Modern Screen Writing: Sitcoms

So how do you write a sitcom screen play? Easy. Have all the clichés thrown in, just to be on the safe side. Universal appeal. The new sitcom Modern Family is just that.
I imagine the screen writers sitting in a big room discussing what to do. So one says, let’s have a gay couple. Right on. Then another, let’s have a much older man married to a younger beautiful woman he would never have scored if he wasn’t rich. And, to charm the Hispanic community, lets make her Hispanic. But nothing too political, like Cuban or Venezuelan. So she’s Colombian. And then, let’s throw in the “normal” family, 3 kids, clueless parents. And there you have it. All the components for a sitcom.
However, although it is so clichéd in every way, somehow, bizarrely this works for them. It is fresh, new, and funny. Modern Family airs Wednesdays on ABC.
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