There's a lot of things I used to believe I wouldn't see in my lifetime. Things that have happened in my lifetime. As a child growing up in the 70's I never thought I would see the Berlin Wall fall, the U.S.S.R. dissolve, being openly gay in the military, an African American becoming president, and gay marriage (at least for a short time in California). This week, a new show premieres on NBC, called "The New Normal", a show about a gay couple that want to have a child through surrogacy. For those of you that may not have seen it, this isn't the first attempt to put surrogacy on prime time. Ming Na starred in a very short-lived series called "Inconceivable", a medical drama about a surrogacy firm, that helped gay couples become parents (patterned after the surrogacy firm we used).
"The New Normal" is supposed to be a comedy, which doesn't at first glance seem to bode well for such a serious topic. And the surprise here, for me anyway, is that the topic is the experience I've tried to document in this blog, about the process of becoming a parent as a gay couple. I was a little taken aback at how lightly some of the very serious topics were played in the pilot episode. It was a very heart wrenching process for us, to select an egg donor, and to have it played as joke just seemed wrong. I think also the Ellen Barkin character while, she does show how bigoted, homophobic, and racist people can be, isn't as funny as they want her to be, and I found too many of the scenes contrived just to show her as bigoted, homophobic or racist.
But the good news is by the second episode, they were able to breathe a little bit of life into the characters. They're still a little single dimensional, but it's improving, and I might actually like some of them by the third or fourth episode. The challenge will be to keep a mainstream audience interested for that long.
But as I said when I started this blog article, there are certain things I didn't think I'd see in my lifetime. A show that actually shows what I went through in my life to become a parent was certainly one of them.
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2 comments:
I didn't know where I should leave this comment. Firstly I wanted to thank you for the detailed explanation of a chinese funeral - yes I found you from searching on the net for this info as we are in the process of organising my father's funeral. But I've also gone back onto a few more of your older posts and read about the final days with your mum. My dad died from cancer as well and I'm currently feeling so lost and while I'm not particularly religious, knowing that my father believed there is more to life after death makes me feel that going through the process of organising his funeral means something for him and my mum.
I'm also going through your posts about parenthood as my husband (also coincidentally named Lars)and I are trying for a baby. My only regret is that my father won't get the opportunity to meet our future child.
@Lien, you're very welcome, I'm so sorry for your loss, and good luck with your attempts at parenthood.
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