NBC on Friday (10 May) cancelled its gay-themed comedy The New Normal after one season.

Ratings never really took off for the Ryan Murphy-produced show which sometimes had storylines that reflected real life with marriage equality currently a front-burner issue in the US.

Stars like Darren Criss, Andrew Rannells and the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills got all the red carpet attention Saturday (9 February) at the Family Equality Council's awards dinner in Los Angeles as honoree Chris Kluwe slipped by virtually unnoticed.

But by the end of evening, everyone was talking about NFL player Kluwe whose visibility as an LGBT activist grew exponentially last September when he blasted Maryland Assembly Delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. in a withering, profanity-laced letter.

He's played a gay man on stage in The Book of Mormon and plays a gay man on TV in The New Normal.

But on HBO's Girls, Andrew Rannells is playing a character who is wondering if he might be bisexual instead of gay.

Off screen, Rannells does no such wondering.

'I personally have never had sex with a woman,' he tells New York magazine’s Vulture blog. 'I’m more of what you call gold-star gay. I’m purebred.'

Ellen DeGeneres got a Time magazine cover when she came out as a lesbian in 1997. A decade or so later, Lance Bass got a People magazine when he announced to the world that he was a gay man and so did Clay Aiken a short time after that.

But in 2o12, several high-profile celebrities came out as gay and didn't find themselves at the center of a media frenzy. Among them: CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, Emmy winning actor Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), and Broadway star-turned TV actor Andrew Rannells (The New Normal).

Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad appeared in Broadway's The Book of Mormon together in New York then went their separate ways.

Now both are in Los Angeles where Rannells is one of the stars of the NBC hit comedy The New Normal and Gad has been cast as the son of the president of the US in the NBC sitcom 1600 Penn which premieres next month.

In this Funny of Die video parody, Gad is really happy to reconnect with Rannells - so much so that he becomes something of a stalker!

Rannells is understandably creeped out!

Back in 2007, Anderson Cooper was still five years away from coming out publicly as a gay man.

But that didn't stop the editors of Out Magazine from featuring his image on the cover of its annual Out 100 issue alongside an image of Jodie Foster who has remained virtually silent about her sexuality.

Matt Bomer, the hunky star of TV’s White Collar, is set to guest star on NBC’s The New Normal as the ex-boyfriend of the character played by Andrew Rannells.

The show’s creator Ryan Murphy has broken the news on Twitter: 'Guess who’s coming on The New Normal as Bryan’s sexy ex-boyfriend? The one and only Matt Bomer!!!'

In it, Rannells plays one-half of a gay couple (his partner is played by Justin Bartha) who are expecting a child by a surrogate mother with whom they have created an unusual blended family.

NBC has ordered a full season of its gay-themed comedy The New Normal which has managed to succeed despite protests from the anti-gay group One Million Moms and the refusal of a network affiliate in Salt Lake City to even air the show.

Actor Andrew Rannells has shared his frustration at the backlash The New Normal has received, despite the show not even being aired yet.

NBC affiliate KSL-TV has refused to air the show because its subject matter infringes on Mormon beliefs, and infamous anti-gay organization One Million Moms has boycotted the series.

It was in the first episode of Modern Family in 2009 that gay couple Cam and Mitch introduced their adopted baby, Lily, to the world.

Since then, the couple - played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet - has been an integral part of the comedy's Emmy-winning formula.

Other US networks have taken notice.

This fall, Justin Bartha and Andrew Rannells star as a gay couple having a baby with the help of a surrogate mother in the NBC comedy The New Normal. And over at CBS, Michael Urie and Brandon Routh play a couple in the sitcom Partners.

The gay thing is working out well for Andrew Rannells.

He is a gay man who plays a gay man on Broadway (The Book of Mormon) and a gay man on two different television series (Girls, The New Normal).

Andrew Rannells plays a gay man on HBO's Girls and on the upcoming NBC comedy The New Normal.

He is now also making it clear that he is gay off-screen as well.

The actor, who was nominated for a Tony Award for his lead role in the smash Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, mentioned his sexuality while discussing his role on Girls. He plays Elijah, the smug smug, fresh-out-of-the-closet ex-boyfriend of one of the show's main characters.