As if Modern Family wasn’t meta enough already, its executive producer is embarking on a new project about actors whose personal lives can’t live up to the perfect family they play on TV. Deadline reports that Danny Zuker has secured a put pilot commitment at ABC for Family Show, and will write and executive produce.
Apparently the idea came from a real-life parenting moment Zuker experienced during season two of Modern Family. After grounding one of his daughters (who are the same age as the show’s teen stars Ariel Winter, Rico Rodriguez, and Nolan Gould), she screamed, “how can you write such a great dad on the show but can’t be a good dad in real life?” As any producer in TV would do upon absorbing such an sharp blow from his teenage daughter, Zuker thought to himself, “that may be a show.”
Despite sharing an executive producer/writer and the word “family” with its predecessor, Family Show won’t be modeled after Modern Family or Zuker’s own life. “Modern Family is a very functional place where people get along quite well,” said Zuker. “But I’ve worked on other comedy series before that weren’t that functional, so I’ll apply some of those experiences and will make stuff up.” That means those hoping to see a Modern Family Show will have to wait for the inevitable clever YouTube cut splicing the shows together.