On May 10, 2013, Modern Family was renewed for a fifth season. The season premiered on September 25, 2013 and ended on May 21, 2014.
Cast
Main cast
Ed O'Neill as Jay Pritchett
Sofía Vergara as Gloria Pritchett
Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy
Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy
Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett
Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker
Sarah Hyland as Haley Dunphy
Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy
Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy
Rico Rodriguez as Manny Delgado
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily Tucker-Pritchett
Recurring cast
Adam DeVine as Andy Bailey
Nathan Lane as Pepper Saltzman
Christian Barillas as Ronaldo
Reid Ewing as Dylan Marshall
Dana Powell as Pam Tucker
Celia Weston as Barb Tucker
Guest cast
Justin Kirk as Charlie Bingham
Andrew Daly as Principal Brown
Diane Farr as Diane
Spenser McNeil as Reuben
Fred Willard as Frank Dunphy
Jordan Peele as Derrick
Ann Guilbert as Cameron's grandmother
Elizabeth Peña as Pilar Ramirez
John Benjamin Hickey as Dr. Clark
Jane Krakowski as Dr. Donna Duncan
Jesse Eisenberg as Asher
Chazz Palminteri as Shorty
Rob Riggle as Gil Thorpe
John Heard as Gunther Thorpe
Aisha Tyler as Wendy
Will Sasso as Señor Kaplan
Alyson Reed as Angela
Marc Evan Jackson as Tad
Patton Oswalt as Ducky
Fred Armisen as Langham
Stephen Merchant as Leslie Higgins
Rhys Darby as Fergus Anderson
Elizabeth Banks as Sal
Barry Corbin as Merle Tucker
Kevin Daniels as Longines
Colin Hanlon as Steven
Production
The first episode of the season, "Suddenly, Last Summer", which premiered on ABC on September 25, 2013, made reference to the newly legalized same-sex marriage in California. The writers said that a wedding for Mitch and Cam was a "real possibility". In January 2014, it was announced that Modern Family's vacation episode would take place in Australia this season. The season was produced by Steven Levitan Productions and Picador Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television, with creators Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd as showrunners.
Episodes
Reception
Reviews
The fifth season of Modern Family received mixed reviews from television critics. While episodes like "Larry's Wife", "Australia" and "Sleeper" were negatively received, others like "The Old Man & the Tree," "Las Vegas," and "Message Received" premiered to high acclaim, with the latter two frequently cited among the show's best episodes.
Reviewing the season's first eight episodes, Matthew Wolfson of Slant Magazine wrote that the show "appear[ed] to have finally arrived at the depressing and predictable low point toward which it [had] been trending for the past two years." He also went on to say that the show had "turned into a shrill pastiche of stereotypical characterizations and superficial banter lacking both feeling and wit", assigning it a rating of 1.5/4 stars. Different writers for The A.V. Club rated, in total, a majority of the former-half episodes with a "B−" grade or less. One writer for the magazine, Joshua Alston, gave "ClosetCon '13" a "C+" and remarked that "Modern Family becomes a high-wire act when it separates its characters into three storylines with no overlap between them." The second half was more warmly received, with three episodes rated an "A−" or higher.
Despite the somewhat mixed reception for the season, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons's performance as Lily received positive reviews. In his review of "The Help", Joe Reid, writing for The A.V. Club, called Lily a "veritable one-liner machine". Reviewing the same episode, Leigh Raines of TV Fanatic said that the funniest part of the half-hour was "Lily at the end rolling her eyes and banging her head on the table listening to Cam, Mitchell and Pepper arguing over wedding plans".
Ratings
Awards and nominations
Primetime Emmy Awards
The fifth season received ten nominations at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards in total, including its fifth consecutive nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. The ceremony for the Primetime Awards aired on August 25, 2013 on NBC while the Primetime Creative Arts Awards took place on August 16, 2013.