One Season Wonder: The New Normal

The New Normal was a show that faced its share of controversy. While the characters seem to be the unconventional type, the show's plot revolves around the joys and pains of parenthood, from the journey to becoming one until learning to let your child grow. The show revolves around unconventional set up of families, with the main focus on Bryan and David, a couple who are starting a family through surrogacy. While it never got renewed, it finished its season fittingly, tying up any loose ends and presenting the viewers with a happy ending.

Justin Bartha and Andrew Rannells plays Bryan and David, a couple in a committed relationship. After some time, they decided to have a family, and since they wanted it to be biologically theirs, they hired a surrogate to do it. Fortunately for them, Goldie offered to become their surrogate simply because she wanted to have a different experience and to be able to provide for her daughter. All her life she has been chained to a loveless relationship, and always under the patronage of her grandmother that she never got to experience anything for herself, nor to be the best kind of mother for her daughter. After that, they accepted Goldie and her daughter in their family, as the rest of the season narrates their excitement, thoughts and doubts as Goldie goes through the pregnancy. Adding to the story are Jane, Goldie's grandmother who moves to LA and Rocky, Bryan's assistant who also wants to be a mother.

It actually had a good story going on for them, particularly because it's not something that television tackles on an every day basis. They also had a good set of cast members, although Justin Bartha's character may have been the weakest, story-wise and character-wise. I guess it was some of the subplots that have jumped out of the story, making the show seem a bit off-putting, as it neither contributed nor added substance to the run of the show. The whole show was centered on Goldie's pregnancy, and how David and Bryan were adopting to the fact that they were about to be fathers. An inner factor of the show is it is about the unconventional setting of a family in all sense, but it doesn't mean that they're not meant to be a family, but it offers an alternative lifestyle to people that don't deem the conventional to be fit. Everyone has the right to have a family, and it is not for us to judge their choices, but rather to respect their decisions. 

The show chose to approach the subject in a light-hearted tone, and with the cast they had, it did just that. I think it would have been different if it was approached with a more dramatic tone, but what was nice about this is that it showed the good, happy side of things, with people having an open mind about the situation. The most entertaining character would have to be Rocky, played by NeNe Leakes. Her character has the most pizzaz and with her exterior comes an inner desire to be a mother, something that she doesn't show on her outside persona. Ellen Barkin also played an entertaining character, although I found her subplot with John Stamos quite off-putting. I would have pegged her character to go with a more refined man who would give her what she was looking for, not something similar to what she had lost. Georgia King who plays Goldie, disguised her accent very well, and her character shone compared to Bartha's. 

It's a show that ended its story in a good note, and by finishing the season (instead of cancelling midway), it was given an opportunity to do just that. It wasn't one of the best I've seen during the 2012-2013 run, but it was a show that I followed until the end. I wanted to see how it will turn out, and if given another season, it would have shown how David and Brian handled parenthood. However, I think that ending it with one season is perfect for the show. It would have been repetitive, and it would have been difficult to think of more subplots to keep the show running.