THE New Normal- Page 14

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 4:29pm

Oh...those Brokeback days. Let's just say that PalJoey is lucky I'm a borderline alcoholic, otherwise he would have ended up with a martini in his face.

But I just adore him now!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 4:51pm

LOL apparently I missed out on a lot of fun on here during the classic years... :P

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 5:02pm

You can throw a martini in my face any time you want, as long as you promise to do it in public and lick it off as it drips.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 5:07pm

Bitch...we did that once before...but it wasn't a martini. I will NOT be tricked into doing that again!

Oh...the heady days of the mid-Aughties. Good times, kids. Good times.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 5:37pm

Boy, those Brokeback days were pretty heated. I seem to remember the anti-Brokeback folk felt there was too much victimization of the characters or something like that. I loved it, but whatevs. We all moved on and IT TOTALLY SHOULD HAVE WON BEST PICTURE! GOD!!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 5:40pm

I watched it again a few weeks ago for the first time in quite a while and it really does hold up as an outstanding and gorgeously made film.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 6:51pm

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 7:22pm

"I watched it again a few weeks ago for the first time in quite a while and it really does hold up as an outstanding and gorgeously made film."

I recently had the same reaction--I was kinda surprised at how well it did, though I'm not sure why I expected it might not.

ANd those Hunger Game/Murphy GIFs are priceless. Maybe he'll just keel over with exhaustion at some point (then again, seccubi tend to just keep going). I'm still waiting for some epic battle between him and Larry Kramer on the set of The Normal Heart when Murphy tries to insist on some re-writes...

[Wynbish]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 7:27pm

I feel like, for me, there's no middle ground with the show. Every other episode, it has been outrageous. This week, it was too tame and boring.

I did like, though, that the problem-of-the-week the guys were having seemed like a normal problem. It wasn't one of the other "We're having this problem only because we're gay" problems from earlier episodes. I'm curious to see Bryan's mom.

And it seemed that Nana and the guys got along better (which may have added to it being a bit boring). Her blow-up at the dinner at the house seemed like displaced frustration.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 7:37pm

Right but as with any Ryan Murphy show, a characters actions one week have absolutely no bearing on how they'll be next week.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 7:41pm

That may be true now, but I don't feel that way about Nip/Tuck. Granted, the show didn't end well at all.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 8:22pm

I thought Nip/Tuck had a strong 2, maybe 3 seasons. But one thing about that show is it was set in such a heightened gothic reality, that when a character did a shocking turn, it made some kind of sense (to some extent, I feel that element works better on American Horror Story as well--when Murphy tries setting his stuff in any sort of reality--it doesn't). And even early on there were built up stories that were completely dropped--like the son running over that girl.

Then it kinda got too nutso, and drawn out (I think around the time, after two seasons, the Carver rapist/killer was revealed to be a man with no penis who we had seen naked--I prob have the details wrong, but). The cast even spoke out in Ent Weekly about how much they basically hated season 4, and nothing about their character motivations seemed to make any sense so it was very frustrating--though the article was about how Season 5 would be a return to the early seasons, it basically was beyond saving. Murphy even admitted he created the show at first when FX turned down a different show, and asked him for a mature drama about a family in an odd business, with some twists much like Six Feet Under *coff*.

At least that's my take. I also admit I found the later seasons just way too mean spirited, but that's a personal thing, I guess.

But I agree with Jordan--at this point anyway, characters in his writing will say one thing one episode and then it's like they never even said it as they say the opposite the next week. But if anything Murphy's problems with doing a continuing show do seem to get worse as his ego (and, to be fair, his plateload) grows.

I also found this episode kinda boring--nothing really seemed to happen, although more and more they seem to be giving up on the side characters (did NeNe's character even make an appearance?)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 8:25pm

But he's always been like that. One of my all-time favorite shows is POPULAR which aired in 1998 and was exactly the same way.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 8:33pm

I miss and get angry about Popular. I slightly get why he ended it like that, but damn it, how dare he end it like that.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 9:29pm

I admit, even the second season of Popular started to lose me, though it was still pretty good (up till the ending) and I *loved* season one. I know that he had issues on the show with his co-creator/co-headwriter (and that she hasn't been involved with his later shows where he seems to work more with people who bow done to his word).

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 9:38pm

The New Normal can *really* hold people's attention!

[capnkidd]

Posted: 10/4/12 at 10:06am

"Right but as with any Ryan Murphy show, a characters actions one week have absolutely no bearing on how they'll be next week. "

Yep. Like pod people.

[myprettycabinet]

Posted: 10/7/12 at 12:33am

OMG. Where have you guys been my whole life (or rather, since around the time Glee started)??

Until now, I had been unable to find a single person to discuss Ryan Murphy's inability/sporadic ability to write. I've read through a good portion of this thread and I just want to say "hi" and introduce myself, cuz I'll probably stick around: I'm Jamie, 26 - musical theatre nerd, singer, longlonglongtime South Park fan, medium-time Book of Mormon fan.

Now, I've watched Glee from the start, hated it almost as long, yet I could never get myself to leave it. What I hate about it is, as I've come to learn, everything that Ryan Murphy is responsible for. Because of this knowledge, when I saw The New Normal promo back in May, I was really excited for it UNTIL it said, "FROM THE CREATOR OF GLEE - RYAN MURPHY!" after which I swore I'd never watch it...Cue me, finally listening to The Book of Mormon and falling in love with it and everyone involved, i.e. Andrew Rannells. I come to find out that Andrew is gonna be in a new TV SHOW!! Oh...that one that I swore I'd never watch. F*CK. So, I've been watching, and AT LEAST, Andrew and Justin make the show bearable (very much like how Kurt and his dad on Glee are the only "bearable" things on that show) because the actors have chemistry and are great at making these ridiculous caricatures as realistic as possible without actually rewriting them. I won't go into what I don't like, as I know you all agree, and I'd just be regurgitating the same things, just probably not as eloquently.

One thing I've been thinking about: I feel like actors who associate with Ryan Murphy are akin to actors who are members of the Church of Scientology - people that seem totally normal, that I/we like and are actually good or smart or cool or whatever, who then turn out to be Scientologists, and there's this disconnect with how they can believe such bull**** yet be in the profession that they're in. And like with the Scientologist/decent actor, Giovanni Ribisi, I find myself making excuses for Ryan Murphy-actors, like Jane Lynch & Ellen Barkin. Both are big advocates for the LGBTQ community, Barkin tweets all the time about equality, etc, and both seem to honestly believe they're doing good by playing these horribly bigoted & racist women that Murphy writes, seemingly just for the hell of it.

Sorry, I'm all over the place, I'm just really super stoked to be able to discuss all this with you guys!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/7/12 at 12:41am

I wouldn't go so far as to say all actors associated with Scientology are good, some of them are. Almost none of them is smart.

[myprettycabinet]

Posted: 10/7/12 at 12:45am

Yeah, no, I realized that once I posted it, but I guess what I'm thinking of is how they're not detestable people, sometimes even likeable and don't seem to be messed up in any OTHER way.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 10/7/12 at 12:45am

Bada-bing!

Welcome to the board, myprettycabinet.

[myprettycabinet]

Posted: 10/7/12 at 12:48am

Thanks!

Posted: 10/8/12 at 3:58pm

George Takei and Marlo Thomas are upcoming guest stars? I hope they play someone's parents! IF they were his parents that would explain his not-at-all-weird-looking face.
I don't know why I can't get THAT GIRL to pop up here!


Updated On: 10/8/12 at 03:58 PM

[myprettycabinet]

Posted: 10/9/12 at 8:28pm

From InStyle:

Bryan (Andrew Rannells) the bridezilla? On tonight's episode of The New Normal, nine-year-old Shania (Bebe Wood) and her classmate decide to have a pretend wedding (complete with a Ring Pop proposal), and Bryan gets straight to work on planning the biggest bash of the season. Faux wedding or not, he's still including an assortment of pastel cake pops. With all this marriage talk, will David (Justin Bartha) and Bryan hear wedding bells in the near future? Tune in tonight at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.

I predict, 1. Bryan's eyes watering or full-on crying about wanting to be able to get married, 2. Shania freaking out last second about getting fake married - a la Runaway Bride, and 3. David telling Bryan that he's going way over the top with this fake wedding.




Tonight We're Watching: The New Normal Updated On: 10/9/12 at 08:28 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/9/12 at 10:15pm

I keep checking in and keep being disappointed. I confess I couldn't get through the "Nanagasm" episode.

But I want to like it. I genuinely want it to get better.