It’s not exactly surprising news that NBC has given the greenlight to the pilot for New Normal - all signs pointed to yes for this project which has had plenty of buzz and has already tapped Book of Mormon star Andrew Rannells to appear in the pilot. The project was about as close to a “sure thing” as is ever seen in the competition for new pilot orders.
And the comedy pilot has in fact been given the go-ahead according to Deadline, which also speculated that this might be the final half hour order for NBC. The network has now given the greenlight to 13 comedy pilots including this one, which is a pretty strong indicator that they are close to done if not completely finished with this order. Since they had previously stated that they only planned to pick up 10-12 new half hour comedy pilots, the number 13 seems to have a lucky (or unlucky?) and rather final ring to it.
The New Normal follows the story of a gay couple who become involved with a surrogate in order to achieve the dream of parenthood. It was one of two possible pilots seeking the greenlight at NBC with a storyline that involves a gay couple as parents. The other pilot, which was expected to star Will & Grace’s Sean Hayes and was the brainchild of Peter Tolan of Rescue Me has apparently been dropped. Between the two, I have to say NBC made the right call – although Sean Hayes has been a icon for gay men on television, he’s a bit been-there-done-that and fresh blood is always a good thing.
