Trivia / Modern Family

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • In several episodes Cameron dresses up as his clown alter-ego 'Fizbo'; Eric Stonestreet wanted to be a clown as a child and created Fizbo himself, even performing at birthday parties by the time he was 11.
  • Julie Bowen was pregnant during the pilot, hiding it by holding a hamper in front of her belly during most of the episode. In the seventh episode of season 11 Claire sees Gloria walking with a hamper and asks immediately if she is hiding a pregnancy.
• Baby Name Trend Starter: The pet dog Stella caused many people to give their daughters and pets the same name.
• The Cast Showoff:
  • Ariel Winter shows off her singing voice in "White Christmas."
  • When Mitchell asks Jay for self-defense tips, Jay is shown as effortlessly putting him in a headlock. Ed O'Neill is a longtime practitioner of martial arts and is well-regarded in the community, having earned a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
• Creator Backlash: Sarah Hyland voiced her displeasure with Haley’s storyline in the final season, feeling that reducing Haley to just a new mother of twins was a disservice to her character development over the course of the series.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Played straight with Sarah Hyland (Haley) & Reid Ewing (Dylan), with both actors being three years older than their characters. To the show's credit, Sarah doesn't look it, and some people, not aware of her actual age, have actually accused her of being too young to play her character's age).
  • Averted by Rico Rodriguez (Manny), Nolan Gould (Luke) & Ariel Winter (Alex), with the three being roughly the same age as their characters - whilst the actors are all the same age, Alex is a year older.
  • Also played straight with Adam Devine, whose character Andy is implied to be in his twenties, but the actor is actually in his thirties, meaning that he is almost a decade older than Andy. Thankfully, he looks significantly younger than his actual age.
• Died During Production:
  • Jon Polito, who played Jay's nemesis Earl Chambers, died of cancer before Season 8 began airing. An episode featuring Chambers had already been written, but he luckily spends his whole appearance in a devil costume so they were able to use a Fake Shemp wearing a mask. The following season featured the character's death.
  • Phil's father Frank Dunphy passed away during the eleventh and final season of the show and not long after that episode aired, his actor Fred Willard also unexpectedly passed.
• Dueling Shows: With Parenthood.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Sofía Vergara is naturally blonde. Her hair has gotten lighter as the series has gone on but it's still darker than her natural hair color. She began dyeing it early in her career when she was told that people wouldn't find a blonde Latina believable.
• Executive Meddling: Parodied in the show's sketch at the 2010 Emmy Awards, which shows various proposed "changes" to the show, such as: having Cameron and Mitchell adopt Stewie, making Cameron and Mitchell not gay, shooting the show in 3D (with an emphasis on shots of Sofía Vergara's chest), and replacing Ed O'Neill or Ty Burrell with George Clooney.
• Fake Brit: Edward Norton as Spandau Ballet bassist, Izzy Lafontaine, in "Great Expectations".
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Julie Bowen was eight months pregnant with twins during the filming of the pilot, so they hid her behind laundry baskets and other assorted things.
• History Repeats: This is Ed O’Neill’s second sitcom to go 11 seasons with at least 250 episodes, after Married... with Children.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Luke is of below-average intelligence, albeit with occasional flashes of brilliance. His actor is a member of MENSA and graduated high school at 13.
• Melodrama: Sarah and Adam would often dramatise their scenes together because of how invested they both were in Haley & Andy’s relationship. However, it wouldn't work with the pacing of the show.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Lily was recast for season three when it became clear the little girls playing her really didn't like acting.
  • As of Season 7, Baby Joe has been replaced with an older child actor, to allow him to be a more active part of scenes.
  • As mentioned above in Died During Production, Robert Costanzo replaced the late Jon Polito as Earl Chambers in season 8.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Ty Burrell played jerk characters prior to the show. For instance, Dawn Of The Dead. However, in the show, Phil is one of the sweetest, nicest and funniest characters in the show.
  • Adam Devine, after rising to fame by playing an extremely immature ,drug-addicted alcoholic, made a career out of playing arrogant, selfish jerks. Because of this, many people are shocked that he plays sweet, dorky Andy so believably, considering he's so insanely polar opposite to his other roles.
  • The typically erudite yet badass Victor Garber has a guest spot as a Gordon Ramsey-esque Jerkass chef.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor:
  • Like Mitchell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson is also gay in real life.
  • Nathan Lane is gay like his character Pepper Saltzman.
• Real-Life Relative: In "Connection Lost", Julie Bowen's eldest son has a "cameo" in a baby photo of Haley that Claire looks at when she thinks Haley's pregnant and has eloped with Andy.
  • Aubrey Anderson-Emmons' mom comedienne Amy Anderson plays a waitress in "The Future Dunphys".
• Reality Subtext:
  • "Suddenly, Last Summer", the fifth-season premiere episode, was set on June 26, 2013, the day that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower-court decision that invalidated California's Proposition 8 and thus re-legalized gay marriage in California—setting up a plot where Cameron and Mitchell connive with other members of their extended family to come up with a more romantic marriage proposal.
  • "Lake Life", the ninth-season premiere, was set on the day of the total solar eclipse in America: August 21, 2017.
• Star-Making Role:
  • All of the actors save for Ed O'Neill (who was already a well-known name in TV), became Household Names following the success of the show. Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell were in a few well-known projects before, but Modern Family truly cemented their fame.
  • Whilst Adam Devine was already famous prior to appearing, his recurring role on the show has elevated his notoriety considerably.
• Suppressed Mammaries: Ariel Winter started out flat-chested (it makes sense; she was 11 when the show started) and eventually grew past Sofía Vergara's famously curvy frame (Vergara, though, is 5'7", while Winter is only 5'1") . Similarly to Soleil Moon Frye, Winter revealed in August 2015 that she'd had a breast reduction in June that took her from 32F to 34D, citing negative media attention and back pain as as one of her primary reasons.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Matt LeBlanc and Rob Huebel were initially approached for the role of Phil Dunphy before Ty Burrell was cast. However, LeBlanc turned it down as he didn't think he was the right choice for the character, while Huebel declined due to his dissatisfaction with the script for the pilot. Huebel would later go on to play Glen Whipple in "The One That Got Away".
    • David Harbour, Joel McHale and Alan Tudyk were also considered for the part of Phil Dunphy before the casting of Burrell. Tudyk was credited for coming up with the "Why the Face?" joke in the pilot during his audition.
  • Lisa Kudrow, Leah Remini, Debra Messing, Rachael Harris, Kristen Johnston and Constance Zimmer were considered for the part of Claire Dunphy before the casting of Julie Bowen.
  • Craig T. Nelson was the first choice for Jay Pritchett before Ed O'Neill was cast, but turned down the offer due to salary disagreements and was eventually cast as Zeke Braverman in Parenthood after this.
  • Josh Gad, Tony Hale and Kevin Daniels read for the role of Cameron Tucker before the casting of Eric Stonestreet.
  • Matt Oberg and Mo Rocca screen-tested for the part of Mitchell Pritchett before Jesse Tyler Ferguson was cast.
  • Skyler Samuels auditioned for Haley Dunphy before the casting of Sarah Hyland.
  • Adam Devine (Andy) was approached by the show's creators to become a series regular following season 7 but had to decline due to his other commitments.
  • The pilot script was originally titled "My American Family"
• Word of Gay: Sarah Hyland stated that her character Haley was bisexual during Season 9.
• Word of God: There is no documentary crew. The show is only filmed in a documentary style and the talking heads are the characters Breaking the Fourth Wall. It explains how the camera can suddenly be in a building before a character enters it.