Modern Family (2009-20)

Modern Family has been on for eleven years, and in many ways it represents a past era of television. Modern Family was arguably the last great network sitcom amidst the takeover of cable and streaming (and maybe the last great mockumentary after slew of hits like The Office and Parks and Recreation while the gene was in vogue), 24 episodes of sustained excellence per season, a big ensemble cast, and multiple star-making turns. We've watched the child actors grow up. New Lily and Joe grew on me as time went on, assigned funny one-liners. The earlier seasons have become iconic in syndication. There were some less funny bits in the later seasons, but I always appreciated its Shakespearean sense of comedy, relying on miscommunication and mistaken identity. The writers balanced comedy and emotion nicely.

Modern Family came at a time when Obama was newly elected president. And in the intervening years, Obgerfell v. Hodges legalized gay marriage across the country. Mitch and Cam had their own wedding in the show. What Will and Grace did for our society's acceptance of gay men, Modern Family has done for a gay couple. It normalized a non-traditional, wholly modern, and newly socially acceptable family. And several seasons in, Trump became president. And progress was not only halted but our society regressed. Modern Family never really reckoned with that new reality. Rather than recognizing this as a fault, it actually provided some reprieve from the infuriating reality that we live in. TV had the power to change the way people think in the days when we had network shows that everyone was familiar with. In the golden age of television when there is simply so much quality programming, I'm afraid these impactful cultural touchstones get lost in the inundation.

Confirmation (2016)

HBO continues to make dramas of our recent political history, following Recount and Game Change. As always, HBO attracts an all-star ensemble cast that is given plenty of room to shine. Kerry Washington brilliantly plays Anita Hill. She is smart and calm in the face of unimaginable adversity. This is accentuated by juxtaposing her with Jennifer Hudson's more fiery Angela Wright. Wendell Pierce from Treme is angry and defensive as Clarence Thomas.

The film makes a lot of use of actual news footage. It gives the film more authenticity. It gives the viewer insight into what people were thinking at the time, while also portraying a perspective in the film with hindsight. The film takes a pretty negative stance on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the hearings. Particularly, Senator Biden comes off rather weak. But ultimately the film is about Anita Hill. It is about female empowerment. It is about confronting sexual harassment. And it does all these things quite well.