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‘Modern Family’ Gets Cable Makeover For Launch On USA Network: VIDEO

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 7:53pm PDTTags: Modern Family, Steven Levitan, Upfront, USA
Nellie Andreeva

How would hit ABC comedy Modern Family look and sound like if it aired on cable? The show’s writers offer a peek in a promo for the Emmy-winning series’ upcoming off-network launch on USA Network in September. The video was a highlight at today’s USA upfront presentation, where Modern Family, its cast and co-creator Steve Levitan were the main attraction. Enjoy and keep in mind that the video is the result of what I hear were 17 cuts to tone the original down and make it suitable for public (but definitely not family) viewing.

rtmp://streaming.deadline.com/ondemand/video/ModernFamilyR-Rated_V9.flv

Related: USA Unveils Drama Development Slate, Plans For Daytime

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‘Modern Family’s’ Steven Levitan Says Streaming Won’t Change TV Stories: Video

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday March 14, 2013 @ 3:17pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Bloomberg Television, Modern Family, Steven Levitan

When a show creator thinks about distribution methods “then you’re not doing your job,” the executive producer told Bloomberg Television’s Trish Regan on Street Smart. ”At the end of the day you have to be truthful to the characters and the story.” But Steven Levitan recognizes that platforms have different demands. … Read More »

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EMMYS: Comedy Series Writers Handicap

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday September 18, 2011 @ 9:06am PDTTags: 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards, 30 Rock, David Crane, Episodes, Greg Daniels, Jeffrey Klarik, Jeffrey Richman, Louie, Louis C.K., Modern Family, Steven Levitan, The Office

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s 2011 Emmy coverage. Here’s his scorecard assessing the Outstanding Comedy Series Writer race.

Greg Daniels, The Office (NBC)
“Goodbye Michael”
Why He Was Nominated: Being nominated for Emmys is simply what Daniels does. He’s reeled in 19 Emmy nominations all told, including three in this category and three noms this year alone. He’s won here once before, in 2007 for the celebrated “Gay Witch Hunt” episode of The Office. And Daniels has five Emmy trophies to his credit all told, also including previous wins for King of the Hill, The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live.
Why He Has To Win: In earning a nomination for star Steve Carell’s final episode, Daniels becomes something of a prohibitive favorite to win for writing, particularly since he’s already taken one home here previously. The super-sized episode, “Goodbye, Michael,” was heavily hyped by NBC and exceptionally well-received by viewers and the industry. “Greg did a terrific job of walking the line between comedy and sentiment,” one producer told me, “which was quite a feat.”
Why He Can’t Possibly Win: Sentiment doesn’t always go over so big with the TV academy crowd, whether talking about shows or individuals. Voters could well also figure that giving an overdue Emmy to Carell for acting is plenty and need not adorn the farewell with coattails. Plus, there are a couple of other exceedingly worthy contenders here, like a particularly buzzed episode of Modern Family. Read More »

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EMMYS: Comedy Series Director Handicap

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday September 18, 2011 @ 8:56am PDTTags: 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards, 30 Rock, Beth McCarthy Miller, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Steven Levitan

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s Emmy coverage. Here’s his scorecard assessing the Outstanding Comedy Series Director race.

Beth McCarthy-Miller, 30 Rock (NBC)
“Live Show”
Why She Was Nominated: Because the trick that McCarthy-Miller turned here in handling a pair of live performances (one for the East Coast, one for the West Coast) was a huge one, recalling the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants trials from TV’s earliest days. It’s her seventh Emmy nomination and second for directing on 30 Rock (the other coming in 2009). Yet McCarthy-Miller still is seeking her first win despite being one of TV’s most respected directors.
Why She Has To Win: It’s safe to say that no one had a bigger series directing challenge during the past year than 30 Rock’s “Live Show.” As McCarthy-Miller told Deadline last month, “It’s fairly hard when you’re live to do that quick kind of dialogue and not fall flat on your face. … There were 108 camera shots before the first commercial break.” In case voters needed added incentive, no woman has won the Emmy for comedy directing in 18 years, or since Betty Thomas took it home for HBO’s Dream On in 1993. Talk about overdue.
Why She Can’t Possibly Win: See above about the last time a woman won in this category. Thomas’ win in ’93 also was the only time a woman earned the Emmy for directing, period. So the TV Academy may have issues giving this statuette to that gender. Too, Modern Family has three entries, and all are awfully strong. That mockumentary style is a director’s dream. Read More »

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EMMYS: ‘Modern Family’s Chris Lloyd

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday June 13, 2011 @ 2:11pm PDTTags: Christopher Lloyd, Emmy Comedy Series, Modern Family, Outstanding Comedy Series, Primetime Emmy Awards, Steven Levitan



Christopher Lloyd is co-creator and co-showrunner with Steven Levitan (his Q&A here) of last year’s Emmy winner for Outstanding Comedy Series, Modern Family. But Lloyd didn’t go onstage to accept the accolade. This recipient of eight Emmys for his work on comedy series including Frasier and The Golden Girls prefers to stay in the shadows and let his chatty partner bask in all the public limelight. Now, Lloyd breaks his silence and talks to Deadline TV Contributor Diane Haithman for an interview one TV publicist claimed was harder to nab than “a sitdown with Osama Bin Laden”:

DEADLINE: Obviously, I first have to ask why do you rarely speak publicly about Modern Family, and why do you let Steve Levitan do all the talking about it?
LLOYD: I think Steve started out wanting to be a broadcast journalist, an on-camera guy. He likes doing things that I don’t like to do. I tend to avoid things like award shows and panels and interviews, not remotely because I feel I’m above them or wish to cultivate the image of the intriguing recluse. I’m just not very good at them. There are some comedy writers who came up on the performing side and might welcome those sorts of events. There are others to whom an auditorium full of people looks like a welter of angry torch-bearers. I have nothing against the first group but when I see members of my own tribe in public appearances sweating like murder suspects and spraying the front row with Xanax flecks, I wonder why they didn’t choose, like me, to stay home. Look, the work we do on the show gets plenty of accolades, and I get plenty of pleasure from it. But I sense from people that they get frustrated with me for not being out and about. But I guess I’m a shy boy.

DEADLINE: What’s the division of showrunning between you and Steve?
LLOYD: He goes off and talks to the camera and gets every interview, and I stay home and do all the hard work with the writing staff. (laughs) But seriously, we have a large staff of 10 writers including myself and Steve, and we can fairly easily divide the room in half: he takes four, and I take four. We generate stories separately, but that’s early on in the process. Once we get on track, we confer with one another and feel free to intermingle the groups. A lot of the work with the actors we do separately because we each take every other episode and see it through to the end. We have a five-day shooting schedule, 10 hours Monday through Friday, all the way through the season. That’s one of the more fun aspects of the job. It would be overkill to have both of us onstage. Plus, if we did that, I don’t know what would be happening with the writers back in the room. Given that we have slightly different styles, it’s a good system.

DEADLINE: What does an Emmy mean to a show that’s already successful?
LLOYD: It’s wonderful acknowledgment of what you’ve done. What comes with that is a challenge not to repeat yourself, and to keep the show good, and maybe even to make it better. Continuing recognition says you’ve done that job. No one wants to be in charge when the show starts to slide and people say: ‘Meh, it’s seen better days.’ But then there are those shows that go away and come back. Everybody Loves Raymond was in that category. And I think Cheers. I’m not an Emmy historian, but there is some fun andsome challenge in a show being thought of as on top, then a little passé or whatever, and then comes back and proves everybody wrong. Read More »

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