Sofia Vergara and 'Modern Family' cast go to Disneyland
As a kid watching reruns of THE BRADY BUNCH, the one episode I was happy to watch over and over was the one in which the whole gang went to Kings Island amusement park. Other people wanted to see the mixed family hit the beach to watch Greg hang 10, but I was all about seeing them break every rule of theme park etiquette in their mad dash to get Mike鈥檚 sketches to the manager鈥檚 office before his butt could be fired.
Over the years, I鈥檝e tuned into shows I鈥檇 never watch under other circumstances just to catch glimpses of parks I鈥檝e been to, hope to go to or know I鈥檒l only ever experience vicariously. For seven seasons, I checked out the opening credits of STEP BY STEP just to watch the Lambert-Foster clan (headed by Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers) frolic at Valencia, California鈥檚 Heck, I even suffered through a painfully unfunny episode of DINOSAURS in which the prehistoric family were forced to vacation at WeSaySoLand鈥� a park so lame even I wouldn鈥檛 wanna go there.
听听
Not surprisingly, ABC鈥檚 shows have a long history of visiting their corporate overlord, aka Mickey Mouse, at his various vacation homes. Long before last night鈥檚 MODERN FAMILY had Gloria teetering around Disneyland in high heels, we got ROSEANNE joking that an old man sitting on a bench at Disney World was clearly a robot (told they haven鈥檛 been called 鈥渞obots鈥� for years, she quipped, 鈥淪orry. Animatronic Americans.鈥�) and FULL HOUSE鈥檚 Danny proposing to the world鈥檚 most clueless would-be fianc茅, Vicky via fireworks above Cinderella鈥檚 castle at the Magic Kingdom.
Even soaps have gotten in on the act, with both SANTA BARBARA and ALL MY CHILDREN among the sudsers to have storylines unfold at Walt Disney World.
听听
Without fail, these vacation-themed jaunts wind up happening during sweeps, and to be honest, I get far more excited about them than I do about the more typical weddings, births and deaths that tend to take place in record high numbers during the months of February, May and November. And the ones which unfold at Disney鈥檚 parks are almost without fail not-so-well-disguised advertorials for the House of Mouse鈥� and yet, when done right, they鈥檙e a hit not only with me, but regular viewers as well.
Why? Because it鈥檚 something we can all relate to. What typical family doesn鈥檛 plan a vacation to Disney or some other amusement park at some point? Doing so is as normal as many of the other things we never see TV families do鈥� like use the bathroom or鈥� well, watch television. So is it any wonder that watching MODERN FAMILY鈥檚 Dunphy/Pritchett clan 鈥� the very picture of upper-middle class America 鈥� taking the type of vacation we all dream of hits home? We see ourselves in them and think, hopefully, that even if we can鈥檛 take that trip this year, maybe we鈥檒l do it next year.
听听
And unlike Gloria, we鈥檒l be sure to wear sensible shoes.
Richard M. Simms blogs at .
