A Very Modern Family: Stories and guidance to nurture your relationships

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Typically, oral histories come out as retrospectives, based entirely on recall. This one will have the benefit of having the ending occur in real-time. From script development to final season (the 11th season will be the show's last) readers will get a glimpse of the cast’s relationships with each other and the emotions attached to saying goodbye to the best and longest-running workplace many of them expect to ever experience. Much like the series itself, this book shares a story of family, of conflict and collaboration, that went into this timeless, groundbreaking series. Excellent on de-escalation- and how and why it can be misinterpreted as 'giving in to bad behaviour' when really, it's just trying to contain the situation/get through the turmoil unscathed- and then trying to learn from it AFTERWARDS when everyone is more receptive. Carrie and David Grant have an extraordinary story to tell: three of their four children are trans or non-binary, they are also gay or queer, all four are neurodivergent, and they are a mixed-race family, too. I felt sad for young Ty Burrell reading how strapped for cash he was, knowing how scary it is to be low on money. He had hired a taxi, not knowing he was going to pass the studio test. However, from that point going forward it was going to be two hours until they got to CBS for his reading. He asked the taxi driver to wait, potentially requiring his help to drive him there. I mean, can you imagine asking a taxi driver to wait 2 hours for you? 2 hours of a taxi driver not working, sitting around for one fare is a big loss. How Hyland wore a waist trainer everyday the rest of the season until she could get surgery to fix her protruding stomach

Good art changes us. I think that sitcoms oftentimes get left out of the 'art' conversation, but that's incredibly unfair. I truly believe the show has made me a better, more empathetic person. I've always wanted my own family, but this show makes that feeling enormous. I want to be Phil Dunphy with my kids. My wife is already a Claire. I want to grow my family and everyone come over to my house and use my pool when I'm older, like Jay. I want to laugh and cry with all of them. It's all I really want, really. The reason the character of Haley was always leaning on something (was because it was painful to stand up on her own)

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I liked that this book had pictures. They were informative and also entertaining, showing behind the scenes moments. I appreciated that there was a chart breaking down each family— a picture giving a general idea of what they wanted everyone to look like, and a written description. (Thankfully they changed the idea for Mitchell’s character!) The behind the scenes info on how the cameraman performed the “Texas Switch” when Haley had to hit Phil with her car Carrie and David Grant have an extraordinary family story to tell. They have four children, one of whom is adopted, and all have come with a curveball: mental health challenges, neurodivergence, trans non-binary identities, various sexualities, and they are a mixed-race family, too.

I enjoyed getting all the inside knowledge about the show and hearing the perspective of the different actors, how their characters came to be and how they made them their own, by the end of it I realized how no one else could have been more perfect than them.Also 'holding space' is mentioned- but not really explained or applied until very late in the book- as staying in the physical presence of a child in turmoil (if that is what helps them). How getting a kidney transplant affected Hyland’s body, giving her a KUPA, thus making her insecure people were going to body shame her

When Hyland started the show she was actually eighteen, but since she looked so young she got to play the part of a sixteen year oldBooks about television shows (or movies, or music acts) can easily get bogged down in either superfluous praise (no matter how deserved) or petty gossip. This book manages to do neither, the praise is generally between people involved in the show and the gossip is largely the good natured (or at least the "we got through it") variety. I enjoyed the chapter on how schooling worked for the minors. For instance I learned that Nolan graduated high school at 13(!!!) and is a MENSA member. It was sad to read all the milestones the kids learned later in life than they should have. Like how Ariel only learned how to ride a bike and swim because she needed to do that for a scene. It also was sad to me the teenagers on the show would learn certain things because they needed to do it for a scene, rather than doing it at their own pace. Ariel and Rico got their permit because they needed to drive in a scene. Rico rode a roller coaster because he needed to do it for a scene. I love that Ariel decided she wanted to try a real high school, thus getting all the experiences that come with that. Also, that Aubrey was thinking she wanted to try a real high school too.