Color Me Shocked

Upholding a policy of only airing wholesome television such as Law And Order: SVU­(where sex outside the bonds of traditional marriage is properly seen as a terrible punishment), Salt Lake City's NBC affiliate KSL-TV has declared it will not be airing the network's The New Normal, in which a gay couple hires a surrogate mother in an effort to grow a baby gay. It's the latest slam against the show from the people who are always expected to make a slam against this type of show, following on the heels of a statement that One Million Moms sent out to Several Million Eye-rolling Children calling the Ryan Murphy-created sitcom an attempt to "continue to subject families to the decay of morals and values, and the sanctity of marriage in attempting to redefine marriage."

That call to screeching action has now been joined by KSL's Mormon owners—who would never seek to redefine traditional marriage, at least not since the early 20th century—as the network that previously took ideological stands on shows like The Playboy Club called The New Normal "inappropriate on several dimensions," particularly if you extend its graph along the Gay-axis, then incorporate the angle that its Andrew Rannells starred in The Book Of Mormon in the resulting butthurtahedron. Anyway, The New Normal's Ellen Barkin has already decried the Salt Lake station on Twitter, calling its decision "blatantly homophobic" and asking, "So L&O SVU (rape & child murder) is ok? But loving gay couple having a baby is inappropriate?" Which, it depends: Will that baby then be murdered in accordance with morally sound television?