ABC’s familial sitcom Modern Family won the hearts of viewers with its pilot episode way back in 2009. Throughout its 11 year run, Modern Family remained an audience favorite as its success prevailed with each new season premiere. The quirky sitcom received much deserved praise, such as 22 Primetime Emmy awards and many other impressive accolades under its belt. Whilst the series touched on many familial subjects and issues such as marriage, birth, puberty, and divorce, some of those topics were also a part of the series behind the scenes.

It’s no secret that everybody’s favorite chaotic TV family saw a divorce occur behind the scenes pretty early on in its rise to fame. Modern Family showrunners Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd split from their creative partnership in 2010 and have since shared a long and complicated history with each other.

9 The Beginning

Lloyd and Levitan’s partnership begun way back in 2006. Prior to this, Levitan and Lloyd had already acquired several individual writing and producing credits to their names. However, according to Uproxx, the creative powerhouses had joined forces as a means of “economic necessity” rather than friendship as they had both been struggling with the reception of the works they had been putting out prior to their partnership. This eventually led to the creation of Modern Family.

8 The Birth Of Modern Family

As the pair signed on with 20th Century Fox Television for a joint multi-year deal, they began the process of co-creating. Levitan and Lloyd’s first collaboration under their new deal was Kelsey Grammer’s Back To You. The series was short-lived due to its poor reception, resulting in its cancellation. Shortly after, Lloyd and Levitan began to work on the concept for Modern Family. The premise of the show was based on the pair’s own family experiences that they’d had growing up.

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7 Modern Family Is Released

With a fully formed series concept, Levitan and Lloyd pitched Modern Family to the American Broadcasting Company. ABC accepted the pitch which would later become the broadcasting network’s longest-running sitcom. The pilot episode of Modern Family premiered in September of 2009. The show was immediately met with a welcome reception from viewers. Upon full release, the first season of the show made the sixth spot in the list of highest-rated scripted shows in America.

6 Creative Differences

However, shortly after the success of the first season, Levitan and Lloyd made the decision to part ways from their creative partnership in 2010. Levitan went into detail about the decision in an interview with Hollywood Reporter, September 2012, explaining that it had come down to “creative differences.”

He stated, “Chris and I are both strong, opinionated people, and we very, very quickly realized it doesn’t make sense to sit here and debate each other and waste time.”

5 Comedy Vs. Sentiment

The major point of disagreement had come from Levitan’s heavy emphasis on the comedic aspect of the series versus Lloyd’s preference for the sentimental themes explored. The difference in writing styles caused the pair to clash repeatedly.

Whilst speaking on this, Levitan stated, “We had different ideas about what the things were that were making the show click.”

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4 Co-Parenting Their TV Baby

Despite the fallout, the pair remained committed to the show and thus found a way to work around the feud. Reminiscent to a divorce, Levitan and Lloyd decided to split custody of the show and divvy up the writing workload.

Since their split, Lloyd took on half of the episodes whilst Levitan worked on the other half. Reportedly Levitan would take on every odd-numbered episode whilst Lloyd worked on every even-numbered episode. During their time on Modern Family, it was rumored that the pair would even have separate writing rooms to avoid interaction.

3 Lloyd Steps Back

During the show’s 6th season in 2014, the series was at risk of being left with Levitan as its single parent. A contractual disagreement with 20th TV had resulted in Lloyd stepping back from the production of the series. During the “contract standoff” Lloyd was absent from the production of the series for over a week. However, the studio and the showrunner soon found a resolution as Lloyd signed a deal under different terms to his co-creator.

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2 Levitan Falls Out With Fox

4 years down the line in 2018, Levitan was next to fallout out with the studio giant. In June of 2018, he took to Twitter to express his disappointment at the production company for their support towards Laura Ingraham and her harmful statements on the housing of immigrant children. Levitan claimed to be “disgusted” by both the statements and the company as he promised his deal with them would not be renewed.

1 Modern Family Comes To An End

However, despite the eventful history of behind-the-scenes complications, Lloyd and Levitan were able to see the show through until its finale in April 2020. Regardless of the opposing creative approaches bought forth by the showrunners, all 11 seasons of the show were rich in content that balanced both comedy and emotion.

Despite their complicated history, it is safe to say that Lloyd and Levitan did not allow the feud to affect the quality of the material created throughout Modern Family’s run. The professionalism showed by the pair undeniably paid off as the two were able to create a timeless sitcom that continues to be loved and missed by audiences today.

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