‘Modern Family’ Creator Addresses Emmy Snub: ‘It Was a Hell of a Run’

After eight seasons chock-full of Emmy Award nominations, Modern Family‘s ninth year has finally seen the end of its hot streak. For the first time since its 2009 launch, Modern Family failed to land a comedy series or acting nod for its ninth season.

Co-creator, co-executive producer and co-showrunner Steve Levitan is taking the high-profile Emmy snubs in stride, while reminding fans that the longest-running ABC comedy wasn’t totally shut out; the series landed a nomination for sound editing.

“It was a hell of a run – especially in this day and age when there are so many great shows on so many platforms,” he told Deadline. “I’m thrilled for all the brilliant new people who get to experience the good fortune we’ve enjoyed. Plus it gives us a goal for next year: Earn our way back.”

During its first eight seasons, Modern Family racked up eight consecutive best comedy series nominations, winning five in a row to tie an Emmy record. It has also won a slew of acting, writing and directing Emmys over the years. Last year was the first time in the show’s history it did not win any Emmy hardware.

The comedy series is heading into its 10th and possibly final season this fall. Levitan hinted back in January that the show would end after 10 seasons.

“Our plan is to end it at 10,” Levitan told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “If we can leave with most of our audience wanting more, I think that’s the right way to do it. Never say never, but I just can’t imagine that we’d go past that.”

In order to continue into an eleventh season, big name cast members like Ed O’Neill (Jay Pritchett), Sofia Vergara (Gloria Delgado-Pritchett), Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett), Eric Stonestreet (Cameron Tucker) and Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy) would have to be signed to big, new and expensive contracts.

Co-creator Christopher Lloyd, who also co-executive produced Frasier throughout the sitcom’s 1993-2004 duration, said that while he and Levitan have put some thought into how they’d like to end the iconic series, nothing has been set in stone yet.

“We went through these questions on Frasier, when we brought that around after 11 seasons and sort of said, ‘Well, the Shakespearean route on that is a birth, a death or a wedding,’ and we managed to effectively do all three in the final episode,” Lloyd said in January. “So it may be some conversation that starts there, but we haven’t figured out the episode we’re doing three weeks from now. It’s just a little over a year and a half from now. We’ve got time to think about that.”

Photo credit: Instagram/Sarah Hyland