Ryan Murphy believes his NBC comedy The
New Normal has helped “change the world in a weird way.”
Murphy joined the cast and crew of the
show on the PaleyFest stage on Wednesday. The discussion was
moderated by John Stamos, who plays a recurring role on the show.
Murphy, whose credits also include
Glee, American Horror Story and Nip/Tuck,
acknowledged that the show is loosely based on his own experience as
a gay man attempting to start a family with his now-husband David.
“It's very loosely, I have to say
that, based,” Murphy said. “Obviously, Andrew plays a
showrunner, he does a show called Sing, so there's some
similarities. … It's inspired by events and people and some things
are undeniable. But in no way is it exactly the same.”
In the show, Bryan (played by Andrew
Rannells) and David (Justin Bartha) hire Goldie (Georgia King) to be
their child's surrogate mother.
Murphy said the show's season finale
would include the birth of the couple's son, a wedding and “an
entire act with no dialog.”
He noted that the series has helped
“change people's minds about gay rights.”
“The New Normal, Modern Family,
Glee … people feel that they know gay couples more than ever,”
Murphy said. “If you know someone and you know what their struggle
is, you're less likely to have prejudice against them. [Gay rights]
is [the] biggest civil rights movement of our time and the reason
that that has had the quick leap forward is because of TV.”
“So we had our final season table
read this week. And I said to all these wonderful actors, we did a
great thing. You're not just entertained but you kind of helped
change the world in a weird way. And that is a very wonderful,
rewarding thing to feel that you contributed to.
The New Normal returns with new
episodes on April 2.