Normal, Ohio

Normal, Ohio is an American television sitcom, which aired on the Fox Network in 2000. The show starred John Goodman as William "Butch" Gamble, a gay man returning to his home town.

The show was most notable for the divisions it exposed regarding American culture's view of homosexuality. Gamble, a Daddy bear type, was an average blue collar guy with many traits typical of American masculinity, including a love of football and beer, and very few of the traits stereotypically associated with gay men — and yet his sexuality itself was signified in part by isolated moments of more stereotypically gay behavior, such as singing snippets of Broadway show tunes and helping his sister to dye her hair, that was seemingly at odds with the way his character was presented most of the time. As a result, many media outlets dismissed Goodman's role as unrealistic. The cast also included Joely Fisher, Anita Gillette, Orson Bean, Mo Gaffney and Charles Rocket.

Goodman won the People's Choice Award for Best Actor in a New Comedy Series, but the show was not generally a success in the Nielsen ratings. Thirteen episodes of the series were made, but only seven were aired before its cancellation. It ran from Nov. 1, 2000 through Dec. 13, 2000.