ABC Renews 'Modern Family' and 'The Goldbergs'

It's not all drama at ABC on Thursday night. The network's slew of late-hour renewals for returning hour-longs -- not to mention more than a few new series orders -- also includes comedies Modern Family and The Goldbergs.

That makes the pair the first returning ABC half-hours locked for the coming 2014-15 season, with the Modern Family news more of a ceremonial greenlight for the network's flagship hit.

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A semi-autobiographical comedy from showrunner Adam F. Goldberg and exec producer Seth Gordon, The Goldbergswill be back for a second season thanks to strong support from ABC's Paul Lee and strong DVR gains. The critical darling, which launched to a 3.2 rating in the demo -- the network's top comedy launch in more than a year -- managed to break out from a crowded Tuesday comedy traffic jam despite a mismatched lead-in from comics-themed drama Agents of SHIELD.

Halfway into its first season, it also earned the ratings distinction of besting Fox's New Girl in live-plus-same day showings.

The '80s-set comedy from Sony Pictures Television grows more than 50 percent when factoring in delayed viewing, climbing nearly a point to 2.6 million among adults under 50. For his part, Goldberg has been vocal about support from the network -- he was the only freshman comedy showrunner who didn't have to pitch a back-nine pickup -- and has been campaigning to have the show's sophomore run moved to ABC's Wednesday comedy block.

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And Modern Family, ever the Emmy darling, is TV's No. 2 scripted comedy behind The Big Bang Theory. It returns for a sixth season. From 20th Century Fox Television, season five of the comedy from co-creators Chris Lloyd and Steve Levitan is averaging a 3.6 in the key adults under 50 demo -- rising to 5.6 when adding seven days of DVR playback.

Despite USA Network's frequent syndicated repeats, the single-camera comedy is down year-over-year from season four. While the family ensemble ranks as the crowned jewel of ABC's comedy brand, the network has yet to find a successful lead-out.

New comedies already confirmed at ABC are Jeff Lowell's entry, which is now known as Manhattan Love Story, and Emily Kapnek's Selfie.