The New Normal

:

Season 1
  • Network: NBC
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 10, 2012
User Score
6.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 121 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 74 out of 121
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 121
  3. Negative: 32 out of 121
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User Reviews

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  1. metabad
    Sep 14, 2012
    6
    If I had to judge this show by its first episode, I would have told you: Stay away!
    It felt like they took the gay couple from "Modern Family" and made them not funny and shallow. Then they took Charlie's and Allen's mother from "Two and a half men" and made her even more terrible and racist, too.
    The setup of the show is this: We have the gay couple who decide they want to have a    If I had to judge this show by its first episode, I would have told you: Stay away!
    It felt like they took the gay couple from "Modern Family" and made them not funny and shallow. Then they took Charlie's and Allen's mother from "Two and a half men" and made her even more terrible and racist, too.
    The setup of the show is this: We have the gay couple who decide they want to have a baby.
    They meet a very likable young woman with a sweet, bright daughter and her bigot, racist grandmother, played by Ellen Barkin.
    Since the young mother left her husband and doesn't want to be financially dependent on her terrible grandmother, she agrees to be become the surrogate mother for the gay couple's child.

    The "humor" of first episode relied almost exclusively on racist remarks by the surrogate's grandmother.
    Her character is one note and the show will soon grow tedious and annoying with her at the comedic center. The rest of the cast provided almost no comedy.
    But watching the second episode, I was pleasantly surprised. They gave the grandmother less screen time and only half of it consisted of racist remarks.
    The surrogate mother's daughter was wonderful and funny and we got more comedic moments by friends of the gay couple, the latter being more likable and funny this time.
    I laughed several times during the second episode, something I couldn't say about the first one.
    So either the first episode was a misstep or they work to make the show better.
    Giving the show the benefit of doubt and hoping it will improve more I'll tentatively give it a thumbs up.    … Expand
  2. SwarleyStinson
    Oct 20, 2012
    4
    It can be funny at times but mostly it is just political preaching about homophobia and stuff. There was even an episode about the election. This kind of stuff just should not be in a sitcom.

Awards & Rankings

81
#81 Best TV Season of 2012
20
#20 Most Discussed TV Season of 2012
13
#13 Most Shared TV Season of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
61

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 32
  3. Negative: 3 out of 32
  1. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Dorothy Rabinowitz
    Sep 14, 2012
    30
    The problem is--as is ever the case in sitcoms with no future, and this is one of them--vapid writing and characters drawn according to formula.
    Read full review
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Lori Rackl
    Sep 12, 2012
    88
    [A] witty-but-poignant look at what it means to be a modern family.
    Read full review
  3. Denver Post
    Reviewed by: Joanne Ostrow
    Sep 11, 2012
    80
    A little bit screechy, a little bit preachy, NBC's The New Normal is nonetheless the best comedy of the season--a season short on innovative comedies.
    Read full review
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