LOS ANGELES

CAMERA crews traipse through the living rooms and kitchens of the “Modern Family” clan, and the husbands, wives, sons and daughters mostly ignore them.

The cameras capture them up close during meals and family meetings, and at a distance during soccer games and shopping-mall outings. Occasionally the family members sit down for confessional-style interviews, telling stories and explaining their oddball behavior.

Although it has all the trappings of a family reality show, “Modern Family” is actually a documentary-style sitcom. It merely borrows the look and feel of the dozens of day-in-the-life reality shows that play out on television, seemingly in perpetuity.

The signatures of the mockumentary  knowing nods to the camera and interviews with an off-screen filmmaker  date back to 1984 and “This Is Spinal Tap,” the imagined documentary about an imaginary rock band. On television it is most closely associated with workplace comedies like the five-year-old series “The Office” and “Parks & Recreation,” both on NBC. This fall the format is coming home, being adapted for a family sitcom for the first time.