RoyalTea

Tier I (a):
Phil

Tier I (b):
Claire/Jay

Tier II:
Haley/Alex/Luke

Tier III:
Gloria/Mitchell/Manny

Tier V:
Cam/Lily


This show would be dead with out Phil for sure. I also think Claire and Jay are also vital, but not quite as much as Phil.

If the show lost a character or two from the Haley/Alex/Luke/Gloria/Mitchell/Manny group, it wouldn't be that horrible, but I think the Dunphy children have a lot more to offer the show than Mitchell/Gloria/Manny.

Lily/Cam - these characters have become awful (well, Lily was always awful). The show would be much improved without them. I'm skipping Tier 4 and putting them into Tier 5 (and even that's generous). There needs to be a plot-line where Mitchell/Cam/Lily are taking a vacation to Vietnam, Mitchell gets stuck at work and misses the flight, which crashes into the Pacific Ocean.

Jimmy James

I think this analysis has no merit because its premise is false.

There is not a level of importance here at all. There is certainly a level of enjoyment (and my enjoyment of the characters may be similar to yours in many cases), but this is an ensemble show. It is evident there is no particular lead among any of these characters. I would caution that as much as you might think you could lose Cam and Lily from the show and it would lose nothing, it is very possible you'd be dead wrong about that. It's a stew.

Now with all that said, this is how I'd say I enjoy the characters. I'll even adopt your five tiers.

Tier 1:
Phil & Jay

Tier 2:
Gloria, Alex, Manny, & Luke

Tier 3:
Cam

Tier 4:
Claire, Mitchell, & Haley

Tier 5:
Lily & Fulgencio (and honestly that's still because neither is old enough to contribute much not due to hatred)

Matt925

Phil is funny and Claire is a good straight man for him. No one else is funny.

RoyalTea

I think there are plenty of ensamble casts where one character is clearly more important than the other.

Cheers survived when Coach died and Woody was replaced. Same with Rebecca replacing Diane. Would the show have worked without Sam?

No Phil in Modern Family = worse show
No Cam in Modern Family = better show

Jimmy James

It was absolutely a risk in each of those instances, just as it was when M*A*S*H had to replace the many characters they replaced.

That said, Modern Family is a much truer ensemble than Cheers or M*A*S*H. Hawkeye in M*A*S*H and Sam in Cheers are the clear, true leads.

You may very well be right about no Phil, but it would be hard to know for sure unless it happened. I am much less confident about you statement about Cam, even though it is clear you find him grating. You might miss him considerably more than you anticipate when we have to deal with issues like a morose Mitchell and Lily (if he died), a new boyfriend for Mitchell, etc. You can't just blink a member of a family out of existence.

MrSmearkase

Fuck everybody else, especially Manny.

Charlie Goose

Either one of the two teenage girls can be removed without much of a loss.

sven

Dylan
Phil Gloria
Jay Claire
Luke Manny
Haley Cam
Alex Mitchel

wz42

i) Jerry
ii) Kramer
iii) George/Newman
v) Elaine

MLBFan24

I've enjoyed Lily's one-liners lately. And seeing Luke grow up has hurt his one-liners, but it's unavoidable.

Reminds me of seeing the kids grow up on Step-by-Step.

RocShemp

Who is the guy who plays Dylan fucking? Yes, the character barely appears (thank goodness) but he still keeps showing up and he stopped being funny so many seasons ago.

Jimmy James

This thread suggests to me the ratings success of this show comes from its appeal to a broad demographic. That's another reason why getting rid of whoever you personally loathe may harm the show more than you think.

hasslein

Gloria is a great character

robin2099

I think the biggest problem is that not many of the characters are funny on their own, or entertaining enough on their own.

For example, take Parks and Recreation. Now admittedly, Ron Swanson is the best character on the show by far. But you don't have to put Ron in every storyline to make the other characters entertaining. You can put Ron and Leslie together, or Ben and Chris, or Ann and April, or Jerry and Tom and get funny scenarios. Because the characters are that well written and done.

Now take MF. Phil is by far the star of the show. He is very rarely not comedy gold. He can interact with anyone. Jay falls under this also but to a lesser extent. Now look at the other characters:

Claire: Most funny when being a straight man to Phil. She also works well with Jay. But besides that she doesn't really work as a character on her own.

Gloria: Works well with Jay and Phil but no one else really.

Luke: He's probably the third best character behind Phil and Jay and can work well with anyone, but now that he's getting older it's harder for the jokes to work with him. Like someone else said it was like when the kids on Step by Step grew up. The jokes that worked well when they were kids are less funny when their teenagers.

Hailey: She's just your typical older daughter character. Not much to really say about her.

Alex: Isn't a really strong character either. She's just your typical overachieving character. She doesn't really work well with anyone at all.

Manny: He's funny when paired off with Jay. But otherwise I've never laughed at any of his stories or enjoyed his pairings with any other characters.

Cam: Has his moments but his character now seems to be more annoying than anything else.

Mitchell: Honestly I don't think his character works well with any other character for the most part. He just always comes across in every pairing as the "no fun annoying character."

Lily: She's a child actor so not rated.

So I think that's the biggest problem. You have two really strong characters, but the rest of them are just limited and not as interesting as the others. But it's hard to get rid of any of them because this show appeals to basically every demographic possible.

Jimmy James

I find Claire's only value as a straight man for Phil and even then when they get paired up that means he can't be paired with somebody better (which is anybody except maybe Lily -- have they ever paired them?). To me, she and her brother are the weakest part of the show on a plot basis (though obviously they are basically the foundation of the show from a premise basis).

Mr. Salty

Can Hayley's breasts be considered characters? If so, my answer is:

Phil
Jay
Young Luke
Cam
Haley's breasts
Older Lily
Alex
Pepper

Everyone else dies in a minivan crash.

cleaver

Bottom tier: Fulgencio and Lilly
Next to bottom tier: Mitchell and Manny
Next to top tier: Clair, Luke, Haley, Alex
Top tier: everyone else

Shannon Nutt

Important in what sense? Currently or since the show began?

I say this series NEVER takes off if Ed O'Neill isn't in the cast...most of us really didn't know the other actors - we tuned in because Ed was there.

RoyalTea

Currently.

Jimmy James

I don't know that I buy that at all. In fact, my guess is that a lot of people knew Julie Bowen or Sofia Vergara better than him, at least in the target demo.

robin2099

The 18-49 year old demos? Don't underestimate the appeal of Al Bundy. That show is still on in syndication constantly and the character is still really popular to this day.

Fist of Doom

Tier 1: Phil & Co.
Tier 2: Jay & Co.
Tier 3: Cam & Co.

That's the way it's always been. Oh, and I hate Married With Children, not why I started watching.

JuryDuty

I agree with this. The show could have easily survived being about Phil, Claire and the kids, with occasional visits from her father and brother and their families.

Jimmy James

Then it would have looked like every other family sitcom out there. See also: NBC Thursdays. I'm not so sure it could have survived that.

hasslein

The only reason I initially tuned in was I knew Vergara from other work.