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SPOILER ALERT! NBC’s ‘The Office’ Finale 
It’s officially a go for NBC’s comedy project from the Glee duo of Ryan Murphy and Allison Adler. The network has given a pilot order to The New Normal, a single-camera project co-written by Glee co-creator Murphy and Adler and to be directed by Murphy, which might be the last half-hour to snag a pickup at NBC this season. The Book Of Mormon star Andrew Rannells is set for one of 3 leads in the project, a heartwarming comedy about a blended family of a gay couple and 
the woman who becomes a surrogate to help them start a family. The comedy had been as close to a sure thing as it could be since NBC landed the pitch in a three-way bidding war with penalty said to be bigger than any other commitment for a half-hour project this season. Murphy and Adler were still writing the first draft when NBC moved on to hire a casting director to explore options for the 3 leads. Rannells was tapped as one of them last week. 20th Century Fox TV is producing, with Murphy, Adler and Ryan Murphy Prods.’ Dante Di Loreto executive producing. The New Normal was one of 2 comedy projects about a gay couple with kids that NBC put in development this season, along with a half-hour written by Peter Tolan starring Sean Hayes. I hear that one is not going forward. Meanwhile, the elementary school comedy from Alan Schoolcraft, Brent Simons and Will Gluck, which had a production commitment, has put preliminary casting on hold and is expected to be revisited in June. The order for The New Normal brings the number of NBC comedy pilots picked up so far to 13. NBC brass had said that they were looking to pick up 10-12 half-hour pilots, so this might be it for the network this year.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Well, this should dispell all those crazy notions from conservatives that Hollywood is radically left wing!
What an ignorant comment.
Yeah. Ignorant. There’s not a shred of truth in that assertion or evidence to back it up. The networks are all corporate-owned and are therefore by definition RIGHT WING, aren’t they…? Aren’t they…?
So, NBC? Not particularly left wing in the least.
You clearly have no clue what your talking about. Take that crap to the drudge report, were it belongs. On another note, that is the creepiest picture of Andrew Rannells ever.
I can’t wait until radical conservative groups freak out over the title of this show.
sorry but this does not sound like a concept with wide mainstream appeal
NBC so is so off this year in their strange choices and unprofessional behavior. It’s inexplicable unless they want to lose friends and alienate people.
Sounds like a Modern Family rip off.
My thoughts exactly! I look forward to it’s early cancellation.
Wait because Modern Family has a gay couple there can’t be another on tv? I love Modern Family and who knows about this show, but if there isn’t’ room for two it’s kind of disappointing. Can nobody else be heavy with Mike and Molly on the air?
It’s not only having another gay couple on a 30 minute single-camera comedy that draws the comparison to Modern Family. It’s the name of the show too. ‘The New Normal’?? Really??? That’s just another way of saying ‘Modern Family’.
Yes, because Modern Family is the only show allowed to have a gay couple. Also, not being sarcastic, but Cam and Mitch already had Lily when the show started, yes?
@SMR
Not really radically left wing when more than half the country is on Murphy’s side on this one… but I get what you mean. I welcome influx of comments from outside-industry Drudge Report readers!
NBC’s commitment to single-camera is kind of sweet if misguided. It’s like they still have no idea that their brand is still “Friends” and “Seinfeld” (their only single-camera hit is “The Office”) and that you cannot duplicate “Friends” in a single-cam format. At least this one has the excuse of being an attempt to mimic the success of “Modern Family.”
Commitment? Your comment is confusing, seeing as they also have Whitney, Chelsea, among others that use multi-cam…
Oh silly me. I always forget that redefining marriage isn’t a radical concept.
If you’re worried that two men marrying each will redefine someone else’s marriage, possibly including your own, then your marriage is very insecure. The only people that can define a marriage are the two people in it. Blaming someone else is an excuse so you don’t have to blame yourselves for your own marital problems. Get over it.
Oh silly WNNNNNNNNNNNBC when will you ever learn and stop being so derivative?
NBC is smart to be in business with Ryan Murphy. Congrats to all Allison Alder.
Why not just call it “1/3 Modern Family?”
Let me get this straight…a single-camera sitcom from Ryan Murphy (who’s never done a sitcom before) from a so-so writer who has yet to deliver a laugh-out-loud script, in a show starring an actor that “America” knows nothing about —– vs. —– a traditional NBC multi-camera sitcom (which they’re lacking in) from a writer who’s credits include “Murphy Brown”, “The Larry Sanders Show” and “Rescue Me” (all enormous TV hits with smart comedy writing) and from producers of “Hot In Cleveland” (which launched TV-Land with numbers bigger than most network shows) and NBC’s only hit show this season “Grimm” (Sean Hayes & Todd Milliner) and starring the multi-Emmy award-winning Sean Hayes of the last great sitcom, “Will & Grace” – and NBC chooses the Ryan Murphy project. Mr. Greenblatt, you are setting up to fail and kill what could have been the great comedy comeback for NBC, starring an actor who is already a proven product and success for NBC. Shame on you.
A+ comment. This show is going to crash and burn.
Really? Have you read the drafts? Were you there for the pitches? Have you seen the budgets?
It astounds me how so many narrow-minded, ignorant people get on sites like this and are quick to slam and abuse things that they actually know very little about. I applaud and salute the positive open-minded people who will not judge until they have either got all their facts or, in this case, actually seen the finished product.
We humans are a stupid species sometimes. No wonder we have wars.
And you call yourself the voice of reason. Shame on you.
…and so GLEE was to NIP/TUCK and AMERICAN HORROR STORY was to GLEE: the death knell for AHS will sound a lot like NEW NORMAL…a fitting title for the man who time and again sells a show with a bit of promise and immediately discards it to work on the next new project. Too bad he can’t plot more that a half season worth of material for a series before becoming bored and handing off the reigns… ‘new normal’ indeed…
VERY happy for Andrew.
I agree – Andrew is a huge talent! Have seen Book of Mormon twice and he is just astounding. Congrats to him and the talented Ryan Murphy and team…
Tyler- is that a sarcastic comment on groupthink or do you actually believe it? Hard to tell.
Gay people have kids. It happens all the time. In fact it has been going on for a very, very long time. That television is trying to turn what is arguably a rather banal existence into comedy fodder is hardly news. Boring straight lives have been getting that treatment for decades – just about every sitcom ever made comes to mind. So they try this gay twist. And what happens?? All you phobes/cons out there get all smarmy about it because of the set-up. Big deal. It will probably be awful. Or not. It is all your reactions that speak more to the state of your own enlightenment than whether this show is ever aired. I am amazed that in this day and age there are still people out there that feel so put out that gay people just want to live normal, unremarkable lives, just like anybody else – yet because they have the audacity to do so openly y’all feel the need to carp and snipe. You are pathetically small minded. I just pray you figure out how to make peace with reality before one of your kids – or someone else you love – comes out of the closet after having listened to your comments for years. Because you are going to feel like crap. Grow up, already.
Gay people don’t HAVE kids. They adopt kids or acquire them through science. Gay families will NEVER be the new normal as much as Hollywood and Ryan Murphy try to imply it.
I think you took the meaning of HAVE a little too literally there @Kathy’sclown. And probably because you were so high up there on your high horse, you couldn’t read the comment properly due to lack of oxygen to your brain. Gay families will never become the norm simply because the sheer numbers will not support it. BUT they will become accepted (and really, that’s all anyone really wants – not to take over your heterosexual lives) once bigotry, ignorance and hatred like yours is wiped out.
Ali deserves this. She’s a great, hard working and very talented writer.
I thought that it was announced this week that the principal cast of “The Book of Mormon”, including Andrew Rannells, extended their contracts until February 2013.
I think TV needs new, groundbreaking shows like this. The concept is really good. The lead actor sounds amazing from his work so far (New HBO series ‘Girls’ and star of the 9 Tony award winner Broadway hit ‘The Book of Mormon’) and I’m extremely happy for him.
Though, the fact that Ryan Murphy is leading it makes me nervous…
Tiani, you obviously aren’t biased or anything…
NBC looking to slide further down the ratings scale.
Let’s see.
America is 2% gay, 3% bi, 20% liberal.
So that’s 75% of the population this show will not appeal to.
Guaranteed WINNER!
Yes. Just like that little known show Will and Grace wasn’t a winner.
Straight white males are all but forgotten by Hollywood
I am a Ryan Murphy fan but I realize now his shows are good for a season or two and then fall off drastically. I watched every episode of nip/tuck so I have earned the right to say that.
Straight white males have Two and a Half Men. That’s their burden to bear.
Well OK by me 16 episodes and out. If Hollyweird wants to flush more money down the toilet go ahead. Or are they going to subsidize another show with no viewers like 30 Rock to be PC?
How is Rannells going to work on this show and BOM at the same time?
They make it work. He’ll take holidays to shoot the pilot like Sutton Foster did with her pilot she shot recently during Anything Goes. Then if it gets picked up, he’ll shoot during the day and do the show in the evening. Which Christian Borle is probably going to do with Smash while he’s in Peter and the Starcatchers.
Where is the thumbs down for this show!! #ugh