TV REVIEW: The New Normal has balls!

POSTED: Friday, September 14, 2012, 1:00 PM

Filed Under: LGBTQ | TV

EMBRACE RELATIONS: (L-R) Andrew Rannells and Justin Bartha play a head-over-heels-in-love couple who are about to have a baby.

The New Normal, Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Glee, American Horror Story) and Ali Adler’s new half-hour sitcom, which premiered this week on NBC, breaks so many of the gay barriers we’re used to seeing on primetime TV. Sure, Modern Family has been showing mainstream audiences a well-adjusted homo family for a few seasons, but The New Normal takes it a step further. The premise is built around a gay couple who are not only funny, super-adorable and capable of raising a healthy family, but, unlike Cam and Mitchell, they actually smooch and hug and snuggle.

The storyline follows swishy Bryan (Andrew Rannells) and geeky David (played by total-babe Justin Bartha), a well-to-do couple living in Los Angeles who have just decided to have a baby. Meanwhile, single mom Goldie (Georgia King) moves to L.A. — with her cutie-pie daughter Shania (Bebe Wood) — to escape a two-timing husband and her pestering, bigoted grandmother (hilariously played by GILF Ellen Barkin). Strapped for cash, Goldie decides to make money by becoming a surrogate mother — and that’s how she comes to meet Bryan and David. A new modern family is born.

In just two episodes, a lot of valuable points have been made — from both poo-pooing and embracing gay-character stereotypes to challenging society's perception of what it means to be “normal.” One of the most poignant moments comes from an opening scene in Monday night’s pilot episode: Bryan and David are at a playground deciding if it’s too unconventional to bring a two-fathered child into the world. As they weigh the pros and cons we’re introduced to a gaggle of outside-the-box families. A single, way-past-her-prime mom chases a litter of toddlers she birthed via fertility treatment. A little person jumps into a Barbie car with her normal-sized 'tween daughter, who is already centimeters away from being taller than her mom. What does this tell us? Goldie says it best when asked if she minds surrogating for a gay couple: "A family is a family, and love is love."

After meeting their baby momma, Bryan and David are positioned as the struggling mom’s saviors, providing her a home and all the comforts she needs to make her dreams come true — all while she’s helping to manifest one of theirs. Queen-y Bryan even steps in as a solid father figure to Shania (you have to see her spot-on Little Edie Beale impression) while her biological father lays around in his tighty-whities ogling boobs on TV. I’m excited to see how the story will flow throughout the rest of the season. I’m guessing Barkin’s character will continue doing what she can to convince her granddaughter to leave “those fudge-packers,” and nine months of pregnancy will throw Bryan and David into a world of tizzies they never fathomed. Whatever the case, I hope the writers continue to push the envelope on the queer stuff. So far, it's the ballsiest, go-gay show that's ever been on primetime. Watch it!

The New Normal airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. on NBC 10.

(josh.middleton@citypaper.net) (@justjoshfunk1)

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