Modern Family is quietly one of the most rewatchable sitcoms of the last twenty years. It hasn’t translated to younger generations the way The Office has, or stayed active like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but Modern Family is about as wholesome and polished as a show can get while still being side-splittingly funny.
The brainchild of Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd (no, not the actor) was always destined to be a hit. Levitan rose to fame as the creator of Just Shoot Me! while Lloyd proved his comedic chops as an executive producer on Frasier. When you combine these two with the talented ensemble cast of Ty Burrell, Ed O’Neil, Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara among others, it makes perfect sense why Modern Family was on the air for as long as it was.
In total, Modern Family ran for 11 seasons. It premiered on Sept. 23, 2009 and was an instant success with both fans and critics. Deadline reported that the first season averaged 9.39 million viewers per episode, which made ABC’s decision to renew it a no-brainer. Modern Family was nominated for a staggering 14 Emmy Awards in 2010, which was the third-most for a comedy series behind established hits Glee and 30 Rock. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Modern Family was the most awarded series of the night, taking home six wins including Outstanding Comedy Series.
Emmy voters really developed a passion for Modern Family in the years that followed. The sitcom would go on to win Outstanding Comedy Series four more times between 2010 and 2014, which is the most wins in the category in Emmy history. These awards coincided with the show’s peak in ratings. Modern Family rose to average of 11.89 million viewers per episode in season two, and peaked with an impressive average of 12.93 million viewers in season 3. It managed to stay around the 11 million mark through season 6.
Will there be a Modern Family spin-off?
What was the secret? According to executive producer Danny Zuker, it was the appreciation that the cast and crew had for the fans. “We know how special this is to have a story that’s utterly aligned with, like, Steve [Levitan] and Chris [Lloyd] writing a great pilot and the most miraculous cast in television comedy, maybe ever, because there’s ten of them and they’re all fantastic,” Zuker told The Futon Critic in 2012. “None of us take that for granted and we certainly love it and I think we work pretty hard to maintain a certain quality.”
The appreciation paid off. Modern Family dipped in ratings during its last few years, as did the Emmy nominations, but it stayed relevant thanks to its dedicated fanbase. According to Screen Rant, Levitan and Lloyd treated season 10 as though it would be the final season, and threw in unexpected character deaths and subplots in an effort to spice things up. The irony, of course, is that the ratings increased, and ABC ordered another season.
Modern Family was not canceled. It ended because the creators felt that they had reached the end of the line with the characters. The season 11 finale aired on April 8, 2020 and earned mostly positive reviews, with many praising the emotional dynamics between the characters. There have even been rumors of a possible spin-off focusing on Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), Cam (Eric Stonestreet), and Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons).
“The script’s out there and it’s very good,” Ferguson told ET in June 2022. “So you know, who knows? If someone wants to produce it, maybe.” The untitled spin-off would reportedly involve Levitan as an executive producer, but little has been said about the project since.
