This is essentially Ryan Murphy’s (“Glee”) soapbox from which he can spout his supposedly progressive ideas about the evolving family structure by writing gay caricatures. If Murphy is supposedly championing LGBT narratives on TV, why is the gay community of “Normal” boxed into such stringent stereotypes?
The New Normal
Pilot
ABC
David (Justin Bartha) and Bryan (Andrew Rannells) are two gay men who decide rather suddenly that they want to raise a baby, shop around for a surrogate, find said surrogate in the form of Goldie (Georgia King) — a young mother married to a cheating loser — and form a relationship with their surrogate … barely leaving enough time for viewers to register the obscene amount of tired and half-baked material they just witnessed.
Is it a feel-good comedy à la “Modern Family”? Is it a parody? Well, “Normal” is mostly just people yelling — Goldie’s grandmother Jane (Ellen Barkin) goes on frequent racist, homophobic tirades … comedy!
The few upsides of “Normal” are found in Bartha and Rannells, who are endearing in their performances despite having little to work with.
But then Gwyneth Paltrow shows up.