'Modern Family' Lives: Cast's Salary Dispute Settled

Fans of "Modern Family" who worried that a salary dispute would keep the Dunphy-Tucker-Pritchett clan off the fall TV lineup can breathe easy.

The adult cast members who sued to terminate their contracts with the show's producer, 20th Century Fox, reportedly agreed to new contracts and are ready to begin work on season four, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The grown-up "Modern Family" stars, who wracked up numerous awards and nominations, had felt the time was right to ask for a raise. Their contracts were initially set for seven years, but five of the show's actors (Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara) stood together and sued Fox to throw out the contracts, going so far as to miss a run-through of the script for a the season's premiere episode.

The new contract sees the stars earning somewhere around $170,000 per episode and a portion of the show's profits.

Steve Levitan, one of the show's creators, explained to Entertainment Weekly, that "at the end of the day, we're all very good friends. There are a lot of people whose jobs it is to get in there and stir things up. And that's what happened."

"Modern Family" is set to have its fourth season premiere on Sept. 26 on ABC.

As comedies get increasingly meta, it will be interesting to see if any future episodes reference the extremely short-lived strike in some way, like having Hailey and Alex debate a fictional show's actor strike.