awesomeness you'd expect from something that has raked up so many awards over the years.

The premise was interesting, but let's be honest, what's so "modern" about those families? When you scratch the surface, it's still playing all the staples (clichés?) of the traditional family sit-com.

Not one but TWO incompetent husbands: Phil is the typical well-meaning, but irremediably childish, middle-aged husband whose job stability and competence is a mystery. Jay is all that, with a sprinkling of Grumpy Old Man for good measure.

Claire is yet another stereotypical stay-at-home mum, whose role is only to play the fussy and shrill counterpart to Phil and the kids. And speaking of shrill, oh boy... Gloria! Could she be more one-dimensional and annoying?

Things don't go much better for the gay couple either. The idea of having a straight man (sorry for the pun...) in Mitchell was OK, too bad he borders on plain dull, still retaining some of the awfully outdated traits of the typical gay man. Traits that reach the grotesque with Cameron... A flaming drama queen who overreacts at everything.

Oh and the kids are, again, from the usual set of characters: the vain daughter (Haley), the brainy 'ugly duckling' (Alex), the thick boy (Luke), the sassy little girl (Lily)... Where they try to go for something unusual, they dig even further... Manny has to be the most absurd persona ever seen on TV. A preteen who acts and talks like a middle-aged man from the 50s is just beyond quirky. It's downright stupid.

So, despite the contemporary spin given to the family ties (extended family, homosexuality, adoption, age difference), the core of the story and of most plots is still way too close to a standard 80s (or older) production. Situations progressively went from vaguely credible to over-the-top and gimmicky as well, as if the whole thing wasn't questionable already.

It still makes for decent casual TV, but definitely not worth all the awards and praises it's been getting.

The smart choice was pandering to the critics and to the cool crowds with the addition of socially relevant topics to a decades-old format. The fact those topics are either mere props or treated with little subtlety hasn't prevented Modern Family from gaining largely undeserved accolades.