Country of origin United States Original network ABC | No. of episodes 24 | |
Starring Ed O'Neill
Sofía Vergara
Julie Bowen
Ty Burrell
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Eric Stonestreet
Sarah Hyland
Ariel Winter
Nolan Gould
Rico Rodriguez
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons Original release September 26, 2012 (2012-09-26) – May 22, 2013 (2013-05-22) | ||
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.
Contents
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 (Ed O'Neill), his daughter Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), and his son Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) who live in Los Angeles. Claire is a homemaker mom married to Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell); they have three children, Haley (Sarah Hyland), the typical teenager, Alex (Ariel Winter), the smart middle child and Luke (Nolan Gould), the offbeat only son. Jay is married to a much younger Colombian woman, Gloria (Sofía Vergara), and is helping her raise her pre-teen son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Mitchell and his partner Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) have adopted a Vietnamese baby, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons). 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, ["New Year's Eve"] 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".
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.