The NBC television affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah — which is owned by the Mormon Church — said it will not air a new gay-themed sitcom, calling it “inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time.”
KSL-TV said it would not broadcast the upcoming series “The New Normal,” when it premiers this fall on NBC. The series, from Emmy Award winning producer/director Ryan Murphy (“Glee,” “American Horror Story,” and “Nip/Tuck”), centers on a single mother’s life as she becomes a surrogate for a gay couple.
But after viewing the pilot episode of “The New Normal,” Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL-TV parent company Bonneville International, said the decision had been made “to keep it off our fall schedule.” Bonneville International is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“From time to time we may struggle with content that crosses the line in one area or another,” said Simpson. “The dialogue might be excessively rude and crude. The scenes may be too explicit or the characterizations might seem offensive.”
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Simpson cited “crude dialogue, explicit content and offensive characterizations” as the main reasons why KSL-TV would not air “The New Normal” when it premiers Sept. 11.
KSL previously refused to broadcast the shortlived NBC drama “The Playboy Club,” and has also blacked out “Saturday Night Live” and the 2003 series “Coupling.”
Despite the KSL-TV balckout, however, Utahns will still have a chance to see “The New Normal.”
Matt Jacquint, general manager of KUCW-TV and KTVX-TV, said he will air “The New Normal” on weekends on KUCW, Channel 30. “We’re looking for a time slot right now,” he said.
KUCW also carries NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” broadcasts.
A preview of the show is here:
Last month, One Million Moms (OMM), denounced “The New Normal,” and said NBC “is using public airwaves to continue to subject families to the decay of morals and values, and the sanctity of marriage in attempting to redefine marriage,”
OMM, a project of the anti-gay hate group American Family Association (whose spokesperson is Bryan Fischer), called the series “damaging to our culture.”
“Millions of Americans strongly believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman. NBC’s “The New Normal” is attempting to desensitize America and our children. It is the opposite of how families are designed and created. You cannot recreate the biological wheel,” OMM said on its website.
