Peter “Hopper†Stone/ABC From left, Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell in “Modern Family.†Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, the co-creators of the hit ABC comedy “Modern Family,†answered questions posed by Times readers. (Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon, the creators of Showtime's “Homeland,†are taking queries now.)
Below, the producers share their favorite episodes, address charges about a perceived lack of “heat†in the show's central gay relationship and explain why they avoid sex jokes (Mr. Lloyd: “It's just too easy - like being a Lakers fan, or a Republican.â€)
When you look back over the first three seasons, which episodes please you most, make you feel like you've done exactly what you set out to do with the series? And what specific ideas and elements came together to create those shows? - Beth, NH
MR. LLOYD: It's hard not to start with the pilot. When we wrote it, I was pretty convinced it was a good piece of writing, but had no hope it would turn into a good series. I offered the rights to it to a friend of mine for five dollars. Then we cast it (the big turning point) and shot it, and the first time we watched it on film, and got a sense of the documentary style, and the vivacity of the characters - all the elements coming together - I remember thinking, “This could be a really good series.â€
Since then, the episodes I am most proud of are the ones with a mix of great comic moments and surprising emotion. An example might be “Starry Night,†which starts out being a story about Mitchell's frustration at having a stargazing trip with his Dad spoiled by the arrival of Manny, but which ends with Mitchell (albeit, in a dress) giving Manny a pep talk about being an outsider in school (“in high school, everyone starts out wanting to be the same … and then, almost overnight, suddenly everyone wants to be different, and that's where we winâ€). I think “Virgin Territory†and “The Butler's Escape†fit this mold as well. “Virgin Territory†has some great physical laughs (Luke gulling Manny into driving a car to impress a girl), but it also has a touching scene where Phil reacts to hearing that his daughter isn't a virgin anymore, and feeling he's made a terrible mess of it, and Haley telling us he's handled it just the way she would have liked. “The Butler's Escape,†similarly, has what seems to be a silly story about Phil not allowing Luke to give up magic, but which leads to an affecting scene between the two of them where Phil discerns that Luke only wants to quit because he's getting made fun of at school, much as Phil was. I think all these scenes work as much because of what they don't say as what they do - there is great credit due our actors here - and the episodes work because of the range they cover from fairly broad comedy to small, emotionally powerful, scenes.
MR. LEVITAN: Some of my favorite episodes include: “The Pilot,†“Caught in the Act,†“The Kiss,†“Baby On Board,†“Starry Night,†but there are moments in almost all of the episodes that I love. The common thread for me is memorable moments tha t played well both comedically and emotionally.
Big fan here! What television shows do you watch? Do they influence “Modern Family� Ever see another show and say, “We should have thought of that!†- Molly Messana, Philadelphia
MR. LLOYD: I don't watch too many other shows because I am busy watching sports and not improving my mind. I admire “30 Rock†and “Parks and Recreation,†but in general I don't think it's a good idea to watch other sitcoms because a.) a great joke or scene has a way of worming its way into your brain and influencing you in a bad way, and b.) most sitcoms are terrible.
MR. LEVITAN: Yes, I see things I wish I had written all the time. I don't like to comment on which shows I watch because I don't want to offend anyone by omission.
I wonder if there are any subjects yo u won't consider tackling? Anything taboo? - Cynthia, Oslo
MR. LLOYD: In general, we tend to avoid politics and religion because they divide people. We'd rather tell a story, or even a joke, that has a chance of rousing everyone in our audience, rather than half of it (or less).
Even in telling stories about a gay couple with an adopted daughter, we seldom make any kind of overt political statement, because those things tend to seem sanctimonious. Our mission is really about telling small, relatable stories about what it's like to be in a family - the highs and lows of that - and if along the way some audience members find themselves relating to people they don't normally relate to (“hey, we went through the same thing those gay guys are going through … hmmâ€) then that's a good thing.
MR. LEVITAN: Well, not that we'd want to, but I don't think you'll be seeing an incest storyline anytime so on.
Hi, wonderful show and great characters. Were these characters based on anyone you know? I have met Jays, Phils and Mitchells in my life. - Priscilla, Melbourne
MR. LLOYD: Glad to get a chance to answer this one. Contrary to what is often written, the characters are not based upon Steve's family or my family. There were certainly influenced by family and friends, but more importantly by a desire to create a big, ungainly family, with a lot of disparate parts, that would bring us conflict in our story telling. It's important to remember that Steve and I wrote the first chapter in what is now an 85 chapters-long book, and those subsequent chapters have been co-written by about a dozen other very talented writers whose lives, like ours, have been strip-mined for stories of family life. A favorite compliment we get is when people tell us they are sure that characters in the show must have be en based upon their family. It tells us we've captured something that feels real to them.
MR. LEVITAN: Some are, some aren't. The Dunphy kids are very loosely based on my own children. There's a lot of my wife and I in Phil and Claire - although I see myself represented more in Claire these days than Phil. Manny is loosely based on one of Chris Lloyd's children. Mitchell and Cameron are based on many gay couples that Chris and I know.
So many sitcoms today revolve around sex and crude humor, but Modern Family has stayed pretty clean. Was there a conscious decision from the beginning to make it more family friendly? Why? - Jade, Oregon
MR. LLOYD: Yes, there was a conscious decision not to do a lot of sex jokes and that is because it's just too easy - like being a Lakers fan, or a Republican. Comedy on television got very sloppy in recent years because it was nothing but cynicism and shock value jokes which were, once they became commonplace, anything but shocking. We are not above the very occasional, very subtle, sex joke, but we are also mindful that there are families watching our show. We truly prize the fact that people watch the show with their young children and with their great grandparents and we are loathe to alienate anyone in that bunch.
Which actor is most like their character? Which actor is most different? - Lisa, previously NYC, currently California
MR. LEVITAN: I would say that Eric Stonestreet is the least like his character. Otherwise, most of the other actors are a lot like their characters. Typically in TV, the writers begin to incorporate the funniest aspects of an actor's personality into their character and that is certainly the case around here. Over time, the actors and characters tend to blend into one. It's almost inevitable.
The cast on “Modern Family†seems absolutely perfectly cast! Were there other actors in consideration for these roles? - Walt, from next door, Los Angeles
MR. LEVITAN: Yes, but the universe smiled on us and prevented us from casting the wrong people.
I am curious about how the writers balance at least three story lines and crossover elements. It is one thing to carry a one story line through roughly 22 minutes but to carry three or more and then integrate them creates a greater challenge. Do the writers approach the process any differently? - B.J. Reed, Omaha
MR. LLOYD: It is certainly one of our greatest challenges to service eleven (soon to be twelve) characters. Often, as you say, this involves telling five different stories in a 22 minute space. Usually, we will have one or two stories that have a li ttle more emotional heft to them, and the others are mostly there for comic value, and we try to shift the burden, week to week, as to which actors are playing the more emotional stories. It is definitely a hard show to figure out stories for - the hardest one I've ever worked on - but I do think the style of our show, where we go rapidly from story to story to story, creates a liveliness that people really respond to, and that makes it worth it.
I like “Modern Family†well enough but my biggest gripe with the show is the depiction of the gay couple. There just doesn't appear to be any trace of “heat†in their relationship. From the beginning, I've wondered what in the heck it was that got them together in the first place? As the co-creators, what is your take on this? - ShawnA New Hope, PA
MR. LEVITAN: I would argue that you see the same amount of heat between Cam and Mitch as you do between Jay and Gloria. The actors play it the way that feels right to them. Julie Bowen is a particularly affectionate person so she brings that to Claire, which is why Claire is always kissing everyone. We typically don't script that kind of thing. Besides that, as we covered in “The Kiss,†Mitchell is not particularly comfortable with public displays of affection.
Is there a character that is more difficult for you to write than others? - Michelle Duque, Colombia
MR. LLOYD: The hardest character to write for used to be Lily, until this year when she became kind of wizened and conspiratorial and now she's almost as much fun to write for as Phil.
How deep is each character's personality, goals, defined? Does each character have a writer that focuses part-time on developing that character's “ways?†(For example, Alex adopted Claire's embarrassment twitchy-ness just like a kid eventually adopts some physical aspects of a parent in reality). - Charlie Pickett, Boynton Beach, Florida
MR. LEVITAN: No writers focus on just one actor. We all think about the series as a whole. That said, we spend countless hours talking about all the characters and with every new episode, we understand them a bit more. As for Alex adopting Claire's embarrassment twitchy-ness, I honestly never noticed it.
How can Phil and Claire's family be so unaffected by the Recession? He was a realtor three years ago when the housing market was a wreck, and it's not much better now. Shouldn't Claire have had to get a job at some point to get them by or maybe get them health insurance? And shouldn't getting health insurance have been part of Cam finally getting a job? I like the writing and actors, but the show is stuck in the typical upper middle-class world of the avera ge sitcom. - Paul, Saint Paul
MR. LLOYD: Jay and Gloria may be wealthy; the other two families are solidly middle class. Mitch and Cam, for example, live in a duplex. And the five Dunphys live in a three bedroom house. While we have not dwelled upon economic hardships, we haven't skirted them either. We have alluded to Phil's concern about being able to provide for his family (his philosophy is that he must leave his work concerns at the door) and we showed a near cataclysmic level of panic in Mitchell when he decided to leave a comfortable job at a law firm for a less well-paying but more rewarding job. Probably financial concerns figured in Cam's decision to return to teaching this year. You are correct that we haven't voiced these concerns often, and mostly for two reasons: financial trouble is not the happiest topic, and stories about money on comedies tend to not work because they tend to shine a light on people's less likeable qualities. It was always our sense, early in the series, that “Modern Family†was appealing to people because, among other reasons, it was providing a respite during a challenging time in the country. People liked to laugh, and they liked to see genuine warmth among characters they enjoyed, because it took their minds off of their problems. It didn't seem wise to remind people of their troubles by alluding too heavily to those in the show.
A lot of people have been asking about your decision not to use a laugh track. Something I commend you for too! Why are so many TV comedies nowadays pressured into using laugh tracks? - David S., Chicago
MR. LLOYD: There was really never a consideration of using a laugh track because it would have been very jarring. We are in a documentary style - much of the show is set outdoors - and viewers would certainly have been asking “where are all those laughing people I hear?†In point of fact, I'm not sure there are too many comedies with laugh tracks anymore. Most of what you hear is live studio audience laughing as a show is filmed. If this prompts you to wonder who those actual human beings are who are laughing at some of this stuff, that is a mystification I share.
Do the actors physical comedy abilities factor into the writers' choices for certain scenes? - Donna Novi, Michigan
MR. LLOYD: Yes, we are graced with a cast of excellent physical comedians and it is a well we must remind ourselves not to go to too often. In shooting the pilot, we noticed, in the backyard of the house we were filming at, a trampoline next to a small basketball court. We put the basket inside the trampoline, said to Ty Burrell “get in there, play one-on-one with Luke, and don't let him win no matter what.†He did this eagerly, and was hilarious w ith it. It was all unscripted and made it into the final scene of the pilot. We've done similar things throughout the show: Ty and Julie insisting on rolling down a hillside at Alex's graduation; Eric falling down multiple times trying to save Lily; Julie catapulting herself down the stairwell slipping on Phil's unfixed step (and almost maiming herself in the process); Ed O'Neill wrestling his brother to the ground (broken rib from that one); Ty falling in the garage and bringing the garage down upon himself. My favorite might be Julie slipping in a dozen eggs dropped by her son - a painful, unscripted moment that nonetheless played hilariously well.
We try not to overdo this as viewers might start to wonder what kind of insurance policies cover these people; that said, we have an upcoming episode where Cam injures his daughter four different ways.
