The New Normal "Pilot" Review

The New Normal is a series created by Ryan Murphy and Ali Adler. Murphy's never been more popular than he is now, as the creator of Glee and American Horror Story. Previously, Murphy created Popular and Nip/Tuck. Adler's had a less illustrious career than Murphy. She's written for a bunch of series. Her low point was ABC's No Ordinary Family. Last season she worked on Glee with Ryan Murphy. Now, the two made a show together. The New Normal's apropos for 2012, especially just a short time after the Chic-Fil-A controversy. Murphy and Adler want to tell a story about two gay men who want to have a kid together, and their struggle is finding a mother who's willing to do that for a gay couple, plus, society's reaction to their decision.

Murphy and Adler go for broke in the "Pilot." The premise, the character's motivations and sexuality, and their arguments for "the new normal" are introduced in sweeping fashion. At times the "Pilot" resembles a PSA; it resembles a PSA most glaringly during a playground montage. The episode abruptly cuts from the two male leads conversing on a bench to three individuals who defined 'the new normal.' First of whom is a former prostitute who had a children when she found herself, and she's middle-aged; the second part introduces two deaf parents who didn't let that affect their decision to raise a family; the third is a dwarf who wouldn't let that prevent her from raising a daughter and taking her to the playground. Bryan assures his partner, David, that they'll be able to raise a happy child, that what they're doing is the new normal.

Ellen Barkin's Nana is the antagonist of the show. Nana represents a certain segment of the American population, the types of people who lined up outside of Chic-Fil-A to support the company's anti-gay marriage stance. The character is a bigot and a racist. When she sees a lesbian couple with a baby, she mistakes the women for men because of their appearance and dismisses their existence because of their sexuality. Goldie, the heroine of the show, weakly supports the couple. Nana turns her tongue on her daughter and lashes her for getting pregnant earlier and ruining her life, with Goldie's daughter listening in the back seat. Goldie's being driven to a waitress job during the exchange and realizes she forgot her name tag. Goldie returns to her apartment to retrieve the pin, only to find her boyfriend sleeping with someone else just six minutes after she left. Between her nasty mother and scum bag ex-boyfriend, and the realization that she forgot how to dream or want anything, Goldie's motivated to change her life and dream again. Nana enters her daughter's home to confront the scum bag about what he did. Goldie takes her daughter to the City of Angels.

The story begins in Los Angeles. Like many new shows, the voice of one of the main characters cuts in early to tell the viewer that he or she will need to know more to understand what they've just seen. Do viewers really need the writers to use that technique? While I knew the entire 'Pilot' from a 4 minute NBC trailer, the majority of America probably didn't watch the 4 minute trailer. Many potential viewers might've seen an ad or poster while watching the news or sports or going to work on the bus or train. One could figure out the premise from a poster, and definitely from a television ad. Pilots feel like a formality. The New Normal is a premise pilot made unnecessary by NBC's expensive marketing campaign.

Goldie, Bryan and David meet, bond, and devote their lives to each other quickly. Goldie and the men don't meet until halfway through the second act. By the end of the episode, Goldie's awaiting to see whether or not she's pregnant. Bryan and David already committed to getting her through law school for being their surrogate. The first act is basically a PSA, the second act brings together the main characters, and the third act cements them as family and ends on a cliffhanger so people tune in tomorrow night for the results of the pregnancy test.

The beats of the episode are neat; it's a well-well pilot, but Murphy and Adler wanted so much to happen by episode's end that it all felt a bit rushed. And, of course, the jokes are absent. Goldie looks like a sad puppy until she sees her lawyer outfit. Bryan makes some pop-culture cracks. Justin Bartha's David is about as interesting as Justin Bartha's character in The Hangover. An audience definitely exists for The New Normal; any Ryan Murphy fanatic will probably like it. It has the same style as Glee. The pace is fast. The musical cues are essentially lifted from Glee. Bryan's sort of like Kurt if Kurt happened to live in LA and work as...something (the pilot didn't define Bryan's position, but he has an assistant played by the amusing NeNe Leakes.)

The second episode airs tomorrow night. I'm sort of interested in where the story proceeds from the pilot onwards. I have a decent idea about the future of the series. I'm not a fan of Ryan Murphy shows, and I tend to expect the worst from any writer who worked for Feldman on No Ordinary Family (sorry, Ms. Adler). The "Pilot" is a harmlessly fine episode of TV. It was basically all over the place, but whatever. I hope you didn't expect to laugh, because you probably didn't.

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