The New TV Family

The New Normal.

Modern Family.

Guys With Kids.

Just a sampling of some of the television shows you can tune into this season.  The shows will make you laugh and they'll make you cry but most importantly, they will help to  change the way our society views family.

Obviously, The New Normal is a show that many surrogates and intended parents were excited about watching.  The feedback on the show is mixed.  Some love it and some hate it.  Some feel it "represents" and others argue that it's not realistic. Personally, I'm enjoying the show.  Sure, there are plenty of things that aren't an accurate representation, but in my mind there is a more important shift taking place.

Shows like these are creating characters that we fall in love with as viewers.  Character development is crucial for any TV show that's going to experience success on prime time.  Not only are the characters in these shows well developed, these shows are portraying a non-traditional family.  We have a single mom and surrogate mother.  We've got stay-at-home dads.  We've got gay couples who are creating families via adoption and surrogacy.

The more our society sees a variety of families, the more likely it is that it becomes accepted as the norm, and if we could just be honest with ourselves, the non-traditional family IS the norm!  It's our reality and we should embrace that.  These shows are helping to reinforce the fact that although families may LOOK different, if you peel away what the family "looks" like, you're simply left with....a family.  Not a gay family.  Not a divorced family.  Not a "non-traditional" family.  Just a family.

And as an incredibly lovable surrogate once said: