Goodman's new show hardly 'Normal'

By Ryan Blay

Daily Arts Writer

Perhaps along with the presidential elections, we should elect new television executives every four years. That would go a long way toward stopping the stale schlock currently being produced under buzzwords like "interesting" and "innovative", which "Normal, Ohio" certainly is not. John Goodman ("Roseanne") "acts" as Butch Gamble, a middle aged man recently moving back to his conservative Ohio town from Los Angeles. Oh yes, he's also gay. Ha ha. Look at the large gay man. Can you see the Emmys rolling in?

By "act", this means John Goodman gets to listen to his homophobic parents make jokes about his liberal lifestyle and address him as "trapeze artist", "piccolo player" and other terms. His desperately in-denial parents are so ashamed they went and told the family that he was an actor on "General Hospital." So when Butch returns for his son's send-off party, we are supposed to laugh at jokes about him and nurses. Woo-wee. Stop the laugh train, I need to get off.

Bonnie and Terry Turner should be disappointed. They are the creators of much funnier shows such as "Third Rock From the Sun" and "That 70's Show." Really, the question they should be asking is "Why the Hell did we do this show?"

Joely Fisher ("Ellen," that 'other' gay show) is Butch's trampy-looking sister Pamela. She goes through men quickly as she struggles to raise two smart-ass children on her own. Her son is a typical teenaged boy. Her daughter is a bookworm who wants to be left alone. Man, those two must have taken at least 20 seconds to come up with.

Thus, we reach the pathos of Butch's conflict with his son Charlie. Quickly, flash back to the scene in Austin Powers when Dr. Evil first meets Scott. Scott is hurt that daddy left him. He runs away from the "lazy-eyed psycho." That was cute. Now come back to "Normal, Ohio." Charlie is hurt that daddy left him. He doesn't understand why Butch (this is a nickname, by the way. His real first name is William) had to leave him. He runs away, at first, from his homosexual father, but not before making a few obligatory gay jokes. Watch the tears stream out of your eyes.

Of course, by the end of the first episode, dad and son are somewhat reconciled. Charlie is going to go to medical school, but at his going away party, after advice from his dad on the importance of being happy.

William/Butch is just a regular guy, except for his sexual preference. He drinks beers and watches the ballgames. If that's the moral, then this show should be an after-school special, not a weekly comedy. Unlike shows such as "Will & Grace" that actually have a prayer to survive, this doesn't. A lack of plot, unfunny stock characters, and John Goodman as a gay man does not a TV show make. Good luck to all. Perhaps they'll make smarter decisions on their next projects. <Click>, next show.

Courtesy of FOX

John Goodman stars in 'Normal, Ohio.'