Remember when it was cool to be Friends? Or when reality TV trumped real life? Maybe I’m too simplistic or even too TV-centric in my view of the world, but I have to believe that network television programming reflects how we feel as a culture. And if that’s the case, America is once again all about the family.

The reason for my supposition is the recent influx of TV shows featuring families like the critically acclaimed Modern Family as well as the all-too-real The Middle. They point to the fact that we want to see how the family is doing. Today’s families may not look like the Waltons, but like the Depression-era brood, these shows have their own unique blend of chaos, forgiveness and laughter.

Modern Family and The Middle, in particular, deal with issues so current and relevant that as a parent, I don’t feel crazy, I feel befriended. Not since the Bradys and the Partridges have I wanted a TV family to live next door. Even the newer dramas are revolving around family, case in point, Brothers and Sisters, The Good Wife and Parenthood that debuted this week.

The shows embrace their family-ness. The Modern Family website has a family scrapbook and a family tree. This week, the Hecks of The Middle went on a road trip to a spelling bee. Both show are affirming and uplifting, all while shrinking the jeans or thinking up punishment for shooting a sibling with an air-rifle pellet.

To quote The Middle’s mom Frankie Heck “People end up in places they don’t want to be because of two things, drugs or kids.” If you don’t have kids, this may seem like nothing. To those of us in the throes of it, it is our reality.

If you’d like to check out episodes, I recommend Modern Family episodes: Fears, Fifteen Percent and Fizbo. The Middle: The Bee, The Yelling or Valentine’s Day.

Both shows offer a great take on today’s moms and dads. Interested to see what Parenthood brings to the party.  Let me know what you think.