FIRST LOOK: 'The New Normal'

We just saw this image via BroadwayWorld from Ryan Murphy's new show, The New Normal, which has been picked up by NBC, according to Deadline.com, and we had to share. Yes, that means Murphy has a show on Fox (Glee), a show on FX (American Horror Story), and now on NBC starting this fall. The empire grows...

The show stars Justin Bartha (Hangover) and Andrew Rannells (Book of Mormon) as a gay couple who form a family with a surrogate. You may not have to wait as long as you thought: NBC is considering an August 2012 release, right after the Summer Olympics. One of our faves, Tony-winner Ellen Barkin, is set to costar, alongside, umm, NeNe Leakes.

Glee writer Ali Adler is on board to write for the show, so we wonder what sort of tone this will set. But we're sure, with Murphy, we won't have to worry about the stupidity of ABC's Man Up, despite the silliness of this promo shot.

As I wrote earlier, the fact The New Normal is about "a gay couple and the female surrogate who will carry their baby may be a way to balance out that pathological trail of discarded characters." And with all the discussion of same-sex marriage in the news, in politics and on TV, it's about time we might get some weird, Murphy-subversive cheeseball humor around the whole shebang.