In case you missed it, here are the first publicity stills of Modern Family's new baby Lily, played by four-year-old Aubrey Anderson-Emmons.
Yes, the producers decided it was time to grow Lily up for storyline purposes, and because they weren't sure the children who played original Lily -- Jaden and Ella Hiller -- were up for aging on a TV set.
I'll hold my judgement on new Lily until I see her in action, but personally, I'm really going to miss the original baby Lily, who we can all agree was the queen of deadpan. Her blank stares among the chaos around her were adorable, not to mention comedy magic.
Modern Family isn't the only ABC comedy to recast its youngest cast member, though. Producers of Cougar Town are also looking to age the little-seen Stan -- if only to give the characters some sort of responsibility.
“We decided to age Stan and make him somewhat of a real character because, well, the people on the show never go to work and Ellie and Andy never seem to acknowledge him,” executive producer Kevin Biegel says. “We figured it was probably time to give them a little real-life responsibility. Mind you, he’s only going to be around three years old now, so he’s not suddenly 12 or something.”
But fear not -- Stan will still only be an occasional part of the show, with wine being the constant supporting actor.
“People will still drink on the show... a lot," Biegel says. "There just may be a little three-year-old p—k-of-a-kid running around them every once in awhile. We promise, it won’t be cutesy or lame — we’re not going to ‘Cousin Oliver’ it."
I do hope these transitions go well. I'm still not over the time they recast Owen on Party of Five so he could be an older, whinier character. (Sorry Jacob Smith, you were no Andrew and Steven Cavarno).
How do you feel about Modern Family and Cougar Town aging their youngest characters?