ABC's Modern Family Has Been a 21st Century Hit

I have always been a fan of situation comedy TV shows. I think the golden age of sitcoms was in the 1980s when NBC had their “Must See TV” lineup. On Thursday nights this included: The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers and Night Court. For the last several years, sitcoms have become rare for the major broadcast networks. Much of prime time is occupied by reality shows like Survivor, Big Brother or The Amazing Race, and the hour-long crime dramas such as CSI, FBI or NCIS. The reality shows are cheaper to produce since the only star to pay big bucks is the host. The crime dramas seem to follow a specific template and they lack creativity in my opinion. Some of the best sitcoms through the years have included: Seinfeld, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Jeffersons, All in the Family, MASH, Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. Recently CBS aired the final episode of Young Sheldon, which I thought was well done. That was a spin-off of The Big Bang Theory. So many spin-offs are a disappointment when compared to the original show, but I enjoyed Young Sheldon more than The Big Bang Theory. The E! network airs Modern Family each weeknight, and I feel that it was an excellent show, with a top notch cast and creative storylines. The show has been credited for reviving the sitcom format for the 21st century. This show aired on ABC for an impressive 250 episodes, from 2009 to 2020. The main structure of the show was based around three couples and their adventures. The three couples are diverse, representing a nuclear family, a blended family and a same-sex family. Ed O’Neill and Sofia Vergara played Jay Pritchett and Gloria Delgado-Pritchett. Jay is much older than Gloria, who is from Columbia. Jay owns a company that makes blinds and organizes closets. Jay’s kids are Claire and Mitchell, other key characters in the show. O’Neill is best known for his role as Al Bundy in the Fox sitcom “Married with Children” (1987-1997). Craig T. Nelson (“Coach” and “Young Sheldon”) turned down the role of Jay Pritchett. Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell played Claire and Phil Dunphy. Julie Bowen appeared in 83 episodes of the sitcom “Ed” from 2000 to 2004. Claire works for her father’s company and Phil sells real estate. Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet play Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker. They adopted a baby from Vietnam. Mitchell is a lawyer and Cameron sometimes works as a substitute teacher. Primary kids in the show were Rico Rodriguez as Manny Delgado, Sarah Hyland as Haley Dunphy, Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy, Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily Tucker-Pritchett. Anderson-Emmons won a Screen Actors Guild Award at age 4 in 2011. That made her the youngest winner of that award. On imdb, even Stella the dog, a French Bulldog, gets a credit. Her name is Beatrice and she was in 46 episodes. The co-creator of this show was Steven Levitan. He created the show “Just Shoot Me” (1997-2003). He directed several of the “Modern Family” episodes. The other creator was Christopher Lloyd who was show runner/writer for “Frasier.” The 6 main cast members appeared in all 250 episodes, which is unusual for a show with an ensemble cast. This show has won 22 Emmy Awards over its 11 seasons. Ed O’Neill knew the show would be a winner from the beginning. He felt it would be on for 10 seasons after reading the first script. At first, he was hesitant about signing on to do the show. Creators Levitan and Lloyd set out to create a relationship-driven and heart-warming show so that families could watch together. The show had some similarities to “Cheers” and “Frasier” since it would make viewers laugh and cry. The cast was allowed to improvise to a degree. The casting director saw over 1400 actors for the 10 main characters. The show was designed to be enjoyed by the whole family, so the writers wanted to avoid any racy storylines. Often times, someone in the show will break the fourth wall and look into the camera. Recurring characters were played by Fred Willard, Nathan Lane, Adam DeVine, Elizabeth Banks and Nathan Fillion. “Modern Family” is a mockumentary type of show, similar to “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation.” CBS and NBC turned down the show. The show’s average number of viewers ranged from 6 million to almost 13 million. In the 2010-11 season, “Modern Family” was the #1 scripted show in the 18-49 demographic. From the first season, the show received critical acclaim from Rotten Tomatoes, Entertainment Weekly, Time, Metacritic and others. The series has been successful in syndication in America, plus in other countries, including The United Kingdom, South Africa, Sweden, Israel, India and Canada. *Some information from imdb and Wikipedia.