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When his kids break out into an argument, Modern Family Showrunner Steven Levitan sees an opportunity for great dialogue.
“I’ll grab my phone and start writing it down,” he said during ABC’s comedy showrunner panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour Thursday.
By the same token, when The Middle Showrunner Eileen Heisler is up against “something really hellish” with her kids, there’s that moment when “a little piece of you steps out and says ‘I’m hating this now, but it’s going to be really fun when I write it.’”
ABC’s comedy showrunners agreed that much of their material draw from their own families, and the same holds true in the writing room.
“Relatable stories come from your life, your spouse and your kids, and we find that’s where we usually wind up starting,” said Mike Sikowitz, showrunner on Dr. Ken.
When it comes to funny family sitcoms, showrunners also face obstacles as the kids on their series grow up. But embracing that element often opens up more storylines, they said.
“You’ve got to look on the bright side in that it forces you to evolve,” Levitan said. “As the kids age, their situations change, the problems and challenges of parenting change.”
Constraints, The Real O’Neals Showrunner Stacy Traub added, can often lead to comedy.
Showrunners also said that ABC encourages and supports them to push the boundaries of storytelling.
“What you need is a really strong vision of what you want to do, a really strong reason for why you want to do it, and the confidence to pull it off,” said Matt Berry of Last Man Standing.
While there can sometimes be ‘cable envy’ in terms of telling the story, showrunners agreed that their series naturally take on a family tone.
“I feel like I have this contract with America where they can sit there with their kids, and not have to explain what a blowjob joke is,” Berry said.
“We can’t say some of the f-bombs that we want, but we can be real,” added Casey Johnson of The Real O’Neals.
Being real also means addressing how technology is incorporated into the family dynamic, which separates currently family sitcoms from shows like The Brady Bunch and Roseanne of the past.
As Levitan put it, the days of kids riding their bikes and coming home when the streetlights turn on has been replaced by parents texting their children every 10 minutes.
“Families communicate in a way they never did back then,” he said.
But being able to address technology, and other current issues, is part of the reason why ABC’s family sitcoms resonate with viewers, said The Middle’s Deann Heline.
“Families,” she said, “are allowed to be a lot more real than they were back then.”
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