Modern Love

The weather couldn't be more miserable. Rain and wind are whipping umbrellas inside out all over the Century City lot. But on one soundstage, where Modern Family tapes, the mood is all sunshine and rainbows: This is the happy land where ABC is saving the family sitcom.

''People used to come up to me when I was on other programs to tell me they liked the show,'' says Ed O'Neill, the actor who spent 11 seasons jamming his hand down his pants as Al Bundy on Married...With Children, but who now plays Jay Pritchett, Modern Family's cranky but loving grandpa. ''I'd be like, 'Really? What do you like about it? I'm curious.' But now when people come up to me and say they like this show, I find myself saying, 'Isn't it great?' That's the first time I've done that in my whole life as an actor.''

The effusive praise comes for a show that, in some ways, couldn't be more familiar. From the Ricardos to the Bluths, kooky families have been a sitcom staple. In the Pritchett clan, O'Neill's Jay has a hot, young, Colombian second wife, Gloria (Sofia Vergara), whose precocious 11-year-old son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez), thinks he's Ricardo Montalban. There's also Jay's tightly wound daughter Claire (Julie Bowen), her nudnick husband Phil (Ty Burrell), and their three kids. And finally, you have Claire's prickly gay brother, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), who just adopted a Vietnamese baby with his big-boned life partner, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet). What makes Modern Family different, though — and the reason it's averaging 10.6 million viewers, outperforming The Office and Family Guy — is its tone. It's as sharp as Seinfeld, as layered as Arrested Development, with characters every bit as lovable as those in Raymond, but there's also a flavor we haven't tasted on TV for a while: sweetness. ''There have been a lot of extremely funny shows on the air,'' says co-creator Steven Levitan (Just Shoot Me). ''But they've all been sort of cynical about emotion.'' Levitan's producing partner, Christopher Lloyd (the two met while working as scribes on Wings), nods in agreement. ''Your first obligation is to make the audience laugh,'' he says. ''But if you can add an extra dimension and make the audience feel something — a warm moment, a character's vulnerability — that's so appreciated. There's a hunger for a show that makes you feel good.''

For the last few years, TV comedy has been in a rut. Last fall, networks introduced only four new sitcoms, as compared with 1997, which saw 15 debuts. But this season, ABC took a risk and stacked its Wednesday lineup with four new comedies from 8 to 10 p.m. The decision paid off, and the network has already picked up three of the shows for the whole season: Modern Family (which has the most buzz and critical adoration), Courteney Cox's Cougar Town, and Patricia Heaton's The Middle. (Kelsey Grammer's Hank, which pulls the weakest ratings of the bunch, has yet to receive a pickup.) ''We've been struggling to get back in the comedy business,'' says ABC president Stephen McPherson. ''We were trying to get back to our family comedies; Roseanne and Home Improvement were ABC's iconic shows. So Modern Family is a big step for us.''