This Day in Pop Culture for September 23

2009: The Debut of ‘Modern Family’

For some, the “mockumentary” TV show, Modern Family had been a surprise hit. Debuting on this day in 2009, the comedy features an older man white man married to a much younger Colombian woman, a gay white couple with an adopted Vietnamese daughter and a more traditional family, but all three units are related to each other. With so much potential to be controversial, the show managed to stay true to its comedy genre and not be offensive. Creators of the show, Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, came up with the idea for the series while sharing stories of their own “modern families.” After 11 seasons, the show aired it’s last episode on April 8, 2020. During its run, Modern family won 22 Emmy Awards and six Writers Guild of America Awards. (Image: ABC)

1962: ‘The Jetsons’ Fly Into Town

The first TV show to be presented in color on the ABC network was The Jetsons which premiered on this day in 1962. The Sunday night program, created by Hanna-Barbera, featured George Jetson, Jane his wife, daughter Judy, and son Elroy living in Orbit City 100 years into the future. The family also owned Astro the dog and Rosie the robot who served as their maid. The original run of the show contained just 24 episodes. After the last episode aired during its initial run, The Jetsons moved to Saturday mornings where it aired back and forth from CBS to NBC in 1964-1967, 1969-1976, 1979-1981 and 1982-1983. In 1985, brand new episodes (complete with the show’s original voices) were created to mix with the old and were shown in syndication from 1985-1987. In 1990, the space-age family made its way to the big screen for Jetsons: The Movie. In 2015, it was announced that Warner Bros. had planned for a new Jetsons feature film, but we are still waiting.