By DUNCAN ST THIBAULT
“The New Normal” touched on a laundry list of topical subjects on last night’s episode, called “Obama Mama.” The show— about two gay men trying to have a baby through a surrogate—went through the World Tour of social and political issues, including abortion rights, racism, religion, marriage equality, health care, and the candidates for president.
Executive Producer Ryan Murphy (“Nip/Tuck,” “Glee”) said, “You have two clearly gay liberal guys at the heart of the show. But we all thought it would be great to do an episode where we presented…the conservative point of view, the Republican point of view, in a way that hopefully was as eloquent.”
The show, which airs Tuesday nights at 9:30 p.m., is based on Murphy’s real life experiences as a gay TV producer exploring surrogacy with his partner. “One of the fun things about this show is the ability I have to send myself up. I like to make fun of myself and to skewer what people think of me,” he added. NBC’s Salt Lake City affiliate, which is owned by the Mormon Church, announced in August that it would not broadcast “The New Normal,” which it believes is “inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time.” The program gets an average audience of 6.4 million viewers, and is particularly popular with 25 to 54 year-old women, NBC saiys.
Paris Hilton Dumped From Doc Over Gay Remarks
Famous-for-being-famous Paris Hilton has at least twice (officially) apoligized for questionable comments about (some) gay men during a taxi ride in which her conversation was secretly recorded. (By the way—has anyone called the cabbie a s***bag for invading La Hilton’s privacy?)
On Sept. 7, Hilton, 31, was riding in a Big Apple cab with two friends, at which time she is alleged to have burbled (as part of a convo about gay hookup site/ app Grindr), “Gay guys are the horniest people in the world,” and then added, “They’re disgusting. Dude, most of them probably have AIDS.” (A full listening of the convo lends credibility to the theory that PH was referring to some of the people on hookup sites—and not all gay men.) The hotel heiress posted an apology on GLAAD’s Web site, calling gays “the strongest and most inspiring people I know.” But LGBT-targeted cable channel Logo has responded by shutting down the broadcast of a documentary about Hilton that was scheduled to air. At least one person has stepped into Paris’ corner over the controversy:
Bombastic Bi author Bret Easton Ellis tweeted his concurrence: “I kind of agree with Paris Hilton,” he wrote, adding that she “isn’t that far off.
