PASADENA, Calif. _ As far back as "Leave it to Beaver," the family comedy has supported the backbone of primetime TV. People can identify with shows like "Modern Family," "The Middle" and "Black-ish" because the problems facing the sitcom family often reflect what's happening in their own homes.
Eileen Heisler, co-writer with DeAnn Heline of "The Middle," says she knows the feeling. "I think it's wonderful when you're in the middle of something really hellish, when you want to kill your child at times, and a little piece of you just steps out and says, 'I'm hating this now, but it's going to be really fun when I write it.' So I'd say the kids are the great inspiration."
Executive producer Steve Levitan, who commandeers "Modern Family," agrees. "So many ideas have come to me personally in dealing with kids, in a moment, in some sort of a funny situation," he says.
"My kids start talking about something, or an argument breaks out, or whatever it is, and I'd start to just grab for my phone and start writing it down, because I'm, like, 'This is going to be great dialogue,'" he laughs.
"And it often leads to something good. But I'm also always amazed at the power of a good writers' room. You come in with a little notion of something, and you put it on the table in front of all these really talented people, it starts to build on itself and somebody comes up with, 'Oh, that reminds me of this and this.'
"It's just that 'Modern Family' is the result of so many really smart people throwing their lives and their families at a challenge. And I think that's why maybe it resonates so much, because we're bringing so much of OUR lives."
Because these family situations are so universal, the creators are often accused of being mired in the past. "The network would say, 'People think your show is in the '70s,'" recalls Heisler. "Like, 'Oops.' I think it's because it stemmed from our memories.
"I guess it's such a tiny thing of the times that I think influenced us when we were creating the show ... the house was a two-hand-four-hand house of two parents, both parenting equally. And that was really important to us. That maybe was a little bit of a rebellion ... That's a sign of these times versus those times we grew up with."
"Back then everyone had to be milquetoast," adds Heline. "And we have a mom who sometimes maybe makes the wrong decision sometimes. Sometimes she's selfish. Sometimes she says, 'My kids are weird. It's driving me crazy.' You know, whatever it is, I think that now families (on TV) are allowed to be a lot more real than they were back then."
They are so real that on Levitan's "Modern Family" two of the major characters are a gay couple parenting a little girl.
"In the beginning, it was a lot about Mitch and Cam being gay. And now it's just, hopefully, about these two people raising a child," says Levitan, who executive produced 142 episodes of "Just Shoot Me!"
"And we let it be what it is and not hammer that home too much. And that's how it's evolved for us ... a lot of these issues feel like, when we start digging into it a little bit, it starts to feel retro too, like we're hitting it too hard, like the world is past this. Our kids are past this. We need to be past it too."
Working with child actors can be tumultuous because they are constantly growing and changing. "We found on our show that even though it was scary to think about things happening like them going to college _ and I never like change and it's always really frightening _ then it starts to make you realize that they lead you to more stories," says Heisler, who has worked with Heline since college on shows like "Murphy Brown" and "How I Met Your Mother."
"The scariest thing was the year that Atticus (Shaffer, who plays Brick on "The Middle") came back and his voice was this de-eeep voice, and that was probably our scariest moment. Because people were like, 'Did you hear Atticus?' I'm like, 'Oh, my God. Like, the show is just over. What are you going to do?'
"And he tried to kind of talk in a higher voice and that didn't work either, and it was just really scary. It was like real-adolescence and show-adolescence at the same time, says Heisler. "We all kind of had to get used to what the new voice sounded like, and he had to sort of feel the character in his new body and voice, and then you're golden. But it's certainly not as easy as animated characters."
'DOCTOR WHO' FINDS FEMININE SIDE
It was just a matter of time. The BBC and BBC America have announced that the next Doctor Who is going to be a woman. Jodie Whittaker has snagged the role after tons of auditions, lots of secret-keeping and a brand new writer-producer. Whittaker, who played the whiney Beth on "Broadchurch," says being chosen the first female to play the role is earth moving. "It feels completely overwhelming, as a feminist, as a woman, as an actor, as a human, as someone who wants to continually push themselves and challenge themselves, and not be boxed in by what you're told you can and can't be. It feels incredible."
'DUMBO' TAKES OFF IN LIVE-ACTION
It's hard to imagine how they're going to manage it, but Disney is making a live-action version of its 1941 classic animated movie "Dumbo." The film is being directed by the super creative Tim Burton and stars Eva Green, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito and Colin Farrell who plays a former circus performer whose life falls in disarray when he returns from war. Burton, who's known for his imaginative takes on "Alice Through the Looking Glass" and "Nightmare Before Christmas" says he foments his best ideas when he's not concentrating on the task.
"I prefer to not consciously think about it," he says. "It has for me more power if you're just sketching something, and an image keeps repeating itself, like when you're doodling or something, talking on the phone. And without thinking, an image comes and you sit around and it comes again. That for me has the most impact. Then I start thinking about it. Then I start thinking, 'What does this mean to me in some way? Is it symbolic of something?' It happens that way. I enjoy that more than consciously thinking about something."
BILL PULLMAN COPES WITH 'THE SINNER'
Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman costar in USA's new eight-part thriller, "The Sinner," premiering Wednesday. Biel plays an ordinary woman who commits a violent act and doesn't know why. Pullman portrays the investigator who's determined to unearth the motive. Pullman, who's made films like "The Equalizer" and "Independence Day," says he was originally devoted to the theater and migrated to California only to make some money.
"I came out here, started auditioning around. It was like gold digging. I had a few debts, and the thought of making a little cash was going to be good, and I thought of it just as a cash deal. Movies were a cash deal. And theater was what I needed the cash for. I always thought I'd go back to New York, and never really went back."
