Modern Family
Encyclopedia
Modern Family is an American television comedy
series created by Christopher Lloyd
and Steven Levitan
, which debuted on ABC
on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label. Depicted in mockumentary
style, the fictional characters talk directly into the cameras during many situations that arise throughout the series.
Lloyd and Levitan conceptualized the series while sharing stories of their own "modern families." The series premiered to critical acclaim and was watched by 12.61 million viewers. Early on, it was named as a big contender for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
. Soon after, the series was picked up for a full season on October 8, 2009. On January 12, 2010, Modern Family was renewed for a second season by ABC.
The series has received positive reviews from critics and received multiple award nominations. The series has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
and the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series twice so far. The syndication rights to the show have also been sold to USA Network
and 10 Fox
affiliates for a fall 2013 premiere. The success of the show has also led it to being the sixteenth highest revenue earning show for 2010, earning $1.6 million an episode. On January 10, 2011, Modern Family was renewed for a third season, which premiered with a one-hour special on September 21, 2011.
style show. They later decided it could be a show about three families and their experiences. The show was originally called My American Family. Originally, the camera crew would be run by a fictitious Dutch filmmaker named Geert Floortje who had lived with Jay's family as a teenage exchange student and developed a crush on Claire (while Mitchell had a crush on him), but decided against it. The creators pitched it to three of the four major networks (they did not pitch it to Fox
due to problems Lloyd had with the network with Back to You
). CBS, not ready to use the single-camera style of filming, nor ready to make another large commitment, did not accept the series (Welcome to the Captain and Worst Week were single camera sitcoms that aired on CBS but both lasted one season). NBC, already having two shows—The Office and Parks and Recreation
—with a mockumentary format, decided against accepting the show until the success of the other two series' decreased. ABC accepted the series and picked it up for a full season.
after the pilot episode tested high with focus groups
, resulting in the network ordering 16 episodes and adding it to the 2009–2010 fall
lineup days ahead of ABC's official schedule announcement. The series was given a full season pickup on October 8, 2009. On January 12, 2010, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson announced that Modern Family had been renewed for a second season. A third season was ordered by ABC on January 10, 2011.
The series was also picked up for syndication by USA
during the first season for 1.5 million dollars and to 10 Fox
affiliates during the second season. The series airs in the United Kingdom
and Republic of Ireland
on Sky1. The series is shown in Australia on Channel 10 which is known for replaying American TV shows.
The series premiered in India on Star World, a bit late, on 4th November 2010 and was received enthusiastically.
The series is also shown in South Africa on M-net channel 101.
produce the series with the show's creators, Christopher Lloyd
and Steven Levitan
as show runner
and executive producer. Lloyd and Levitan previously worked on Frasier
, Wings, Just Shoot Me, The Wonder Years
. The first team of writers consisted of Paul Corrigan, Sameer Gardezi, Joe Lawson, Levitan, Lloyd, Dan O'Shannon, Brad Walsh, Caroline Williams, Bill Wrubel, and Danny Zuker. The first team of directors included Jason Winer
, Michael Spiller
, Randall Einhorn
, and Chris Koch
. Winer has directed nineteen episodes of the series, making him the most prolific director of the series.
. The show revolves around three families that are interrelated through Jay Pritchett and his children, Claire Dunphy and Mitchell Pritchett. Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill
), the patriarch
, is in a relationship with a younger woman, Gloria (Sofía Vergara
), a passionate mother, who, with help from Jay, raises her son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Claire (Julie Bowen
) is a homemaker
mom married to Phil (Ty Burrell
) a real estate agent and self-professed cool dad; they have three children: Haley (Sarah Hyland
), the stereotypical teenager, Alex (Ariel Winter
), the smart middle child and Luke (Nolan Gould
), the offbeat only son. Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson
), a lawyer, and his partner Cameron (Eric Stonestreet
) have adopted a Vietnamese
baby, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons). In the first season, the adult cast is paid from a range of $30,000 per seg to about $90,000.
The series has also had several recurring characters. Reid Ewing
appeared in several episodes as Haley's boyfriend, Dylan. Fred Willard
has guest starred as Phil's father Frank Dunphy and later went on to be nominated at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, but lost to Neil Patrick Harris
's performance on Glee
. Shelley Long
has appeared in both seasons as Claire and Mitchell's biological mother and Jay's ex-wife, DeDe Pritchett. Nathan Lane
appeared twice during the second season as Cameron and Mitchell's flamboyant friend, Pepper Saltsman.
, in regards to the multiple family aspect, as well as Arrested Development. Some have made comparisons to The Office and Parks and Recreation
, due to their mockumentary formats. BuddyTV
named the show the second best show in 2009, saying, "Every actor is fantastic, every family is interesting, and unlike many shows, there isn't a weak link". Robert Canning of IGN
gave the season a 8.9 saying it was "Great" and called it "Simply put, Modern Family was one of the best new comedies of the season." He also praised the ensemble cast and the characters calling them lovable. According to Metacritic, the first season was the best reviewed new broadcast television series.
The second and third season received positive reviews much like the first season. Robert Bianco of USA Today
gave the new season four stars out of four, saying, "Not since Frasier
has a sitcom offered such an ideal blend of heart and smarts, or proven itself so effortlessly adept at so many comic variations, from subtle wordplay to big-laugh slapstick to everything in between." Robert Bianco in a later review stated "as good as it was in its first year, is even better in its second" positively comparing the characters to the characters from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
, The Cosby Show
and Friends
. During the second season, Adweek
named the show one of the 100 Most Influential TV Shows (98th chronologically). Despite this, the season received criticism from some critics for a sophomore slump
. Eric Stonestreet, who received praise during the first season, was criticized during the second season for being too over the top. Alan Sepinwall called Cameron Tucker a "whiny, overly-sensitive diva". On the other hand, Ty Burrell has received praise for his performance as Phil Dunphy through both seasons.
Slant Magazine
reviewer Peter Swanson wrote that while the first episode was "the type of wacky-location stunt that's usually reserved for the fifth or sixth season of a dying sitcom", the following episodes "have been better [...] but they're still uneven". He also critiziced the writers for relying too much on "stunt episodes and celebrity cameos, like David Cross". He ultimately gave the season 3 out of 4 stars. James Parker of The Atlantic said, at the beginning of the third season that "Modern Family is very, very funny, almost ruthlessly so ... [It's] a bit of a master class in pace and brevity ... The writing is Vorsprung durch Technik
: hectically compressed but dramatically elegant, prodigal in its zingers and snorters but austere in its construction." He found it an exception to his dislike for sitcoms that eschew a laugh track
.
, Bruce Feiler
called attention to how the show depicts the increasing way communications technology shapes the way people perceive others, even family members. "[It] is surely the first family comedy that incorporates its own hashtag of simultaneous self-analysis directly into the storyline," he writes. "Mark Zuckerberg
may be a greater influence on Modern Family than Norman Lear
."
The show's writers and actors agree. "We used to talk about how cellphones killed the sitcom because no one ever goes to anyone's house anymore" for routine information, Abraham Higginbotham
told Feiler. "We embrace technology so it's part of the story". Ty Burrell
draws on Fran Lebowitz
's observation that there is no institution other than media. "I had this little flash of Phil—and me—that we are parsing our personality together externally from how people perceive us."
James Parker said that "The American family circa 2011 is, after all, an acutely self-conscious and self-interrogating unit: How does one 'parent'? Who does what, which 'role'? Is Dad sufficiently dad-like and Mom enough of a mom?" he writes. "Modern Family taps right into all this, the cameras that lurch through its three households producing the sensation of a wild and shaky experiment, recorded for purposes educational or scientific."
community for its portrayal of Cameron and Mitchell as not being physically affectionate with each other. The criticism spawned a Facebook
campaign to demand Mitchell and Cameron be allowed to kiss. In response to the controversy, producers released a statement that a season two episode would address Mitchell's discomfort with public displays of affection
. Executive producer Levitan has said that it was unfortunate that the issue had arisen, since the show's writers had always planned on such a scene "as part of the natural development of the show." The episode "The Kiss
" eventually aired with the kiss scene in the background which drew praise from multiple critics.
, Eric Stonestreet
, Jesse Tyler Ferguson
, Sofía Vergara
and Julie Bowen
, were all nominated individually. Like Friends
, to reinforce the idea of an ensemble cast, the cast all submitted themselves in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories instead of Lead Actor and Actress for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
. On August 29, 2010, Modern Family won Outstanding Comedy Series
, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (for the pilot episode), and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Eric Stonestreet). The show also later received a GLSEN Respect Award for its portrayal of "positive images and storylines that reflect a diverse America, including the depiction of a family headed by a gay couple. " In 2010, the cast won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy, beating the previous year's winner, Glee
. On July 14, 2011, the series received 17 Emmy nominations, the third most nominations for the year after Mad Men
and Boardwalk Empire. The awards the series was nominated for include Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. The series has also been put on multiple critics' lists. In 2010, the series was listed on BuddyTV
's Top Ten Best Comedy Shows of 2009–2010, 2nd on Time
's Top Ten Best shows of 2009, 2nd on BuddyTV
's Top Ten Best Shows of 2009, Jason Hughes Best TV of 2009, 10th on BuddyTV
's Top 10 Returning Shows We're Most Excited to Come Back, and on TV Guide
's Our Favorite Families Modern Family was awarded a Peabody Award
in 2009.
, the show's second season became the highest rated show on Wednesday on premiere week and also rose 34% from the previous season among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The show frequently ranked as television's top scripted series in adults 18-49 as well. The success of the show has been positively compared to The Cosby Show
. During the 2010–2011 season, Modern Family was the highest rated scripted show in the 18-49 demographic, and the third highest rated overall sitcom behind CBS's The Big Bang Theory
and Two and a Half Men
. The season also ranked first among DVR
viewers. The third season premiere became ABC's top-rated season premiere in six years. The series success in ratings has also led to the series being credited for reviving sitcoms.
Television comedy
Television comedy had a presence from the earliest days of broadcasting. Among the earliest BBC television programmes in the 1930s was Starlight, which offered a series of guests from the music hall era — singers and comedians amongst them...
series created by Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd (screenwriter)
Christopher Lloyd is an American TV screenwriter and producer of Wings, Frasier, Out of Practice, Back to You, and Modern Family...
and Steven Levitan
Steven Levitan
Steven E. Levitan is an American director, screenwriter and producer of television comedies. He has created such TV series as Just Shoot Me!, Stark Raving Mad, Stacked, Back to You, and Modern Family....
, which debuted on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label. Depicted in mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
style, the fictional characters talk directly into the cameras during many situations that arise throughout the series.
Lloyd and Levitan conceptualized the series while sharing stories of their own "modern families." The series premiered to critical acclaim and was watched by 12.61 million viewers. Early on, it was named as a big contender for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, took place on August 29, 2010, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT...
. Soon after, the series was picked up for a full season on October 8, 2009. On January 12, 2010, Modern Family was renewed for a second season by ABC.
The series has received positive reviews from critics and received multiple award nominations. The series has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...
and the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series twice so far. The syndication rights to the show have also been sold to USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
and 10 Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliates for a fall 2013 premiere. The success of the show has also led it to being the sixteenth highest revenue earning show for 2010, earning $1.6 million an episode. On January 10, 2011, Modern Family was renewed for a third season, which premiered with a one-hour special on September 21, 2011.
Conception
As Lloyd and Levitan retold stories about their families, it occurred to them that that could be the basis for a show. They started working on the idea of a family being observed in a mockumentaryMockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
style show. They later decided it could be a show about three families and their experiences. The show was originally called My American Family. Originally, the camera crew would be run by a fictitious Dutch filmmaker named Geert Floortje who had lived with Jay's family as a teenage exchange student and developed a crush on Claire (while Mitchell had a crush on him), but decided against it. The creators pitched it to three of the four major networks (they did not pitch it to Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
due to problems Lloyd had with the network with Back to You
Back to You
Back to You is an American situation comedy series, which aired on Fox from September 19, 2007 to May 14, 2008. The creators and executive producers were Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, and the director was James Burrows. The series starred Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as squabbling...
). CBS, not ready to use the single-camera style of filming, nor ready to make another large commitment, did not accept the series (Welcome to the Captain and Worst Week were single camera sitcoms that aired on CBS but both lasted one season). NBC, already having two shows—The Office and Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
—with a mockumentary format, decided against accepting the show until the success of the other two series' decreased. ABC accepted the series and picked it up for a full season.
Pickup
The series quickly became a priority for ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
after the pilot episode tested high with focus groups
Focus group
A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging...
, resulting in the network ordering 16 episodes and adding it to the 2009–2010 fall
Autumn
Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September or March when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier....
lineup days ahead of ABC's official schedule announcement. The series was given a full season pickup on October 8, 2009. On January 12, 2010, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson announced that Modern Family had been renewed for a second season. A third season was ordered by ABC on January 10, 2011.
The series was also picked up for syndication by USA
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
during the first season for 1.5 million dollars and to 10 Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliates during the second season. The series airs in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
on Sky1. The series is shown in Australia on Channel 10 which is known for replaying American TV shows.
The series premiered in India on Star World, a bit late, on 4th November 2010 and was received enthusiastically.
The series is also shown in South Africa on M-net channel 101.
Crew
Lloyd-Levitan Productions and 20th Century Fox Television20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
produce the series with the show's creators, Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd (screenwriter)
Christopher Lloyd is an American TV screenwriter and producer of Wings, Frasier, Out of Practice, Back to You, and Modern Family...
and Steven Levitan
Steven Levitan
Steven E. Levitan is an American director, screenwriter and producer of television comedies. He has created such TV series as Just Shoot Me!, Stark Raving Mad, Stacked, Back to You, and Modern Family....
as show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
and executive producer. Lloyd and Levitan previously worked on Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, Wings, Just Shoot Me, The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years is an American television comedy-drama created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens. It ran for six seasons on ABC from 1988 through 1993. The pilot aired on January 31, 1988 after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII....
. The first team of writers consisted of Paul Corrigan, Sameer Gardezi, Joe Lawson, Levitan, Lloyd, Dan O'Shannon, Brad Walsh, Caroline Williams, Bill Wrubel, and Danny Zuker. The first team of directors included Jason Winer
Jason Winer
Jason Winer is an American director, producer, writer, actor and comedian. He is best known for being one of the directors on the award-winning series Modern Family on ABC.Winer was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland...
, Michael Spiller
Michael Spiller
Michael Alan Spiller is an American cinematographer and television director.Spiller has directed on numerous series and has also served as a cinematographer prior to directing and worked frequently with Hal Hartley. He was a regular director on the HBO series, Sex and the City where he also served...
, Randall Einhorn
Randall Einhorn
Randall Einhorn is an American television director and cinematographer. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.Einhorn is best known for his work on The Office . He also directed The Accountants, a ten-part webisode spinoff of The Office which appeared online between the second and third seasons...
, and Chris Koch
Chris Koch
Christopher "Chris" Koch is an American director of film and television.He is best known for directing the films Snow Day , his feature film directorial debut and A Guy Thing ....
. Winer has directed nineteen episodes of the series, making him the most prolific director of the series.
Cast and characters
Modern Family employs an ensemble castEnsemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
. The show revolves around three families that are interrelated through Jay Pritchett and his children, Claire Dunphy and Mitchell Pritchett. Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill
Ed O'Neill
Edward Phillip "Ed" O'Neill, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the Fox Network sitcom Married... with Children, for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes...
), the patriarch
Patriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
, is in a relationship with a younger woman, Gloria (Sofía Vergara
Sofía Vergara
Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara is a Colombian actress, comedian, television hostess and model.Vergara had been widely known for co-hosting two TV shows for Univisión in the late 1990s. Her TV career opened up for her a window of exposure to North American audiences prior to her first notable...
), a passionate mother, who, with help from Jay, raises her son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Claire (Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen is an American film and television actress. She played Carol Vessey on Ed and Denise Bauer on Boston Legal. She is best known for playing Claire Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011...
) is a homemaker
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
mom married to Phil (Ty Burrell
Ty Burrell
- External links :*...
) a real estate agent and self-professed cool dad; they have three children: Haley (Sarah Hyland
Sarah Hyland
Sarah Jane Hyland is an American actress, currently starring as Haley Dunphy on the ABC comedy Modern Family.-Life and career:...
), the stereotypical teenager, Alex (Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter Workman , known in television shows and films as Ariel Winter, is an American teen actress and singer. Winter is best known for her current role as Alex Dunphy in the TV series Modern Family, for which she has won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series, along...
), the smart middle child and Luke (Nolan Gould
Nolan Gould
Nolan Gould is an American child actor best known for his starring role as Luke Dunphy on the ABC comedy Modern Family. He is the brother of Aidan Gould-Acting career:...
), the offbeat only son. Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson is an American actor who portrays Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family. Previously he played the role of Richie Velch in the CBS sitcom The Class. He is openly gay.-Life and career:...
), a lawyer, and his partner Cameron (Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet is an American actor, known for his starring role as Cameron Tucker on the ABC comedy Modern Family. Stonestreet has received critical acclaim for his performance in Modern Family and won the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his...
) have adopted a Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
baby, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons). In the first season, the adult cast is paid from a range of $30,000 per seg to about $90,000.
The series has also had several recurring characters. Reid Ewing
Reid Ewing
Reid Ewing is an American actor best known for his recurring guest role as Dylan on the ABC comedy Modern Family.-Life and career:...
appeared in several episodes as Haley's boyfriend, Dylan. Fred Willard
Fred Willard
Fred Willard is an American actor, comedian, and voice over actor, best known for his improvisational comedy skills. He is known for his roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration as well as...
has guest starred as Phil's father Frank Dunphy and later went on to be nominated at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, took place on August 29, 2010, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT...
for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, but lost to Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
's performance on Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
. Shelley Long
Shelley Long
Shelley Lee Long is an American actress best known for her role as Diane Chambers on the sitcom Cheers, for which she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress...
has appeared in both seasons as Claire and Mitchell's biological mother and Jay's ex-wife, DeDe Pritchett. Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane is an American actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Mendy in The Lisbon Traviata, Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...
appeared twice during the second season as Cameron and Mitchell's flamboyant friend, Pepper Saltsman.
Family tree
The characters in green have regular roles on the show. Dotted lines indicate a parental relationship through adoption or marriage, and dashed lines indicate a divorce between characters.Episodes
The series premiered September 23, 2009 in the 9:00pm ET timeslot. Soon after, the series was picked up for a full season of 24 episodes on October 8, 2009. On January 12, 2010, Modern Family was renewed for a second season by ABC. The second season premiered September 22, 2010, airing in the same timeslot as the previous season. Midway through the second season, ABC renewed the series for a third season. The third season premiered on September 21, 2011 with two back-to-back episodes.Critical reception
The first season was met with positive reviews. It received a "universal acclaim" Metacritic score of 86 out of 100. Entertainment Weekly gave it an A-, calling it "immediately recognizable as the best new sitcom of the fall". In Times review, the show was named "the funniest new family comedy of the year". It has also been compared to the 1970s series SoapSoap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...
, in regards to the multiple family aspect, as well as Arrested Development. Some have made comparisons to The Office and Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
, due to their mockumentary formats. BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
named the show the second best show in 2009, saying, "Every actor is fantastic, every family is interesting, and unlike many shows, there isn't a weak link". Robert Canning of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the season a 8.9 saying it was "Great" and called it "Simply put, Modern Family was one of the best new comedies of the season." He also praised the ensemble cast and the characters calling them lovable. According to Metacritic, the first season was the best reviewed new broadcast television series.
The second and third season received positive reviews much like the first season. Robert Bianco of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
gave the new season four stars out of four, saying, "Not since Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
has a sitcom offered such an ideal blend of heart and smarts, or proven itself so effortlessly adept at so many comic variations, from subtle wordplay to big-laugh slapstick to everything in between." Robert Bianco in a later review stated "as good as it was in its first year, is even better in its second" positively comparing the characters to the characters from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
, The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
and Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
. During the second season, Adweek
Adweek
Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1978....
named the show one of the 100 Most Influential TV Shows (98th chronologically). Despite this, the season received criticism from some critics for a sophomore slump
Sophomore slump
A sophomore slump or sophomore jinx refers to an instance in which a second, or sophomore, effort fails to live up to the standards of the first effort...
. Eric Stonestreet, who received praise during the first season, was criticized during the second season for being too over the top. Alan Sepinwall called Cameron Tucker a "whiny, overly-sensitive diva". On the other hand, Ty Burrell has received praise for his performance as Phil Dunphy through both seasons.
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
reviewer Peter Swanson wrote that while the first episode was "the type of wacky-location stunt that's usually reserved for the fifth or sixth season of a dying sitcom", the following episodes "have been better [...] but they're still uneven". He also critiziced the writers for relying too much on "stunt episodes and celebrity cameos, like David Cross". He ultimately gave the season 3 out of 4 stars. James Parker of The Atlantic said, at the beginning of the third season that "Modern Family is very, very funny, almost ruthlessly so ... [It's] a bit of a master class in pace and brevity ... The writing is Vorsprung durch Technik
Vorsprung durch Technik
Vorsprung durch Technik is the main strapline, or slogan, and company ethos for the German car maker Audi. It has been used since the 1970s in Audi advertising campaigns all over the world....
: hectically compressed but dramatically elegant, prodigal in its zingers and snorters but austere in its construction." He found it an exception to his dislike for sitcoms that eschew a laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...
.
Analysis and commentary
In The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Bruce Feiler
Bruce Feiler
Bruce Feiler is a popular American writer on faith, family, and finding meaning in everyday life. He is the best-selling author of nine books, including Walking the Bible, Abraham, and America's Prophet, and one of only a handful of writers to have four consecutive New York Times nonfiction...
called attention to how the show depicts the increasing way communications technology shapes the way people perceive others, even family members. "[It] is surely the first family comedy that incorporates its own hashtag of simultaneous self-analysis directly into the storyline," he writes. "Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...
may be a greater influence on Modern Family than Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
."
The show's writers and actors agree. "We used to talk about how cellphones killed the sitcom because no one ever goes to anyone's house anymore" for routine information, Abraham Higginbotham
Abraham Higginbotham
Abraham Higginbotham is a writer, producer, and occasional actor for popular comedy series such as Arrested Development, Will & Grace, Back to You and Do Not Disturb....
told Feiler. "We embrace technology so it's part of the story". Ty Burrell
Ty Burrell
- External links :*...
draws on Fran Lebowitz
Fran Lebowitz
-Life:Born and raised in Morristown, New Jersey, Lebowitz is best known for her sardonic social commentary on American life as filtered through her New York sensibilities. Some reviewers have called her a modern-day Dorothy Parker...
's observation that there is no institution other than media. "I had this little flash of Phil—and me—that we are parsing our personality together externally from how people perceive us."
James Parker said that "The American family circa 2011 is, after all, an acutely self-conscious and self-interrogating unit: How does one 'parent'? Who does what, which 'role'? Is Dad sufficiently dad-like and Mom enough of a mom?" he writes. "Modern Family taps right into all this, the cameras that lurch through its three households producing the sensation of a wild and shaky experiment, recorded for purposes educational or scientific."
Criticism and controversy
Modern Family drew criticism from the LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community for its portrayal of Cameron and Mitchell as not being physically affectionate with each other. The criticism spawned a Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
campaign to demand Mitchell and Cameron be allowed to kiss. In response to the controversy, producers released a statement that a season two episode would address Mitchell's discomfort with public displays of affection
Public display of affection
Public displays of affection are acts of physical intimacy in the view of others. What are acceptable displays of affection vary between cultures as well as to time and context. Which acts are acceptable have also varied over time...
. Executive producer Levitan has said that it was unfortunate that the issue had arisen, since the show's writers had always planned on such a scene "as part of the natural development of the show." The episode "The Kiss
The Kiss (Modern Family)
"The Kiss" is the second episode of the second season of the American sitcom Modern Family and the 26th episode overall. The episode aired September 29, 2010, and was written by Abraham Higginbotham and directed by Scott Ellis. The episode also featured guest starred Aaron Sanders as Jeremy, Alex's...
" eventually aired with the kiss scene in the background which drew praise from multiple critics.
Awards and recognition
In 2010, Modern Family was nominated with five Television Critics Association Awards. The show gained nominations for best new series, best comedy series and best program of the year, while stars of the program Ty BurrellTy Burrell
- External links :*...
, Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet
Eric Stonestreet is an American actor, known for his starring role as Cameron Tucker on the ABC comedy Modern Family. Stonestreet has received critical acclaim for his performance in Modern Family and won the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his...
, Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Jesse Tyler Ferguson is an American actor who portrays Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family. Previously he played the role of Richie Velch in the CBS sitcom The Class. He is openly gay.-Life and career:...
, Sofía Vergara
Sofía Vergara
Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara is a Colombian actress, comedian, television hostess and model.Vergara had been widely known for co-hosting two TV shows for Univisión in the late 1990s. Her TV career opened up for her a window of exposure to North American audiences prior to her first notable...
and Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen
Julie Bowen is an American film and television actress. She played Carol Vessey on Ed and Denise Bauer on Boston Legal. She is best known for playing Claire Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011...
, were all nominated individually. Like Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, to reinforce the idea of an ensemble cast, the cast all submitted themselves in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories instead of Lead Actor and Actress for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, took place on August 29, 2010, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT...
. On August 29, 2010, Modern Family won Outstanding Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...
, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (for the pilot episode), and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Eric Stonestreet). The show also later received a GLSEN Respect Award for its portrayal of "positive images and storylines that reflect a diverse America, including the depiction of a family headed by a gay couple. " In 2010, the cast won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy, beating the previous year's winner, Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
. On July 14, 2011, the series received 17 Emmy nominations, the third most nominations for the year after Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
and Boardwalk Empire. The awards the series was nominated for include Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. The series has also been put on multiple critics' lists. In 2010, the series was listed on BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
's Top Ten Best Comedy Shows of 2009–2010, 2nd on Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
's Top Ten Best shows of 2009, 2nd on BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
's Top Ten Best Shows of 2009, Jason Hughes Best TV of 2009, 10th on BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
's Top 10 Returning Shows We're Most Excited to Come Back, and on TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
's Our Favorite Families Modern Family was awarded a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
in 2009.
Ratings
Since its premiere, the series has remained popular. In its first season, the show became the sixth highest-rated scripted show in America among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, and the third-highest rated new show. Aided by winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy SeriesPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...
, the show's second season became the highest rated show on Wednesday on premiere week and also rose 34% from the previous season among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The show frequently ranked as television's top scripted series in adults 18-49 as well. The success of the show has been positively compared to The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
. During the 2010–2011 season, Modern Family was the highest rated scripted show in the 18-49 demographic, and the third highest rated overall sitcom behind CBS's The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
and Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
. The season also ranked first among DVR
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
viewers. The third season premiere became ABC's top-rated season premiere in six years. The series success in ratings has also led to the series being credited for reviving sitcoms.
- Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
| Season | Timeslot | Original airing | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
18-49 Nielsen ratings Nielsen Ratings Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States... rank |
18-49 Nielsen ratings | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | TV season | ||||||
| 1 Modern Family (season 1) The first season of the television comedy series Modern Family aired between September 23, 2009 and May 19, 2010, on ABC in the United States. The season was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Lloyd-Levitan Productions with series creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan as executive... |
Wednesday 9/8c | September 23, 2009 | May 19, 2010 | 2009–2010 | #36 | 9.39 | #21 | 3.9/10 |
| 2 Modern Family (season 2) The second season of the comedy television series, Modern Family premiered September 22, 2010 and ended on May 25, 2011 on the American Broadcasting Company in the United States. The series is produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Lloyd-Levitan Productions with creators... |
September 22, 2010 | May 25, 2011 | 2010–2011 | #24 | 11.89 | #6 | 4.9/13 | |
| 3 Modern Family (season 3) Modern Family was officially renewed for a third season on January 10, 2011. The season began with a one-hour premiere September 21, 2011 on ABC in the United States... |
September 21, 2011 | 2012 | 2011–2012 2011–12 United States network television schedule The 2011–2012 network television schedule for the five major English commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 2011 through May 2012... |
TBA | ||||
Press releases
- "Breaking: Fox's "Virtuality" fails to lift-off while ABC's "Modern Family" gets early pick-up" from Logo (May 8, 2009)
- "'Modern Family' first comedy to series at ABC" From The Futon Critic (May 8, 2009)
External links
- Modern Family at 411mania.com