Modern Family’ series strikes a chord with students by having something to offer everyone

This evening at the Paley Center, Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, cocreators and executive producers of “Modern Family,” will give a talk about their hit TV show. The event, to be held at the Writers Guild Theater at 7 p.m., is the second of three parts of a series the Paley Center is putting on this July called “Inside the Writers Room.”

Those who attend can expect to learn about the origins and plot of “Modern Family,” which features a set of family members more progressive than those typically depicted on television.

“The writers have really based the show on incidents that have happened in their lives, like dealing with modern technology and those special events like Valentine’s Day and anniversaries, where you want one present and you get something else. Those large family vacations where you want to go on a romantic vacation for two and your spouse says, ‘No, let’s take the whole family.’ Things like that,” said Rebecca Paller, a television curator at the Paley Center.

For those who have never seen the show, “Modern Family” is a half-hour comedic mockumentary that follows the lives of three related families: a gay couple with an adopted Vietnamese baby girl, an older Caucasian man married to an attractive young Hispanic woman who has a son, and a married couple with three children.

“Modern Family” premiered in September of last year to critical acclaim, and its first season was met with positive reviews. In 2009, the show won “Television Program of the Year” at the American Film Institute awards. This year, it has been nominated for best new series, best episodic comedy and best comedy series, and has also been nominated for five Television Critics Association awards.

Many young fans of “Modern Family” who consider those awards well-deserved find the show so lovable because they can so easily relate to it. Alex Jaksha, a second-year biology student, said she believes the show is so appealing because everyone can find a character in it who either reminds them of themselves or of someone they know.

“I think it has the appeal of shows like ‘Arrested Development,’ while at the same time being more relatable because it depicts one very traditional family in addition to two of the more common non-traditional families,” Jaksha said. “The traditional family with a lot of kids is what I relate to best because it reminds me a lot of my family. Luke reminds me of my brother, and one of his sisters reminds me of myself.”

Some fans find that the style of humor is as relatable to college students as the cast of characters.

“‘Modern Family’ is really intelligent. People have always thought of ‘Seinfeld’ as the ultimate smart sitcom and they love it for that reason even though it’s a show essentially about nothing, which is the brilliance of it,” said Emily Melton, a UCLA alumna. “And then to hear that Jerry Seinfeld thinks of himself as one of ‘Modern Family’s biggest fans! That’s a testament to how dead-on hilarious it is.”

Second-year undeclared student Carina Martin is such an avid fan of the show that, despite her exhaustion, she chased one of the show’s actors through the crowds of the 2010 Dance Marathon. Martin said she believes “Modern Family” is so unique because it’s a modern twist on a traditional, even passe, plotline.

“It’s the cleverness of the script and ridiculousness of certain scenes that makes the show as entertaining as it is,” Martin said.

For some fans of “Modern Family,” though, the appeal of the show goes deeper than simple entertainment.

“All of the characters are sort of bumbling and inept, but they’re all well-meaning. They never try to be nasty to each other,” said Paller. “I’ll be laughing hysterically, and then there’ll be a moment at the end of the episode I’m watching where I’m genuinely touched. It makes the show really special. There are all of these other comedies around today that you’ll watch in 25 years and find dated. ‘Modern Family’ is a show you’d fall in love with all over again.”