TODAY'S MODERN FAMILY

If you love sitcoms, and are pressed for time, watching ABC's new "Modern Family" could be an efficient solution.

It's like three, maybe four sitcoms all squeezed into one, and quite an enjoyable one.

"Modern Family" starts from the premise that many families today are no longer the classic unit TV loved back in the prehistoric days of "Father Knows Best," or even "Family Ties."

So it assembles a family that looks like it came from the $6.95 all-you-can-eat buffet table: a nervous mother of teenagers with a jerk husband, a gay couple and a grandfather who has married a fiery young Latina.

Almost all of Wednesday night's premiere is consumed with introducing this large cast, which is fine. Our quick glimpses of the characters just being themselves suggests we'll see neurotic, blockheaded, charming, poignant and funny.

In a sitcom, funny is good.

Quick rundown: Jay (Ed O'Neill) is the grandfather and patriarch. He just married Gloria (Sofia Vergara), for reasons that are a total mystery on both sides. Gloria brings along a son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez).

From his earlier marriage, Jay has a daughter, Claire (Julie Bowen), who is married to Phil (Ty Burrell), who is such a jerk we don't understand that one, either.

They have three kids - exasperated teenager Haley (Sarah Hyland), smart kid Alex (Ariel Winter) and screwed-up but funny Luke (Nolan Gould).

Jay also has a son, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), who is in a long-term relationship with Cameron (Eric Stonestreet). Jay tries to pretend he's okay with this, even though he isn't.

Tonight, Mitchell and Cameron adopt a Vietnamese baby, which also serves as a handy dramatic device to bring everyone together and let Jay toss out a casually offensive ethnic reference.

Perhaps most impressive, the producers find time to let each character be an idiot, but also show legitimate family fondness.

Much of what we're likely to see in "Modern Family" we've seen before: nervous mom vs. hormonal teenager; emotional Latina and buttoned-up Yanqui; gay couple that's a little hypersensitive. And so on.

But that's okay. Think of "Modern Family" as a high-quality one-stop.