‘The New Normal’ review: Was this Thanksgiving episode a turkey?

It’s strange in way watching “The New Normal” Thanksgiving special right after a similar episode for “New Girl,” mostly because the two were in so many ways the same. Both revolved around people struggling to get their parents to get along, and some of the results that went along with that.

In the case of the NBC show, it was really all about unity, as well as Thanksgiving through Shania’s eyes. The strange thing about this show is that at the moment, Bryan its as a parent an idealist in every sense of the word; rather than showing Goldie’s daughter the reality of the world (which is often through Nana on an exaggerated scale), he instead gives her everything. Take, for example, when he purchased a score of live turkeys to keep them from being killed, and then hosting a special dinner without any meat. Is Shania the most liberal kid ever? We’re starting to bet on it.

While this aspect of the story was funny, the real interesting plot came courtesy of the revelation coming out that Goldie was dating Rocky’s brother Clint, and her estranged husband was not entirely pleased about it … even though he had quite a history of cheating and fooling around. Doesn’t everyone love a good random fight? In between this and Nana trying to kill turkeys, we easily had one of the more chaotic Thanksgivings out there. Oh, and tofurkey apparently tastes horrible.

Overall, Ryan Murphy has to be pleased with putting together a solid, funny episode to celebrate the holiday. The problem with these episodes, though, is that unless you are really interested in going the extra mile and take your show in an unexpected direction (see the “WKRP” Thanksgiving episode), most of these episodes end the same way: with everyone sitting around the dinner table (in this case the core characters on the show) getting along.

Did you like this episode?