Modern Family Fans Will Forever Have Beef With The Show's Many Continuity Errors
Being a sitcom, "Modern Family" necessarily had to undergo a reset of sorts at the end of each of its 250 episodes. In Sitcom World, the status quo is always king. That's not to say that the show never followed longer threads, though. Among the series' most memorable running jokes are — in no particular order — Cam's (Eric Stonestreet) pixelated bike shorts, Clive Bixby and Julianna's ongoing affair, and that step.
That said, it's not uncommon for a show with 11 seasons under its belt to forgo continuity here and there. While recurring characters like Fizbo and Pepper Saltzman (Nathan Lane) were always welcome on the show, there were also characters and events that made a flashy appearance, only to never show up again. These storylines, which often spanned only a few episodes — or sometimes even just one episode — have haunted fans to this day. Even after the series ended in 2020, fans have continued to lament the biggest continuity errors on "Modern Family."
Some dropped storylines were too big to be ignored
While Sitcoms live and die on their ability to hit the same character beats over and over, an Emmy-winning show like "Modern Family" understandably inspires fans to expect more. That's why it's unsurprising that there's a veritable laundry list of complaints regarding the series' crimes against continuity.
In a Reddit thread about this very topic, one fan pointed out that the show never revisited Jay (Ed O'Neill) and Phil's (Ty Burrell) jointly-owned car park, which generated so much hilarity when it first aired. Meanwhile, u/18Samuel18 reminded viewers that Cam and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) once obstructed a tree with their bodies to prevent its removal, only to seemingly abandon the effort in the following episode. The same user also namechecked Dwight (Winston Duke), a football player who planned to stay at Cam and Mitchell's house for at least several weeks (but apparently never did).
Another Redditor, u/cool__howie, noted how the endeavors of some of the show's younger characters weren't quite followed up on. "Could also throw in Alex's band, Haley's talent as a photographer, Luke's business, Manny thinking of studying accounting, Joe's kleptomania etc," they wrote.
The list goes on, and "Modern Family" will always be taken to task by devoted fans. Of course, the criticism comes from a place of love, as the original poster pointed out, but that doesn't make the disappearance of characters like Dwight hurt any less. Well, maybe Dwight wasn't the most memorable character, but the logic holds. Unlike that step.