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Just when we were thinking it couldn't be done, ABC's "Modern Family" has single-handedly brought the family comedy back from the dead. Astute in a way we haven't seen since, oh, I don't know, "Family Ties" or maybe "Married . . . With Children," "Modern Family" is sharp, timely and fresh, complicated enough to be interesting but with a soft, sweet center because, and I'm speaking loudly so even cable channels can hear, there is nothing wrong with that.
Interspersed with faux documentary-like interviews with the principals, "Modern Family" follows three parts of a larger clan. "Married . . . With Children's" Ed O'Neill plays Jay, who favors a sweat-suited retiree look despite being rich and married to a young Colombian woman, Gloria (Sofia Vergara, at times over-accessing her inner Charo). Gloria comes with a fabulous young son, Manny...