THE New Normal — Page 4

This was re-run last night so I caught a few minutes of it AGAIN as I waited for the 10 O'Clock news. The conversation where the two gads (gay dads) blithely decided that the slightly less hideous looking one would provide the sperm was a new low for scripted television. I was ranting aloud at it's stupidity the first time I saw it and missed the REALLY odd looking one extort Mac & Cheese and smoothie out of his partner in exchange for his child's paternity.

Ryan is truly an awful writer and worse human being.

Love that little girl! Apparently, according to Andrew, the show wrote in the Little Edie impression that she could already do. She also helps Georgia (Goldie) with her American accent.

I found Rannells repellent, in almost exactly the same way I found Zachary Quinto repellent.

100% agreed. He's unsympathetic, which negates the plot. I don't even want this character to have a child, so what's the point of the show?

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But honestly, I find Rannells character 10x more likable than I ever found that disgusting caricature, Jack McFarland.

Maybe "repellent" was a little harsh.

I think over the years I've gotten tired of having to look past the c*nt to find the caring--in real life and on television. I just find people like that off-putting, not "fierce and fabulous," or whatever.

But I'll still check out another episode or two.

I really only objected to Jack or Karen when I was being asked to view them as vulnerable human beings.

Maybe this would work better for me if the couple were actually awful--a gay Patsy and Edina contemplating raising a child. But this show seems to want to have it both ways: "We're vacuous stereotypes, but wouldn't it be lovely if we brought a child into the world?" And I found myself mostly shrugging.

Maybe I just mean I found everyone other than the main couple more interesting and appealing.

But as I said, there was enough to keep my interest for two back-to-back episodes. I'll definitely be curious to see where it goes.

Especially if they are skinny, blonde and don't cry!

Jack and Karen only got to me in the later years when the original writers left--they became over the top caricatures (yes, even more than originally) who seemed like they were on a different show--joking about people having STDs, etc.

But W&G was still a traditional sitcom, this show wants to be something more IMHO.

My problem with the character of Bryan is nearly everything we see about him is SOOO superficial and cliche and borderline mean. And then Ryan throws in ONE random scene per episode it seems (this week was his random talk about how much he actually does like SHania and sees her as special), and thinks that that random 2 min scene will show us the heart behind the character. For me, it's not enough. I mean we've been told that the reason he's with his partner is because he was stood up at the bar one night and then finally saw that he had nice eyes, and because he's rich and makes mac and cheese for him (in other words it seems like maybe he realizes nobody else could stand living with him all day long).

"Maybe this would work better for me if the couple were actually awful--a gay Patsy and Edina contemplating raising a child. But this show seems to want to have it both ways: "We're vacuous stereotypes, but wouldn't it be lovely if we brought a child into the world?" And I found myself mostly shrugging. "

Exactly, and to different degrees, this is exactly the problem with all of Ryan Murphy's shows. He thinks he can have it both ways--like, as mentioned how on an episode of Glee about tolerance he'll spend half the episodes mocking every Jewish and fat stereotype there is, only to have one final scene telling us why that's wrong.

"We're at an interesting point in the portrayal of gay people in pop culture. We're not close to a point where the full spectrum of LGBT life is represented on television, but white gay men are closer than anyone else in the bunch. From gay teen couple Kurt and Blaine on Glee, to Revenge's soulful tech genius Nolan, to parents Mitch and Cam on Modern Family, to Ian Gallagher on Shameless, white gay men have their stories told across the class spectrum, across career ambitions, and across life stages. It would be awfully nice if truly powerful creators like Murphy, with a level of clout that would have been unimaginable a generation ago, could remember what it felt like when there were fewer gay men on television, and fewer kinds of stories about gay men available. If Murphy wants to be considered a real hero for gay representation in media, he might consider using his success to open more doors, particularly in a show that's supposed to be about presenting a new and more tolerant vision of the family to America."

To quote my learned colleague from 'Follies':^^^All of this^^^

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That post is brilliant, thank you for posting it. I am sure that Murphy would reply that he has Santana and Britney as a "healthy" lesbian couple, but her point stands. My only disagreement is I don't really see all that much diversity in the way Murphy shows gay men (or, frankly, how they're shown on TV, especially network tv), anyway, but...

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