It's that time of year again, everyone is back at school and stress sets in about tests, papers etc. My stress level in the fall has nothing to do with school and is based solely on the fact that my DVR is jam packed and I can't find the time to keep up with it.
This year the fall pilots are unusually strong. I actually haven't seen much that I haven't liked at least enough to catch the next episode and I'm really looking forward to writing about a lot of them.
Sitcoms are especially likeable this year which I'm incredibly happy about because it is going to take at least three great shows to fill the void I will feel when 30 Rock is no longer on my television at the end of this season.
While I've loved a lot of new comedy pilots this year, "The New Normal", NBC's new show about a gay couple using a surrogate to have a child, is by far the best new comedy this season. I had my doubts since it was developed by "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy (because I'm pretty sure that if for any reason someone wanted to torture me, making me watch episodes of "Glee" would be the best way to do it) but I was pleasantly surprised.
This is one of the few shows that I think accurately portrays a gay couple ("Brothers and Sisters" also did a really good job with Kevin and Scotty) and really shows the challenges that unfortunately still come with being gay today while still making you laugh out loud at every turn. Andrew Rannells and Justin Bartha as Bryan and David have so much chemistry and you can't help but love them and want good things for them. Georgia King plays Goldie their surrogate, a newly almost divorced woman who moves to LA to escape a crazy grandmother and cheating husband with her eight year old daughter, played by Bebe Wood. The entire cast is outstanding but it's Goldie's grandmother, who follows her to LA played by Ellen Barkin that steals the show.
I don't know how they got Ellen Barkin to do a tv show, and to be honest I don't really care, the point is, she is amazing in this role. She is a bigot, she is mean, she says whatever she thinks, she is pretty awful, but she is damn fun to watch. Barkin plays the role of Jane so well that even when she is saying and doing completely ridiculous things, you can't help but like her a little...ok, a lot.
The show is also written pretty flawlessly. Murphy and his co-creater Ali Adler have created a show that if watched by enough people could possibly (hopefully) incite social change. In one scene, David and Bryan are shopping at the mall for baby clothes and this causes some excitement and the exchange of a small kiss between the couple. A man with his wife and daughter witnesses the kiss and with disdain asks them not to kiss in front of his child. The scene is not surprising and reminds us that we have a long way to go in terms of equality, but the ability to see how it impacts David and Bryan is why this show is so important. To see how just one comment can cause so much pain and stress on two people who just want to love each other and be together, is eye opening and something people need to see.
Please watch this show, I wish there were more like it. The cast is outstanding, the writing is poignant and hilarious all at the same time and did I mention Ellen Barkin?!
Adler and Murphy have created something that is brilliantly funny while also portraying a healthy, functional relationship between two men, something that exists all over this country but not nearly enough on our televisions.
If this is "The New Normal" I'm all for it.
