'Modern Family' update: ABC gets slammed for Halloween episode showing mental asylum

Instead of filming a Halloween special for Season 7 of the hit comedy series “Modern Family,” ABC has opted to air an encore of last year’s special titled “AwesomeLand.” The move has fanned the flames on a conflict between the network and mental health organisations, which have been lobbying to stop the episode from being shown due to what they feel is an insensitive portrayal of mental health patients.

Kvia.com shared a statement from The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) on Wednesday, Oct. 28, the day of the re-airing of the Halloween special. According to the statement, while ABC expressed concern about the negative stereotypes on mental health patients that could be seen in the episode, it is disappointing that the network still decided to re-air the 2014 Halloween special.

“The episode sends a message that ABC does not consider people living with mental illness to truly be part of its modern family or vision,” read the statement. “We hope millions of individuals and families dealing with mental health challenges will join us in letting ABC know how disrespectful its actions truly are.”

“Awesome Land” focuses on Phil (Ty Burrell) and Claire Dunphy’s (Julie Bowen) household. Phil is in charge of the Halloween decorations and he chooses to put up cheerful decorations that represent all the awesome things that he thinks he and his family enjoy.

The annoying next door neighbours think that the colourful decorations are lame and start taunting Claire. She gets affected by the taunting and decides to overhaul the yard. She makes it her mission to make the scariest and most gruesome decor in the neighbourhood. In order to do this, she decides to dress up as a sadistic nurse. She got the children to dress up as deranged mental patients and they turned the yard into a scary mental asylum.

The episode was originally aired as the 2014 Halloween special. Despite the appeal from NAMI, ABC decided to re-air the episode this year. "Modern Family" airs every Wednesday at 9:00 pm ET on ABC.

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