NBC affiliate KSL in Salt Lake City, Utah, won’t air The New Normal, a new sitcom about two gay dads and their surrogate, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. Bonneville CEO Jeff Simpson, CEO of the station’s parent company, Bonneville International, told the Tribune that “For our brand, this program feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time.”
Bonneville is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Competing stations KUCW and KTVX will run the show, which premieres September 11.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has issued an invitation to Simpson to sit down with them and local LGBT families. And The New Normal star Ellen Barkin tweeted:
Shame on u @kslcom not airing @NBCTheNewNormal So L&O SVU (rape & child murder) is ok? But loving gay couple having a baby is inappropriate?
Indeed.
Here are my initial impressions and questions about the show, based on the little information available.
In other LGBT parenting television news, ABC has given the green light to the Jennifer Lopez-produced pilot of The Fosters, a show about two lesbian moms, which I mentioned a few months ago.