15 TV Shows To Watch If You Like Modern Family – TVLine

Family sitcoms are nothing new, yet “Modern Family” managed to make the format feel fresh. Mounted as a mockumentary, the series follows the daily lives of three families that couldn’t feel more different, yet turn out to be a part of the same extended clan.

The winner of five consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series, “Modern Family” shook up a format that had grown stale over time, inspiring other family sitcoms to take similar approaches. At the same time, part of its appeal came from how traditional it felt, as it drew influence from many TV comedy classics. In that way, “Modern Family” was both newfangled and old fashioned at the same time, which is part of why it appealed to such a wide audience.

If you’ve finished binging the iconic ABC series and are looking for something similar and fun, you’re in luck. Here are 15 TV shows you should watch if you like “Modern Family,” from workplace sitcoms to family dramas.

Much like “Modern Family,” “Abbott Elementary” is pitched as a mockumentary, this time taking place within a Philadelphia public school. Creator Quinta Brunson plays Janine Teagues, a second grade teacher who enthusiastically throws herself into improving conditions for the underprivileged children at her school. (It’s hard to believe, but “Abbott Elementary” originally had a completely different series lead.) Janine and the rest of the “Abbott Elementary” staff often directly address the documentary crew following them around, much like the characters in “Modern Family.”

Although it’s a workplace sitcom, the teachers and staff at “Abbott Elementary” are as much a family as the one depicted in “Modern Family.” Janine often looks to veteran kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph) as a mother figure, and a romance strikes up between Janine and substitute teacher Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams). Also like “Modern Family,” “Abbott” has been a consistent Emmy favorite, earning five consecutive nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and winning four prizes overall (including acting awards for Brunson and Ralph and a writing win for Brunson). Now on its 6th season, “Abbott” carries on the “Modern Family” tradition of hit ABC comedies.

Although family sitcoms have existed since the beginning of television, there had never been one like “All in the Family,” and its influence can be felt on every TV series that’s come since. The best TV show ever created by Norman Lear, it centered on the lives of a working class Queens family, headed by bigoted patriarch Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor). Sparks fly between Archie and his wife, Edith (Jean Stapleton), their “little girl,” Gloria (Sally Struthers), and her “meathead” husband, Mike (Rob Reiner), as they debate the hot-button issues of the time.

Although the Bunkers couldn’t seem further away from the clan of “Modern Family,” they’re united in their shared love for each other despite their differences. Much like “Modern Family,” “All in the Family” explores generational and cultural divides that exist within households, and the ways in which we stay together in spite of them. While “All in the Family” is more overtly political in its comedy, it’s still centered on the ways in which the changing cultural tides effect the modern family unit, which makes it a forebear to … well, “Modern Family.”

Before the mockumentary was in vogue, “Arrested Development” broke new ground by using documentary techniques in television comedy. In fact, it paved the way for “Modern Family” and other mockumentaries. The cult hit centered on the trials and tribulations of the Bluths, a wealthy, dysfunctional clan who are thrown into poverty when patriarch George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) is arrested for securities fraud, leaving his level-headed son Michael (Jason Bateman) to pick up the pieces for both the business and the family.

Much like “Modern Family,” “Arrested Development” features a large, eclectic ensemble of eccentrics, oddballs, and misfits. Both shows feature multiple competing storylines, with each family member off on their own unique adventure that ties together into a whole. In the case of “Arrested Development,” the documentary format is used to juggle these various plot threads nimbly and quickly, employing cutaways, archival footage, and a narrator to cram as much information into 22 minutes as possible. Although “Modern Family” wouldn’t adopt all of these techniques, it did use the mockumentary format as a way to balance multiple plots without feeling overstuffed.

For its first three seasons, “Black-ish” aired directly after “Modern Family” on Wednesday nights, making for an evening of back-to-back ABC family comedies. It made sense, considering both shows took bold stylistic approaches to revitalizing the family sitcom. “Black-ish” centered on an upper class Black family headed by advertising executive Andre “Dre” Johnson (Anthony Anderson) and anesthesiologist Rainbow “Bow” Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross). As is the case with “Modern Family,” “Black-ish” examines the generational divides that exist within households occupied by parents, grandparents, and children.

Taking a page from the sitcoms of Norman Lear, “Black-ish” often focused on sociopolitical issues facing Black Americans, from police brutality to intersectionality. In each episode, “Black-ish” explored what it meant to stay true to Black identity while living amongst a mostly white suburban community. Like “Modern Family,” it eschewed the traditional multi-camera format for a single camera approach, using voiceover narration, cutaways, and archival footage to bolster the comedy and deepen the exploration of its narrative themes. Much like the Lear shows, “Black-ish” also spawned a number of spin-offs, including “Grown-ish,” “Mixed-ish,” and the never-produced “Old-ish.”

Although it takes a more traditional approach to the family sitcom, “Everybody Loves Raymond” was just as radical in its setup as “Modern Family” was. Based on the stand-up comedy of star Ray Romano, the multi-cam sitcom centered on Italian-American sportswriter Ray Barone (Romano), whose wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), is often beleaguered by living across the street from her overbearing in-laws. Like “Modern Family,” “Raymond” featured an intergenerational cast of characters, as Ray’s mother, Marie (Doris Roberts), father, Frank (Peter Boyle), and brother, Robert (Brad Garrett), stop by on a daily basis.

It may have been filmed in front of a live studio audience, but “Everybody Loves Raymond” was anything but a typical multi-cam sitcom. Whereas most TV comedies centered on high concepts and even higher high-jinx, “Raymond” mined laughs from the mundane, and its best episodes were often focused on the small, everyday calamities that face most families. Like “Raymond,” “Modern Family” pitched itself as nothing more than a comedy about an ordinary family and all of the extraordinary stories that come from that.

Before he co-created “Modern Family,” Christopher Lloyd was a showrunner on “Frasier,” where he honed his talent for farcical comedies based on comic misunderstandings. (“Modern Family” co-creator Steven Levitan also worked on the show.) One of the rare TV spin-offs that were better than the original series, it found Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) leaving the Boston bar of “Cheers” behind for a radio psychiatrist job in his hometown of Seattle, where he’s reunited with his ex-cop father, Martin (John Mahoney), and persnickety younger brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce).

Whereas “Cheers” was essentially a workplace comedy, “Frasier” combined the high-jinx at the radio station with the family farce unfolding in Frasier’s apartment. That’s not the only similarity it shares with “Modern Family,” especially considering it retains the distinctive voice of its co-creator. The best episodes of “Frasier” were essentially drawing room comedies, complete with double entendres, absurd misconceptions, and chaotic entrances and exits. Many episodes of “Modern Family” employed a similar comedy style, as the Dunphy-Pritchett-Tucker-Delgado clan often found themselves embroiled in farcical situations that could’ve easily been cleared up by a simple conversation.

Airing on ABC around the same time as “Modern Family,” “Fresh Off the Boat” used the hyper-specific experiences of a Taiwanese-American family to explore the universality of families from all walks of life. Inspired by Eddie Huang’s memoir, it recounts Huang’s upbringing in Florida in the 1990s. The oldest of three sons, Eddie rebels against the traditional Taiwanese values eschewed by his no-nonsense mother, Jessica (Constance Wu), while his father, Louis (Randall Park), embraces American culture wholeheartedly.

“Fresh Off the Boat” explored how the desire for immigrants to assimilate into American society clashes with the need to hold onto the culture you came from. A similar dynamic plays out in “Modern Family,” as Gloria Pritchett (Sofía Vergara) tries to hold on to her Colombian heritage after marrying Jay (Ed O’Neill). This is especially important in the raising of her son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez), who was born into poverty in South America and is now living a life of luxury in the U.S. Much like Gloria, Jessica tries to retain the cultural identity of her homeland while starting life anew as an American.

For years, “The Goldbergs” aired on the same night as “Modern Family” as part of a Wednesday family comedy block that also included “The Middle” and “Black-ish.” Creator Adam F. Goldberg based the long-running series on his own experiences growing up in the 1980s, with Sean Giambrone playing a preteen version of him. Thanks to the new technology of home video cameras, young Adam documents the exploits of his Philadelphia family, led by father Murray (Jeff Garlin) and mother Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey).

With its nostalgic production design and voiceover narration by Patton Oswalt as adult Adam, “The Goldbergs” shares a lot in common with another family comedy set in the past, “The Wonder Years.” Though not a mockumentary, the show does integrate a lot of documentary techniques, as Adam is constantly following his family around with a video camera. Yet its greatest similarity with “Modern Family” isn’t a stylistic sensibility, but a comedic one. Both shows elicit laughter and pathos from the everyday chaos that erupts in a typical suburban household, from the generational clashes with grandpa Albert (George Segal) to the growing pains of adolescence.

In much the same way “Modern Family” took a unique approach to the family sitcom, “Malcolm in the Middle” was a radical stylistic departure from other TV comedies. Whereas most network comedies at the time were multi-cams, “Malcolm in the Middle” was an early single camera series, bringing a cinematic approach to the story of a boy genius (Frankie Muniz) growing up in a chaotic working class family. While Malcolm is the genius middle child of his household, his dysfunctional family is the collective outcast of their community, with mom Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) and dad Hal (Bryan Cranston) struggling to fit in.

Although not explicitly a mockumentary, “Malcolm in the Middle” did make use of dramatic asides from Malcolm to the audience. “Modern Family” similarly broke the fourth wall, using direct address as a means of delivering more jokes and adding more character insight. The use of quick cutting, handheld cameras, and location shooting set “Malcolm in the Middle” apart from stage-bound multi-cam shows, just like “Modern Family.” More than anything, both shows share an appreciation for the eccentricities that bind families together against the world.

Obviously, “Married… With Children” and “Modern Family” are similar in that they share the same leading man, Ed O’Neill. O’Neill plays Al Bundy, a high school football star now stuck selling women’s shoes while his wife, Peggy (Katey Sagal), avoids housework like the plague. The entire Bundy clan, rounded out by children Kelly (Christina Applegate) and Bud (David Faustino), make life a living nightmare for everyone around them, particularly their neighbor, Marcy (Amanda Bearse).

Less a family and more a pack of vultures, the Bundys couldn’t feel less like the loving extended clan of “Modern Family.” Yet despite their bickering and backstabbing, they ultimately love each other, if for no other reason than they’re united in their disdain for the rest of humanity. Released at a time when wholesome family sitcoms like “The Cosby Show” and “Growing Pains” were dominating the airwaves, “Married… With Children” was lewd, rude, and crude, and in that way held a mirror up to dysfunctional families who saw themselves in the Bundys. Their imperfections gave license to other sitcom families to be similarly messy, just like the Dunphy-Pritchett-Tucker-Delgados.

“Mom” might not center on a large extended family like the one depicted in “Modern Family,” but it does share its interest in the messy dynamics that play out between parents and their adult childen. Anna Faris plays Christy Plunkett, a single mom struggling to rebuild her life after battling alcoholism. Her issues are compounded by the reemergence of her estranged mother, Bonnie (Allison Janney), a fellow recovering addict who attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with her.

Among the best TV shows created by Chuck Lorre, “Mom” is surprisingly frank in its exploration of addiction and the tough road to recovery. The women in the AA meetings become like a sisterhood for Bonnie and Christy, proving that family really is what you make of it. At its core, however, it’s about the ways in which our parents pass both their positive and negative qualities down to us, and how each generation can do better than the last. “Modern Family” does much the same thing, albeit centered on a less serious subject. That’s not to say “Mom” is dour: rather, it depicts these issues with humor and heart, finding light in the darkness.

Although not explicitly about a family, “The Office” was nevertheless about the ways in which the people you see at work everyday become something of a surrogate family to you. At least, that’s what Michael Scott (Steve Carell), regional manager of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch, likes to think. As the documentary crew following the day-to-day lives of the office workers finds out, Scott sees himself as something of a father figure to his eclectic group of employees, and he often embarrasses them like any dad would.

Adapted from the BBC series of the same name, “The Office” popularized the mockumentary format in American TV comedy, and “Modern Family” would eventually adopt the technique for a family sitcom. Yet the two shows aren’t just stylistically similar. Although the employees at Dunder Mifflin aren’t related by blood, they nevertheless engage in the same squabbles, rivalries, and romances of any family. Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Jim (John Krasinski) fight like brothers, which means they’ll always have each other’s backs. At the end of the day, isn’t that what family is all about?

Not every show on this list has to necessarily be a comedy, and “Parenthood” is one of the few modern dramas that could reasonably draw a comparison to “Modern Family.” Adapted from the 1989 Ron Howard movie of the same name, the series follows three generations of the Braverman family, headed by patriarch Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) and matriarch Camille (Bonnie Bedelia). Each of Zeek and Camille’s four children have their own families, creating a large, extended clan who stick by each other through various trials and tribulations.

Despite being categorized as an hour-long drama, “Parenthood” has almost as many laughs per episode as “Modern Family.” That’s a credit to the cast, which was headlined by Peter Krause, Lauren Graham, Dax Shepard, and Erika Christensen as the four adult Braverman children. The large ensemble, which extended to spouses and children, walked a delicate balance between comedy and pathos, with stories drawn from real life experiences instead of high-concept dramas. Much like “Modern Family,” “Parenthood” presented an idealized vision of family life, and gave equal amounts of attention to each of its star players.

In much the same way that “Modern Family” was comfort viewing each week it aired, “Schitt’s Creek” became a blessed respite for audiences who binged it when it started streaming. The Canadian series centered on the Roses, a formerly wealthy family who are forced to move to the town of Schitt’s Creek after getting swindled by their business manager. The show was a family affair both in front of and behind the camera, as Daniel Levy developed the series with his dad, Eugene Levy, who play father and son opposite mom Catherine O’Hara, and daughter Annie Murphy.

Just as you’d like to spend time with the Dunphy-Pritchett-Tucker-Delgados, you wouldn’t mind wiling the day away with the Roses, which is why “Schitt’s Creek” became such a hit on Netflix. Both shows can also be credited with encouraging inclusivity and acceptance of LGBTQ+ characters on television. Just like “Modern Family” normalized a same sex couple, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), adopting a child and getting married, “Schitt’s Creek” featured a pansexual character, David (Daniel Levy), who finds love with another man, Patrick (Noah Reid), who he eventually marries.

By far the most dramatic TV show to draw comparison to “Modern Family,” “This Is Us” followed three generations of a large, extended family. Through flashbacks, you learn that Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca Pearson (Mandy Moore) adopted baby Randall when one of their triplets died during childbirth. In the present, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) has started his own family, while his adopted twin siblings Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) try to do the same.

Unfolding with a non-linear narrative, “This Is Us” was constantly surprising audiences with revelations about the Pearson family, most notably the death of patriarch Jack from a house fire. While “Modern Family” wasn’t exactly built around solving mysteries, it was about a multiracial, multigenerational family that was patched together by marriages, divorces, and adoptions. Both “Modern Family” and “This Is Us” show that no matter how a family is assembled, what ultimately matters is the love that bonds them. While one was more focused on laughter and the other was more focused on tears, both shows drew one or the other (or sometimes both) out of you each week.