Family Life – A Family Story

Told from the perspective of an unseen documentary filmmaker, the series offers an honest, often-hilarious perspective of family life. Parents Phil and Claire yearn for an honest, open relationship with their three kids. But a daughter who is trying to grow up too fast, another who is too smart for her own good, and a rambunctious young son make it challenging.

Jay’s gay son, Mitchell, and his partner, Cameron, have adopted a little Asian girl, completing one big — straight, gay, multicultural, traditional — happy family.

Who Directed The First Half Of The Finale Of Modern Family?

[This story contains spoilers from the series finale of ABC’s Modern Family.] To hear Levitan and Lloyd tell it, the ending was designed to mirror real life and the ways in which families often splinter, with the final shot — Phil and Claire leaving their porch light on — as a sign that everyone will come home again. Below, Levitan — who directed the first half of the finale — and Lloyd talk with The Hollywood Reporter about crafting the finale, the potential for spinoffs and saying goodbye to a beloved family comedy at a time when much of the world is at home, with their own families.

The family got to say goodbye to the family. People do move on. Levitan: We talked about a lot of different possibilities but we all really like finales in which the characters in some way have to say goodbye because that’s what the audience is experiencing.

It just seemed a hopeful way to end the episode. It had a lot of nice twists and turns and that evolved over time. You make some decisions based on a particular set of circumstances and then those circumstances change and that’s real life.

I’ve been on this for 12 years and I made a conscious choice that I was going to see this through from beginning to end, because when I had done Just Shoot Me years ago I felt they left that show too early. Lloyd: It’s tempting to think about what a spinoff might be. It’s something that were we to do it, it can’t just be more Modern Family; it’s got to be some of our show but with new characters mixed in, perhaps.

Have you thought of where these characters might be in five years? Maybe this finale comes at a needed time for people. Lloyd: Kicking around some Modern Family ideas.

Rico Rodriguez Manny Delgado Manny Often Wears What On His Sleeve?

Rico Rodriguez Manny Delgado Manny has inherited his mother’s zest for life and often wears his heart on his sleeve. His sensitivity is usually lost on Jay but is always fully supported by his mother Gloria.