'Modern Family' Season 5 Premiere Deals with Same-Sex Marriage Ruling, Revealed at Table Read
Modern Family will be taking on the issue of same-sex marriage with its season 5 premiere, Deadline reported from the onstage table read of the episode on Wednesday.
The show, which has championed gay rights with the characters of Cameron Tucker (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitch Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) since its inception, might incorporate the June 26 Supreme Court Ruling on the issue in Mitch and Cameron's story arc. The topic will come up in an episode titled Suddenly Last Summer, written by Jeffrey Richman.
Co-creator Christopher Loyd previously suggested that the issue of gay marriage might be tackled on the show at some point.
At the reading this week, Richman who is also gay, talked about how the Supreme Court Ruling made him "happier as a writer." Richman also revealed that the team had already got cracking on the storyline underscored by the issue before it gained momentum in the judicial arena.
The cast and writers did not give away much on the major plot points Wednesday night, leaving audiences wondering whether Mitch and Cam might get married. In an interview with The Huffington Post earlier in the month, actor Ed O'Neill was rooting for their marriage:
"It's not a bad bet," O'Neill said. "I didn't think of that! Because, you know, Jesse's getting married this summer. You think he'll be wearing a bow tie?"
Ferguson tied the knot with his long-time love Justin Mikita in a July ceremony officiated by Tony Kushner.
The show's writing team didn't feature any legit representatives from the homosexual community but during the audience interaction this week, producer Steve Levitan joked about how the writing team "went super-gay" after adding gay scribes Richman and Abraham Higginbottom to the staff.
Cast members Ferguson, O'Neill, Sofia Vergara, Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Ariel Winter, Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould, and Sarah Hyland, were present at the reading.
Season 5 also welcomes Adam DeVine (Workaholics, Pitch Perfect) as a recurring guest star on the show. DeVine will play nanny to Manny and baby Joe. Loyd described DeVine's character as "being fun and matches Gloria's energy in the house. But he doesn't want to just take care of the baby. He wants to sort of revive the entire household, which leads to some territorial clashes with Jay and Manny ."
Season 5 of the hit ABC show will premiere on Sep. 25.
