A Taste of Normal

Writer-producer Ryan Murphy is expanding his television empire this fall. His series Glee and American Horror Story are both beginning new seasons soon, and this week a third series co-created by him began on NBC -- The New Normal. It's a half-hour sitcom about gay couple Bryan and David (The Book of Mormon's Andrew Rannells and The Hangover's Justin Bartha) joining with a surrogate (Georgia King) so they can have a baby. Rounding out the characters are the surrogate's own young daughter (Bebe Wood) and bigoted grandmother (Ellen Barkin), as well as Bryan's sassy assistant (NeNe Leakes).

The pilot and second episode aired on back-to-back nights, offering a good chance to sample what the show is. And, like Ryan Murphy's other shows, it seems that there's plenty to like... and a handful of distracting misfires too.

Perhaps the oddest thing about this sitcom is that it isn't actually all that funny. Neither of the two episodes delivers any laugh out loud moments, but the "comedy" label may still be best. The show does entertain, but isn't going about it in a deeply dramatic way. It's a bit moralistic without being too preachy, a bit after school special without being unrealistic. Basically, it's almost like a drama in its earnestness, but ultimately seeks the fun and the easy happy endings, pushing it into the light-hearted comedy category.

Granted, it's very early for the show, but some of the characters are going to need work. David is a grounded and realistic character, as is surrogate mother Goldie. But the other half of the couple, Bryan, is an overly queeny stereotype that seems crafted not so much as a real person as a vehicle for punchline deliveries; Andrew Rannells definitely makes him fun, but not very realistic.

On the other end of the spectrum, grandmother Jane seems to striving to be an Archie Bunker kind of character, but is too cartoonish in her generic bigotry toward gays, foreigners, minorities, anyone and anything. Again, the acting elevates the material, this time by Ellen Barkin, but the character is too outrageous for a show that largely seems to want to be realistic.

Right now, since the full-on start of most new shows is still a week or two away, it's easy for me to hang in there and give the series a few more episodes to see where it goes. It also helps that it's on NBC, where the ratings would have to be truly lousy indeed for the show to be at risk of cancellation any time soon. But as it stands now, I'm going to need a while longer before I develop any kind of attachment where I'd care if that did happen.

For now, I'd say I'm interested but not eager for next week's new episode. I'm much more looking forward to seeing if Glee is reinvigorated in its new season that begins on Thursday.