Tag Archives: Steve Levitan

ABC Renews Sofia Vergara’s “Modern Family” for 11th and Final Season

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Sofia Vergara’s extending her Family time…

ABC has picked up its flagship comedy series Modern Family, starring the 46-year-old Colombian actress, for an eleventh and final season.

Sofia Vergara, Modern Family,

The Emmy-winning family comedy will reportedly consist of at least 18 episodes, and could expand to 22 episodes, according to Deadline.com/

Modern Family’s renewal was all but assured when the original adult cast, stars Ed O’Neill, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Vergara, agreed to new deals in December with producing studio 20th Century Fox Televisionto return. 

Since then, the studio also has signed co-creators/executive producers Steve Levitanand Christopher Lloydfor another season, and also has made new deals with the original child actors — now all young adults —  Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould and Rico Rodriguez. 

Ten seasons in, Modern Family remains ABC’s top rated comedy (2.1 adults 18-49 rating in Live+3) and second highest rated series on the network only behind Grey’s Anatomy (tied with The Good Doctor, The Bachelorand The Conners).

“Chris and Steve have created one of the most seminal and iconic comedies in television history,” said Karey Burke, president, ABC Entertainment. “In its final season, there will be more milestone events that anyone who has been a fan of the series won’t want to miss.”

A five-time Emmy winner for Outstanding Comedy Series, Modern Family stars O’Neill as Jay Pritchett, Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Vergara as Gloria Pritchett, Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker, Hyland as Haley Dunphy, Gould as Luke Dunphy, Winter as Alex Dunphy, Rodriguez as Manny Delgado, Aubrey Anderson-Emmonsas Lily Tucker-Pritchett and Jeremy Maguireas Joe Pritchett.

“For 10 years, our characters have bravely faced turning points in life and moved through them to great personal enrichment; we have chosen a different path by doing one more season of Modern Family,” said Lloyd.

Added Levitan, “Even after 10 years together, we realized there are still some things our writers don’t yet know about each other’s sex lives.”

Mexican Screenwriter Villalobos Named a Humanitas Prize Finalist

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Ligiah Villalobos has the write stuff… And, she’s earning acclaim for it.

The Mexican screenwriter has been named as one of the finalists for this year’s Humanitas Prize, an annual series of awards that honor film and television writing.

Ligiah Villalobos

Villalobos is nominated in the 90 Minute Category for penning the script for Hallmark Hall of Fame’s 2012 television movie Firelight, which stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Q’orianka Kilcher and DeWanda Wise.

In the film, Gooding Jr. portrays Dwayne Johnson, nicknamed DJ, a counselor at a youth correctional facility where “the incarcerated girls and young women come from trouble, often violent, backgrounds.”

The $95,000 in prize money honors writing that explores the human experience in an entertaining and delightful way

“Humanitas does a simple thing. It gives credit where credit is due,” said Humanitas president Ali LeRoi. “To take time, and be of the mind, to write something that should be written, and provoke feelings that should be felt, is in itself an honorable thing. But it helps to know that someone was moved enough to say so, and thus inspire others that this quiet nobility, being the writer of something good, is worth it, if for no other reason, than someone knows it can be done, and someone else would like to see if they can do it too.”

Villalobos’ credits include penning Under the Same Moon and serving as the head writer on Go, Diego, Go!

Since its inception in 1974, the Humanitas Prize has handed out more than $3 million in winnings to 310 writers. Past recipients include Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Denis Leary and Peter Tolan (Rescue Me), Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious), Steve Levitan (Modern Family, Frasier) and Ryan Murphy (Glee).

Find the complete list of nominees by visiting the Humanitas website.

Vergara’s Acceptance Speech: A “Golden” Globes Moment…

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She may have lost the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV… But Sofia Vergara still managed to give one of the night’s most memorable acceptance speeches at the Golden Globes on Sunday night.

The 39-year-old Colombian actress—one of the night’s best dressed starlets in her oh-so-form-fitting custom Vera Wang strapless mermaid dress— hijacked the acceptance speech when her ABC show Modern Family won for best comedy series—and gave it in Spanish.

Modern Family Cast at the Golden Globes

Since the Golden Globes are put on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Vergara told the audience at the Beverly Hilton Hotel that the Modern Family team would accept the award in two languages, Spanish and English. Vergara would speak in her native tongue… And, the show’s co-creator and executive producer Steven Levitan would translate.

Levitan started interpreting Vergara’s words accurately, but then quickly just started making things up with his own random statements…to chuckles from the audience. Talk about great comedic timing!

But Vergara wasn’t the only Spanish-speaking celebrity at the Globes…

Antonio Banderas & Salma Hayek at the Golden Globes

Just moments earlier, the show’s host Ricky Gervais poked fun at Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas‘ accents when he introduced them as presenters, prompting a long, non-English response from Banderas. After the Spanish actor’s hilarious rant, Hayek teased: “Ricky, I don’t understand [Banderas] either.”