The Reason So Many Fans Hate Manny On Modern Family Season 11
Modern Family may be a popular family sitcom, but not all the characters are totally beloved by fans.
The long-running show, which wraps up its 11th and final season in April 2020, follows the lives of the Pritchett family — patriarch Jay (Ed O'Neill), his second wife Gloria (Sofía Vergara), young son Joe (Jeremy Maguire), stepson Manny (Rico Rodriguez), and his two grown children Claire (Julie Bowen) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and their families. From season 1 to the current season of Modern Family, we've watched the kids grow up, Claire's daughter Haley (Sarah Hyland) get married and have children of her own, and other new babies join the family too. But some of them have become far less endearing to audiences over time. Manny is one such character.
Jay's stepson was a sweet and loving kid when Modern Family first started — prim, proper, and protective over his mother Gloria, with a love of acting and a strong sense of family. But this last season of Modern Family has brought out the worst in Manny, and fans of the show have had just about enough of him. A Redditor with the username u/Healyhatman took to the site to start a thread based solely on hating season 11 Manny, writing "I hate Manny. That's it. That's the post. I just wanted to have a whinge somewhere about it because he's literally the worst."
That feeling is one shared by many other fans of the show, as dozens of other commenters detailed why they hate Manny on season 11 of Modern Family.
"I was so excited this Christmas dinner party episode when they said 'Manny's not coming' and so very angry when he arrived anyway," one user wrote. Another added, "I use [sic] to think 'man people complain about manny too much, he isn't that bad. A bit annoying here and there but who isn't' now I'm all 'f*** here we go again, can he just f***ing not'."
Manny has turned into the child he never really was
It seems there isn't much love for the character lately, but why is that? There are plenty of explanations to be found in the Reddit thread.
For starters, Manny carried a more mature attitude as a child, which was refreshing compared to other kids, but that hasn't translated very well into adulthood. While the rest of the Pritchett, Dunphy, and Tucker-Pritchett kids have matured over the years, many Modern Family fans feel that Manny has done the opposite: become being a whiny, entitled, know-it-all child as he's gotten older.
"They had him grow up to be an insufferable, pretentious hipster 'intellectual' who somehow still doesn't know how to pronounce the word espresso," one Redditor wrote. Another noted that they're endlessly irritated by Manny's need to give someone in the family a lecture in "every damn episode," usually with his typical high-and-mighty attitude.
The ex-girlfriend Manny just won't leave alone
Another reason fans hate Manny on Modern Family season 11: they're particularly annoyed about having to hear him constantly whine about his ex-girlfriend Sherry, played Hillary Ann Matthews. One user wrote, "Manny has too much [sic] storylines. It's getting irritating hearing him complain about Sherry since the finale of Season 10."
An entire episode was indeed dedicated to that exact plot on Modern Family season 10, wherein Luke (Nolan Gould) was tasked with talking Sherry into taking Manny back and instead hooking up with her himself. The kiss brought out the worst of Manny, who got physically violent with his step-nephew (is that even a thing?) when he heard about it. Jay, who hated Sherry, was as tired as the audience was of listening to Manny whine about her, and banished his grandson from the house because of his relentless antics.
"I thought it was f***** how they got mad at Luke. It's not like Manny owns Sherry," someone wrote on another Reddit thread. This is a very fair point: Manny and Sherry were already broken up, and had been for a while, when the kiss occurred. Yes, it may not have been Luke's finest moment given the family connection, but Manny can't just expect his ex-girlfriend to never want another guy again just because they dated. Manny's continued attempts to win her back border on creepy, showing he can't take a hint and respect her wishes by just leaving her alone when she clearly no longer wants to be with him.
Has Manny really gotten worse, or has he always been this bad?
Although most agree that Manny has gotten worse over the years, and has become almost unbearable on season 11 of Modern Family, there are some who feel he's always been a terrible character with far too much screen time. A big point of contention amongst viewers is Manny's behavior with his family members. "Rewatching series 1 and 2 currently and Manny was pretty creepy then too. He was hitting on Haley," one Redditor pointed out. Haley is a member of Manny's family — and one who's a good few years older than him to boot — and never seemed comfortable with Manny's flirting. There was also the fact that Manny had a crush on Claire, his much older, married-with-kids, older-than-him stepsister. His advances to her got so bad she had to point all this out to him to get him to eventually stop.
Everything considered, Manny's behavior has been less than stellar throughout the series, with the Modern Family fan base shrinking in their sympathy for him season after season. With Modern Family ending at the beginning of April 2020, Manny has little time left to redeem himself in the eyes of the viewers — and it seems he's getting ready to go out at the bottom.