15 feel-good shows to binge over the holidays

MODERN FAMILY – “Clash of Swords” – Mitchell sneaks out to “Hero-Con” with fanboy Phil, dressed as their favorite characters from the show “Clash of Swords.” It’s great until Phil commits the ultimate fan faux pas. In a clash of another kind, Gloria’s dinosaur party for Joe is ruined when her nemesis, Dr. Donna Duncan (Jane Krakowski), upstages her with a far bigger and better party right next door, on the season finale of “Modern Family,” WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 (9:00-9:31 p.m. EDT), on The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Tony Rivetti)

SOFIA VERGARA

Modern Family

Series availability: 2 seasons, 11 episodes
Watch now on Hulu.

When Modern Family first started back in 2009, it was praised for showing a different kind of family. It follows the Prichett/Dunphy family, including Jay Pritchett, his beautiful second wife Gloria, and her son Manny, as well as his kids Mitchell, his husband, and their adopted Asian daughter and Claire, who’s married to Phil Dunphy, and their kids, Hailey, Alex, and Luke.

Even though the concept of a “modern” family isn’t so modern now, the show has gone on for an impressive 10 seasons and 220 episodes. The show is set to end after the 10th season, which is airing now on ABC, and that’s probably for the best, since it was starting to get a little stale. It’s better to go out on top before people start to really hate the show!

But before the show comes to its climax, why not go back and start at the beginning? It’s crazy to watch the earlier shows and see how young everyone looks and how far they have all come. Alex is still just an overachieving middle schooler, and now she’s… an overachieving college student. Hailey was a ditzy, popular girl and now she’s a ditzy adult who’s (spoiler!) expecting a baby! Gloria was a new addition to the family and felt out of place because of the language barrier, and the fact that Claire thought she was a gold digger after her dad’s money didn’t help either!

When shows deal with families, especially with young kids, it’s extra weird to binge the whole thing in a short period of time, because the kids literally grow up in front of your eyes. Watch the series in one weekend and BAM, Lily goes from a baby, to a different baby (look, recasting happens), to a funny toddler, to a full-grown tween! It’s weird, but Modern Family is definitely still worth the rewatch.