Modern Family

Modern Family is an American comedy television series. The half-hour series, which was created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, is produced by ABC and largely presented in a mockumentary style. The story follows the families of Jay Pritchett (Ed O’Neill), his daughter Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), and his son Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) who live in a Los Angeles-area suburban community. Claire is a homemaker mom married to Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell); they have three children. After splitting with his longtime wife, Jay has re-married with a much younger Colombian woman, Gloria (Sof�a Vergara), and is helping her raise her pre-teen son, Manny. Mitchell and his partner Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) have adopted a Vietnamese baby, Lily.

Lloyd and Levitan had developed the series while talking about their family under the title My American Family. They pitched the show to most of the major networks before being picked up for a pilot and later a first season. The series premiered on ABC on September 23, 2009 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 mostly positive reviews from critics and received multiple award nominations. In 2010, following its first season, it won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, as well as two other Emmy Awards, Outstanding Supporting Actor in Comedy Series for Eric Stonestreet, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd. The syndication rights to the show have also been sold to USA Network and 10 Fox affiliates for a fall 2013 premiere. The producers reportedly sold the show for close to $1.5 million per episode.