The New Normal
Series Premiere: Sept. 10, 10 p.m. (regularly Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m.), NBC
Showrunners: Ryan Murphy, Ali Adler
Stars: Justin Bartha, Andrew Rannells, Georgia King, Ellen Barkin, Nene Leakes, Bebe Wood
What it's about: In more of a dramedy format, gay couple Bryan (Rannells) and David (Bartha) set out to have a child. Their quest ultimately leads them to create an interesting family of their own, which includes assistant Rocky (Leakes) and surrogate Goldie (King), who totes along her own sweet 8-year-old daughter Shania (Wood) and gay-hating grandmother Jane (Barkin).
Bartha says: ''My first reaction was that The New Normal treated a gay couple in a realistic way. You saw an actual relationship with love and them talking about real issues. It wasn't a normal kind of sitcom that looks down on their characters or treats them as punch lines or set-ups.'' Tanner Stransky