5 reasons why we'll always love 'modern family'

We can't all be with our families during the coronavirus crisis. So thank goodness we still have _Modern Family,_ winner of 22 Emmys, which airs its 250th and final episode on April 8

(ABC, 9 p.m. ET). For 11 seasons, every Wednesday night, we've welcomed the sitcom's extended clan of endearingly dysfunctional characters into our homes as warmly as if they were

our own relatives — and we'll do so for years to come, thanks to syndicated reruns. "I hope the show brought families together and made them laugh,” says Sofia Vergara, 47, who

became a breakout star as the lovably feisty Gloria Delgado-Pritchett. “Despite everything that's going on in life, I really hope the show reminds people how important family is."

That it does. And here are five more reasons why we love _Modern Family._ Ty Burrell, starring as Phil Dunphy, speaks directly to the camera in a Season 11 episode of "Modern

Family." ABC/Jessica Brooks IT REINVENTED THE FAMILY COMEDY From _Father Knows Best_ to _Everybody Loves Raymond,_ the family sitcom has long been a staple of primetime TV. But with its

single-camera, no-laugh-track format, _Modern Family_ didn't look or sound like its predecessors. And by adopting the mockumentary technique of _The Office,_ in which characters speak

directly to the camera, this family seemed truly modern. “It took me a minute to get used to the style, but once I did, I just loved it,” says Ty Burrell, 52, who excelled with sly gags in

the interview segments as Phil Dunphy, the not-as-cool-as-he-thinks-he-is dad. “It felt a little more sophisticated and surprising.” So, too, did the show's characters. They included

not only Phil's traditional nuclear family (his klutzy wife, Claire, is played by Julie Bowen, 50, a mother of three kids in real life as well) but also his divorced father-in-law, Jay

Pritchett (Ed O'Neill, 73), who had remarried single mom Gloria, and same-sex couple Cameron Tucker and Mitchell Pritchett (Eric Stonestreet, 48, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, 44), who

adopted a baby daughter in the first episode. “Everyone was so different, and there were so many ways to mix and match the characters,” O'Neill observes. “When I read the pilot, I

realized this was what could give the show what we call legs."