Just not well-written

I feel like people get side tracked by arguing about social agendas and politics when all it boiled down to was that this show was just not very good. It's almost all in the writing - Andrew Rannells and Justin Bartha are talented comedic actors, Ellen Barkin is a legend in her own right and Ryan Murphy... has his wheelhouse but his overt style was all wrong for this. Characters were too outsized and cliched to be at all believable and they often had terrible terrible dialogue. Bryan is an over the top caricature, Jane a stale Lucille Bluth knockoff with such artificially-written prejudices, Shania is so precious she puts the precocious child cliche to shame and NeNe feels like a mid '90s WB sitcom reject. Murphy's instincts for character and dialogue are all wrong for this premise that boils down to a sweet and down to earth idea... before it's smothered in ridiculous farce, mugging, contrived grandstanding and embarrassing non-sequitors. As a gay man, I've come to accept that it's okay for me to have absolutely hated "The New Normal."