Andrew Rannells (from left), Justin Bartha, Bebe Wood and Georgia King in “The New Normal.” (Trae Patton/NBC)
While some of the jokes are so heavy handed they could have been delivered by Mike Tyson, NBC’s “The New Normal” is, well, normally pretty darned good.
The series is the brainchild of the people behind “Glee” and “American Horror Story,” and like “Glee” it pushes a heavy gay agenda, and like “Horror” it’s got a baby boomer-aged actress acting like a bigot.
But unlike both of those shows, the cast is just a delight, and they play the kinds of folks you want to move in with for a while.
The series centers around loving couple, fussy Bryan (Andrew Rannells) and football-fan OB-GYN David (Justin Bartha).
The guys have decided that their relationship has reached a point in which it’s just time to conceive and have a baby.
Thing is two men can’t conceive (not yet anyway!), and so they hire Goldie (a delightful Georgia King), a young mom who has just found her dopey husband cheating.
Goldie has a dream to do something with her life and so decides to make some big dough as a surrogate. (The egg donor — not the same as the surrogate — was a Gwyneth Paltrow-look-alike played by Paltrow.)
Into the mix comes Ellen Barkin as Goldie’s chic and very homophobic, realtor grandmother who is, to paraphrase Charles Dickens, given the best of lines and the worst of lines.
Then, there’s Goldie’s smart alecky prodigy of a kid, Shania (Bebe Wood), who is the love of her life and a funny, adorable kid to boot.
Funny as hell, too, is NeNe Leakes as Rocky, a drag queen.
The best part of the show is the cast, because aside from two men and a baby plot line, the setup is pretty conventional even though it’s based on an unconventional — or it used to be, anyway — idea.
The worst part of the show is the over-the-top dialogue, especially when the writers decide that everyone must only speak in one-liners.
“The New Normal” finds its game when it’s funny without trying so hard and sweet when it should be. At times “Normal” is so touching you might pull out a tissue, or maybe a diaper.