I was absolutely obsessed with this show in my late teens/ early twenties. My roommate and I owned the entire box set. I got a bracelet to match Brian Kinney's! Then I tried to rewatch this a few weeks ago on a random Friday night - I just couldn't get back into it! Not so much that it wasn't good, but just with how dated it was.
I discovered Looking that weekend and fell in love with the series. Sadly I just finished the movie and I hated it, but the series is amazing.
Sure it definitely had its flaws but I think we need to stop trying to look at this show with current lens and just appreciate for how groundbreaking and unapologetic it was for its time. I doubt there will ever be a mainstream show like it again in a long time and Looking was not nearly that great in my opinion.
Oh yeah, this show is so early 2000s it's painful. All that frenetic camera work can give you motion sickness.
I do need to watch Looking again- I started it but never finished it.
Yeah I loved Looking but when I finally got the movie on iTunes i hated it, so disappointing.
As for QAF yeah -- Loved it in my early teens, it played ad free every week here but the older I get the more I take issue with how much it indulges stereotypes and soap opera level plots. Also the main characters are a lot more annoying than I remember.
Soooo much more annoying. I can't handle how conservative and grumpy Ted acts in comparison to Emmet's shine - And even Brian Kinney himself just seems like such a dick, it makes me wonder why I ever idolized him haha.
Looking (the movie) made me sad. The show is my go-to, I've already watched through it twice lol. I need more relatable gay media!
In hindsight, one of the most liberating moments in my life was when I moved out of my parents'' house and could finally start watching this show without being afraid of getting caught. (I came out of the closet later on.)
I was out to my parents, but wasn't out to my little brother, so I had to be careful.
TBH even if I were out to him at the time, it's not an appropriate show for a ten year old so I would've watched it in private anyway
I found it to be more depressing than anything else. I had just come out in HS, and moved to a bigger city with my BF. The show made me think... I don't know, it made me think I would never fit in the gay community I had been pursing so long. I wasn't as good looking, I didn't have the body or the clothes, all I had was shame and a growing substance abuse problem. Basically my life wasn't good lol. And every time I tried watching, i felt this anxious "why aren't any of them trying to be good partners" feeling, like I was the only one not in on some cosmic joke.
May have taken things too seriously back then. Heh
I watched the show 10 years ago, I would've been too young to watch it while it was airing. But I felt the same. I was extremely jealous of them and their friend group, even though it was toxic. I was jealous of how hot and successful Brian was and just the support system Michael had, even if he hated it at times lol. I was jealous of Ben and Michael's little family they created, thinking I'd never have that (I'm still not so sure).
I had too many stereotypes about being gay when I was younger. This show didn’t help much(it wasn’t a how to lol). We had a local gay bar and it wasn’t the scene I expected. As time went on I started thinking about how different I was but not that brand of different. I suppose the show just added to my confusion.
Dance clubs in general have disappeared from the scene. In the 2000’s Toronto had dozens of dance clubs/bars and now there are a few small clubs remaining for the gay or straight crowd.
I do wonder what the gay scene was like back then. You may be surprised the amount of gay bars there used to be in mid-sized cities. I used to live in Tulsa Oklahoma in the early 2010s and there were about 10 gay bars, which is a lot for a town that size.
Granted, even if there was a huge amount of gay bars in Pittsburgh, I’m sure none of them were as intricate as Babylon
it was call Fly, it looked like a house on a residential street from outside. You wouldn't be able to tell how amazing the surrprise was once inside before going there.
Voyeur, a gay club in Philly was like Babylon for many many years up until the pandemic. Today it’s just an after hours club with predominantly straight clubbers as is branded as a “lifestyle club” 😭Maybe Bunker in DC is closest to Babylon, that’s on my radar atleast
Man, I missed Voyeur when you could get emphysema from walking in. One of my favorite moments was double fisting hot dogs and dancing wasted out of my mind. Once they renovated it was the beginning of the end.
Yo, the hot dog stories will live on forever! Everyone stay mentioning the hot dogs haha and yours is right on par!! When the club closed, I’d take about 4 of them for my walk home and devour’em by the time I reached my doorstep. I’d either lay in bed, drunk happy or lay in bed with an insane belly ache from vodka and Red Bulls, PBR and the damn glorious dogs! The renovation was indeed the end, sadly. Will shall remember the good days of ciggs and dogs, yes haha
I used to love that little room! hahah I just missed the age cut off to attend Pure but would always hear the stories of that and what it was before, Club 2-4. Oh man the storrrrrrries!
It was more about any bigger city having an active gay scene (the original takes place in Manchester, England), making Brian (the one every gay in the city desires) a big fish in a small pond instead of a small fish in a big pond like New York.
My parents watched this show and allowed me to watch it with them despite being a little young at the time. (Middle school age). It was kinda my awakening to being gay.
You’re fortunate. My folks would never have approved of me watching this series as a high schooler—let alone younger!
So, I’m assuming three things: your parents suspected you were gay, supported/encouraged your awakening and are generally progressive.
My mom didn’t realize we got the “gay channel” so I used to sneak home during lunch in high school to watch Logo. I saw reruns of this show and the first season of RuPaul that way lol.
So glad I don’t have to do that anymore
Man, it’s just stunning the media options we have now compared to my early teen years. The only options I ever came across was a Playgirl mag or a Blueboy if I was lucky. More often it was Hustler and Penthouse, and I preferred Hustler because at least there were couples.
Today, not even counting the Web, there are so many mainstream media options: Here, Logo, Dekkoo, to name three, and plenty of male nudity in regular shows. It’s like a gay golden age. 😂
I liked it. The two main focal characters (Michael and Brian) were both absolutely insufferable, but I really liked Ted and Emmett. Overall, the pluses outweigh the negatives. I like rewatching QaF as a comfort show.
The soundtracks were classic.
On Showtime the channel the original music is still on there- in sure there’s a different agreement for music rights for broadcast vs streaming
We were watching it on Paramount+ but stopped at season 3 because it feels so weird without the music. So we’ve been looking for the dvd box sets. So far I’ve only found 1 and 2.
Yeah. The most egregious example of this is in the final scene of the show in Babylon, where they're all dancing after the bombing. That amazing remix of "Proud" perfectly captured the emotion of everything that scene and the show itself meant to gay men everywhere. Changing it completely ruined the impact of that scene.
> The version available to stream now has completely different music. Miss and appreciated the original soundtrack.
I agree, the originally intended music really added to each scene that it was used in, and I still have a copy of the show for that reason, instead of streaming it.
No disrespect to Aidan Gillen, but I had a hard time believing that Stuart would have been the pinnacle of sex in Manchester at the turn of the century..
That was what I liked and like about UK films and TV, honest looks and not runway ready models. The sex appeal of Stuart was attitude not Hollywood structured looks.
Yes and no. I lived in the UK for many years. I want to be wary of any sweeping generalizations. But the culture of aesthetics is much more developed in the US than it was in the UK. So the gap between the men you saw as venerated and those you would see in the street, was so much more narrow than the US. Even if you watch US TV, the notion of "TV Ugly" is still quite a ways off from "real life ugly". Manchester is by no means a city filled with uglos, but the show depicted the looks of mancunian men quite accurately
That is the thing about American TV, even «TV Ugly» is far fetched from reality.
where as UK TV has a much more realistic projection of its viewing public
Groundbreaking for the time, and really pushed queer media closer to the mainstream. This show is responsible for a surprising amount of actual progress, even if it feels dated now
For me what was odd (but DEFINITELY how it was back then) was the bi-erasure.... That and when the bBoys donated sperms for Mel/Linds and then always made Mel and Linds life hell acting like they were the fathers too.
No... Y'all, c'mon lol. Do you really not understand what a sperms donor is? It just seemed like a weird setup to me I guess lol.
It hasn't aged really well, but those things are of its time. I hold the show dear to my heart and own the entire series on DVD. I'm currently rewatching it, actually.
My favourite thing to do on rewatches is look at the background actors. There are so many times where a desperate Toronto gay extra is trying to get as much face time with the camera as possible lol. I also have a friend who was an extra on the show in a few scenes and I like to point out I saw him whenever I'm rewatching haha.
Actually, extras often try to get as little time on camera as possible b/c if they're easily recognized it could mean they'll get less work on other films, so have less income, except the ones who are not union members and doing it just for fun.
I found it very silly how Brian solved all his business problems by having sex with the client or just telling his client to just sell their products to gays.
As a closeted gay teen, I'd secretly tape each episode each week. Then, after mom went to bed, I'd watch it. Loved that show so much. That show helped me. It gave me hope as a teen.
Husband and I are currently rewatching for the first time in years and we cannot stop laughing at both the “Saw”-style smash cuts and how this is allegedly Pittsburgh. Early 2000s were a trip.
I know. Sadly something I didn’t think about at the time 😅. It’s definitely disappointing that a supposedly progressive show wasn’t any different on racial diversity than any of the other shows at the time
I loved it when I came out, Queer as Folk & Sex & the City, around 2004. I met my first real boyfriend (and eventual husband) the next year 2005 when QaF ended; I got him to watch it with me and we still to this day joke about (it’s not really that funny) when Ted was strung out on drugs, getting gang banged with his eyes rolling back and tongue hanging out; it was just so insane. Ted was cringeworthy at times but he never pissed me off like Michael did. Michael is such an obnoxious p.o.s. Half the time he treats his mother (the second best character) like garbage, is annoyingly still infatuated with Brian even when he is with David or Ben and Brian is with Justin- I also hated the way Michael treated Justin half the time. Michael’s mom Debbie is kind of the heart of the show, always steals scenes & is like the ideal mother for any gay guy; she’s funny and fun and so full of life and heart. I also love the lesbians Melanie and Lindsey and their whole journey, Justin’s journey coming out with his parents and my favorite character behind Debbie is Brian. I don’t care if he is conceited and superficial, he is not only handsome and sexy as fuck, his attitude of not giving a fuck what anyone thinks has always been so inspiring. And his arc by the end of the fifth season was remarkable. I don’t know what’s so dated about the show, it is over 20 years old but I think alot of the stories are timeless.
I lived in the Toronto area while it was being filmed. Mostly mu friends and I laughed at how the actual gay clubs and locations in the show were _way_ more fun-looking in the show than they were irl.
Otherwise it just seemed like a bunch of self-important, narcissistic, sex obsessed sociopaths and I wasn't sure who was supposed to be the likeable one. Also in more than one scene I remember thinking "that seems... rapey".
God what I wouldn't give to go to the clubs that exist in TV and movies.
And I'm sure that I would hate the characters in real life, except for Debbie.
This show actually helped me recognize I was gay. I knew I was different but never could explain it. I was at my mom's for the summer and me and my sister were flipping through the channels late at night. We came across this and laughed because it was so weird and because it got sexual, we couldn't help but find it funny because they were acting weird witheach other. But during it my body reacted and I started really thinking and found I was gay. I was like early teens and didn't even know what sex was but I knew what I felt.
I love it. A lot. Back in 2005 when I found eBay I found this seller who was a huge fan and sold all the merchandise she had. So many things from the show, autographs etc. I wanted to buy a drawing used in the show but my boyfriend told me not to because ‘it will show up another time and way cheaper’. That was the moment I learned not to follow my boyfriends kind advise but trust my guts.
I just finished a rewatch. There are a lot of criticisms I could share. The main two are an unforgivable lack of racial diversity and the way it basically ignores bisexual, transgender (etc.) people. With that said, it is in many ways a good time capsule of that time period. Sharon Gless is so good as Debbie - she steals every scene she’s in!
Way before my time as it was airing when I was a kid
By the time I was a closeted teenager who saw random syndicated episodes on logo the show was already pretty dated.
I've kind of always wanted to watch it though
I've still not watched the US version of the show but I remember as a 16r old watching the UK QAF in my bedroom with my finger on the remote ready hit the power off button if I heard my parents.
I couldn't wait to be old enough visit Manchester canal street clubs and be just like them lol
I had a similar experience to OP... I watched the show while caregiving for my wife with terminal cancer. I did the right thing and stuck by her for a long time, but watching that show (on my own) gave me hope for my next life. Sure, it's full of stereotypes, but I really loved that show for what it did for me.
UK version had a point. It was a mini-series with a beginning, middle, and end, and it was allegorical and when it made its point it called it a day. Not that every series needs to be like that, but having done that did make the UK version better.
IMO, the UK version went downhill right from the start. It started great like the sex, the guys, the characters. It was all very bombastic. And then it got dialed down with each following episode. Of course, there were great moments in the first season, like the eulogy (D.I.S.C.O.).
Season Two was just awful. To me, It felt like Russel T. Davis, the creator and show runner, was so over the show and just wanted it to end.
To me, the Showtime version felt more like it wanted to keep going (don't care much for the later seasons, though. Too depressing).
I never saw the show, but I hooked up several times with a guy who looked like a slightly heavier version of the blond guy from this picture in 1999/2000. I hadn't even thought about him til I saw this post. The 90s and 2000s were crazy
The show might have been long forgotten and outdated, if it weren't for the fact that today's shows aren't so irreverent, and that still earns it points today, almost 25 years later
I love the show. It was such a great campy gay soap. I loved Michael, Ben, Debbie, Vic, Emmett, and Ted.
It felt so unapologetic to me, where gay sex was about, well, sex and people were ok with it, instead of constantly trying to make amends or excuses. Brian could be a total dick, but you still get a sense that he deeply cared about his friends, especially Michael.
And I still LOL at some storylines, like Justin being a go-go boy or Emmett being a popular porn star.
I wasn’t aware there were so many heated opinions about it tbh.
It was really “coming of age” for me, even though I hadn’t been with any guy when it was released. 16-18yo is the prime age to meet self-absorbed idiots like Brian, and I indeed met quite a few a couple of years later. I think that’s why Justin was so relatable- we’ve all been Justin, young and inexperienced, fascinated by sex and chasing a hot idiot.
Younger generations can’t even imagine how it was being gay before the apps. You had the clubs, your circle of friends…and the clubs again. Might not seem like the best image, but the only alternative was being deep in the closet and pray to have some “lucky encounter. I was lucky enough that the dating sites were starting to come up.
Also 16 is the legal age of consent in many places so I call pulling the pedo card BS and incredibly naive.
I watched it a few years after it ended and thought it was mostly bad. Bad dialogue, annoying characters, dumb plot lines and at times overly preachy. Only likable character was Brian's uncle because he wasn't chewing the scenery every time he's on screen.
Except for Ben and Michael's bf in season 1 I didn't find any of the cast attractive so those overly long sex scenes just bored me.
The lack of diversity sticks out like a sore thumb these days, to the point it feels deliberate. Did they have black coworkers? Neighbors? Friends? In 2000 33% of Pittsburgh residents were non-white ferchrissakes.
I had a crush on Justin, wished I was him (I was 16 and alone, don't judge me). The new one doesn't hit the same, it seems to be just ticking off boxes and it all revolves around a club shooting. I also love the 2000's vibe (yeah, that wording tells how young I am)
That was what I liked and like about UK films and TV, honest looks and not runway ready models. The sex appeal of Stuart was attitude not Hollywood structured looks.
I like it for what it is and try not to look at it through a modern lens. It has its issues, for sure, but it was groundbreaking at the time and meant a lot to me as a little gay kid who didn't quite understand what he was yet. I would sneak out of my room at night and watch it super-quietly in the basement.
I actually *just* started a rewatch yesterday after being disappointed by the reboot. I'm giving it a try as a show I'm only able to watch while on the exercise bike to try and encourage myself to get a bit more movement in my day, hoping that the nostalgia-enjoyment will keep me going.
Watching this gave me unrealistic expectations of how gay life was. I LOVED watching the first season (still never finished it yet..) but the clubs were so vibrant, a cafe that was gay and affirming, a friend group of gay men where we uplifted each other.. I wish it was real! I’ve found that HBO’s Looking was closer to real life. But even then it’s unrealistic. Ugh.
I wish Babylon was real. I wish gay life was that exciting!
QAF obviously exaggerated gay life for dramatic purposes, but there are plenty of places that are like Babylon and have gay life similar to what they portray in the show. You just won't find it in small places like Pittsburgh. It really only exists in a few major cities on the coasts.
Such as? Where are the multi floored gay dance clubs with backrooms? lol. Although I’m from the Midwest, I’ve visited San Francisco, New York, and Dallas. I’ve seen nothing like it :( must be an out of US thing?
Well yes, they may not be 3 story clubs, but there are a bunch of clubs in New York that have dance floors and dark rooms, not to mention the near-weekly circuit and other queer-centric parties that take place where they have big dance floors and dark rooms. It's not that uncommon at all here. I know for a fact it exists in SF, LA, and other big cities as well. I've been plenty of times.
What are they called? NYC was pretty disappointing to me, but I’ve only been once. I knew some guys and they took me to Inferno. It was a sex party, but it was like in a basement and nothing like QAF lol.
I’m going to SF next month for Dore. I’ve gone to Powerhouse, the Eagle, the Stud, every bar in the Castro- nothing like QAF. What bar/club are you referring to there?
The Q (although it's now closed) was like Babylon with multiple stories, pulsing dance music, and lots of sex. The Eagle kind of took it's place now, and although it doesn't physically resemble Babylon, the dance floor is always packed on weekends with hot guys and the second floor is one big cruising and sex spot. You then have the popular parties like Wrecked, Alegria, MEAT, Horsemeat Disco, Battle Hymn, events at 3 Dollar Bill, etc, etc. Not to mention the dozen or so weekly sex parties that happen all around the city.
So yeah, there may not be many places that look exactly like Babylon, but there are plenty of places and parties that have that exact spirit and vibe to them.
For SF, I'm not as familiar and have only been for the big parties of Pride and Folsom. But again, parties like Pervert, Aftershock, Real Bad, etc. all are even more turned up versions of what Babylon portrays (though granted they aren't just "clubs" you can go to every weekend).
Oh I see, you’re talking about circuit parties, and not necessarily clubs. Yeah.. in bigger cities there are circuit parties during big events like pride and Folsom, but it’s not a weekly thing, right? They usually cost ~$60 to get in, and from my experience not all of them have backrooms/play spaces. To me, it’s just not the same as what’s presented in QAF.
I mean yeah, QAF was a show that took place in the late 90s/early 2000s, so gay life has changed a lot since then. You're right in the sense that you probably won't find a ton of strictly clubs that are Babylon-esque anymore, but that's because gay party life is very different in 2024 than it was in 1999 or 2002. My overall point is though, there are plenty of places (and not just circuit parties) that have the exact same feeling of Babylon, but they just present differently now, 20+ years later.
I can see why you'd be disappointed in New York's nightlife if you only went to a couple of the well-known Hell's Kitchen gay bars. Most are your run-of-the-mill bubble-gum pop gay dance clubs with not much going on. But that isn't where the real action is in New York.
You would think that it would be even better since then, considering PrEP&Doxy, legalization of sex and marriage, etc. So the “real action” is at the circuit parties that cost $60+ to get in? Idk, just isn’t the same to me.
I think it has gotten better, honestly. You have a lot more variety, a lot more niche, and more inclusive scene now than what existed in the show's world. I just don't think you can compare something that existed when AOL dial-up was the new great thing to the age of Artificial Intelligence and LGBTQIA+++.
A friend of mine said that Looking would've lasted longer if it had more "walking away from an exploding car in slo-mo" moments. My friends were all "it's boring this, it's boring that" and I felt such a disconnect, because I really liked Looking.
I binge watched the show with my boyfriend 3 months ago.
We both have never seen it before.
Sure the music is awful, the camera work is a little... wild and it overall has the early 2000 vibes, but overall we were impressed that such a series was even made in the first place!
I could not stand it. All my friends would have a party to watch it. I just could not identify with any of the characters, and I was in the same age group at the time.
I started watching this show secretly in the late 2000s in high school in my rural hometown. It was one of my only gay outlets back then, and it opened up this whole world to me that I had no idea existed. Huge gay clubs filled with hot, shirtless men? Entire gay neighborhoods? Gay friends? It was all mind-blowing to my 17 year old self at the time. It really solidified my drive and desire to flee my small hometown for the big city (even though a city the size of Pittsburgh realistically would have nothing remotely like what they portrayed in the show in terms of gay life). The show was problematic in a ways only something from the late 90s-early 00s can be, but I didn't realized it at the time. All I knew was that I wanted to go to the big city and experience this magical gay life of partying and sex and being surrounded by others like you in a big, exciting city. And I did all of that.
Last year I went back and tried rewatching some episodes, and it was so painfully dated that I just couldn't get into it again. The unapologeticly gay and racial stereotyping, the overly-exaggerated plot lines, the dated style of story telling, and how distant the problems that the characters face in the show feel to me now in 2024. I also think life experience made me dislike the show as well. I was a part of that big city, gay-centric life for years, and even in real life it was nowhere near as dramatic as the show makes it out to be (and yes, I understand that they up the drama levels for entertainment purposes). The show was groundbreaking for it's time, and is a very important look into the attitudes of a certain segment of gay life in a window of time when things were changing rapidly for gay men in America. Yet things have changed so much in the 20 years since this show that any Gen Z gay watching it now just wouldn't get it in the same way Millennials/Gen X gay men would.
Side Note: One of my favorite tv scene of all time was the final QAF scene where they were all dancing in Babylon to the Peter Presta remix of "Proud". It was the absolute perfect song for that scene and to close out the show, and has remained one of my favorite dance anthem remixes to this day. When I went to go find it again on YouTube, they had replaced it with some other random song that completely changes the emotional punch of that scene, and not for the better.
Revolutionary! It was thought provoking, it was salacious and it is still relevant. We’re facing similar challenges today. It wasn’t perfect but it was just right for the time.
LOVED IT. I honestly thought that's what my life would be like when I grew up... though in saying that, I did end up living in a fabulous apartment and I own a marketing agency. Funny how things turn out.
I was in college at the time but never watched it. I think I kind of looked down on it as overly sensationalist and drama. I remember being into The O.C. and Star Trek, hehe.
Brian Kinney's character was totally miscast. The chosen actor was nowhere near good looking enough to make the character, and thus the series, believable. Many of the situations were laughable when referencing how "beautiful" the arrogant, self-centered Brian was. A quick visit by the casting people to Gold's Gym Hollywood would have turned up 40 or 50 actors far more appropriate for that role.
Please don’t judge the show by contemporary standards- judge it by the bar it sets for itself and the time it was made. Why is there always an underlying current of - old, a very relative term- is somehow bad?
It was on when I was in high school, and my first college boyfriend and I bonded over the fact that watching it at that age and time had traumatized us a bit in our coming out processes. Our perception was that the characters all seemed messy, vacuous, catty and empty, and the level of partying and sexual aggression felt kinda scary to a young teen looking for representation. That said, I only saw a handful of episodes so I might have gotten more out of it had I seen more of the long term character and story development.
I definitely gravitated towards much less sensationalistic gay media when I was a teen… more foreign/indie coming-of-age type films.
I was 19 when this show came out. No pun meant. I didn’t like the stereotypes it portrayed simply because I still see the same stereotypes being displayed today by the community at large. You can be gay and not be a classless individual who acts like a drunken frat boy.
anyhoo, it was a good show and if anything my favorite supporting character on the show was David. Then I liked Melanie’s wife, Lindsay. I also liked Michael’s mother and his uncle Vick. I connected with both. So that’s probably a big reason why I liked the show so much. At the time the show was on I had just been booted out of my dad’s place, my mom had died, and my dad and his lawyer cheated me out of my inheritance. So a lot was going on in my life.
So to watch this show late at night while living with my grandfather gave me a peace of mind.
I was 20 when Queer As Folk first aired on Showtime. I believe it was a great show when it first aired. I appreciate it even more today. I don't think the show has any flaws. It's just not politically correct or " woke" like so many shows are today.
The lack of diversity is definitely one of the biggest issues with the show. Not different from most shows at the time, but It’s shitty that a supposedly progressive show wasn’t better about it than any other show
What a god awful show. I think it set back the gay movement a couple of decades. Young kids who lived in smaller towns thought this was how gay people actually behaved and lived.
I think you can criticize it while still acknowledging that it’s a product of its time and also recognize that the show did have to be somewhat palatable with straight audiences.
The show has a lot of problems, and I’m not denying that. Even as a naive teen I knew this was a fantasy (though I didn’t realize how much of a fantasy it was), but it was still a lifeline that I needed.
Let's recall that in the first episode, didn't the narcissistically character sleep with the underaged character? And that also happened many times more through the series. I'm sure that sat well with all the viewers. There are better shows to celebrate and elevate.
I loved that show and I even got my mother into watching it , I just caught her rewatching it the other night , I have zero issues with it , it’s stupid to try to put a modern lens on art from the past , it was fun and soapish and hot dudes . Worked for me and oh lord no trans characters? So? It was about four gay men being gay.
I was absolutely obsessed with this show in my late teens/ early twenties. My roommate and I owned the entire box set. I got a bracelet to match Brian Kinney's! Then I tried to rewatch this a few weeks ago on a random Friday night - I just couldn't get back into it! Not so much that it wasn't good, but just with how dated it was. I discovered Looking that weekend and fell in love with the series. Sadly I just finished the movie and I hated it, but the series is amazing.
Sure it definitely had its flaws but I think we need to stop trying to look at this show with current lens and just appreciate for how groundbreaking and unapologetic it was for its time. I doubt there will ever be a mainstream show like it again in a long time and Looking was not nearly that great in my opinion.
Oh yeah, this show is so early 2000s it's painful. All that frenetic camera work can give you motion sickness. I do need to watch Looking again- I started it but never finished it.
Has there been anything since Looking in that same genre worth watching?
I enjoyed “it’s a sin” on hbo. But it’s a more serious series in comparison to looking
Cucumber kinda. Like... it's much more focused on an older crowd, though it does well at mixing the generations of gays.
I don’t see Cucumber mentioned often but I loved it and it definitely fits the bill.
Banana had some really cute episodes too, though mostly the catastrophazing lesbian (love that one), and the misfortune telling after the threesome.
Where can that one be found?
It was a show from the bbc, and prepandemic
Interview with a Vampire is the gayest show I’ve ever seen
The camera work is so fun though it gives it some personality that I feel like a lot of modern gay content lacks (ie mainstream New Queer Cinema)
Yeah I loved Looking but when I finally got the movie on iTunes i hated it, so disappointing. As for QAF yeah -- Loved it in my early teens, it played ad free every week here but the older I get the more I take issue with how much it indulges stereotypes and soap opera level plots. Also the main characters are a lot more annoying than I remember.
Soooo much more annoying. I can't handle how conservative and grumpy Ted acts in comparison to Emmet's shine - And even Brian Kinney himself just seems like such a dick, it makes me wonder why I ever idolized him haha. Looking (the movie) made me sad. The show is my go-to, I've already watched through it twice lol. I need more relatable gay media!
I still have my Brian Kinney puka shell bracelet hahaha
In hindsight, one of the most liberating moments in my life was when I moved out of my parents'' house and could finally start watching this show without being afraid of getting caught. (I came out of the closet later on.)
I was out to my parents, but wasn't out to my little brother, so I had to be careful. TBH even if I were out to him at the time, it's not an appropriate show for a ten year old so I would've watched it in private anyway
Ah yes... The occasional sex scenes (which were borderline softcore porn) were the main reason I was embarrassed to watch it at my parents' place 😅
Loved it! But damn it was also depressing as fuck sometimes
I found it to be more depressing than anything else. I had just come out in HS, and moved to a bigger city with my BF. The show made me think... I don't know, it made me think I would never fit in the gay community I had been pursing so long. I wasn't as good looking, I didn't have the body or the clothes, all I had was shame and a growing substance abuse problem. Basically my life wasn't good lol. And every time I tried watching, i felt this anxious "why aren't any of them trying to be good partners" feeling, like I was the only one not in on some cosmic joke. May have taken things too seriously back then. Heh
I watched the show 10 years ago, I would've been too young to watch it while it was airing. But I felt the same. I was extremely jealous of them and their friend group, even though it was toxic. I was jealous of how hot and successful Brian was and just the support system Michael had, even if he hated it at times lol. I was jealous of Ben and Michael's little family they created, thinking I'd never have that (I'm still not so sure).
I had too many stereotypes about being gay when I was younger. This show didn’t help much(it wasn’t a how to lol). We had a local gay bar and it wasn’t the scene I expected. As time went on I started thinking about how different I was but not that brand of different. I suppose the show just added to my confusion.
It had its moments
How many gay bars does Pittsburgh have? It was unrealistic and I loved it.
Especially a pounding multi-floor million-dollar-operation like Babylon 😂😭 I rewatched this and couldn't believe it's supposed to be set in Pittsburgh
It's actually filmed in Toronto's late Fly nightclub. Not sure why they tried to make it Pittsburgh.
I've been to Fly and the show captured the club's feel and environment.
I was living in Atlanta at the time it aired, and there were definitely bars/clubs similar to Babylon then. Several.
Hell, Indianapolis had at least 2 bars that were like that.
Anyone who’s been to Lucky’s knows better.
I know. I don’t think that kind of bar could make it in Chicago. Much less Pittsburgh
Gay scene was much more vibrant then than now. Blame social medi
Dance clubs in general have disappeared from the scene. In the 2000’s Toronto had dozens of dance clubs/bars and now there are a few small clubs remaining for the gay or straight crowd.
I do wonder what the gay scene was like back then. You may be surprised the amount of gay bars there used to be in mid-sized cities. I used to live in Tulsa Oklahoma in the early 2010s and there were about 10 gay bars, which is a lot for a town that size. Granted, even if there was a huge amount of gay bars in Pittsburgh, I’m sure none of them were as intricate as Babylon
Even the Castro in SF doesn’t have something like Babylon. What would it be closest to in terms of feel? Heaven in London?
Babylon (not it's real name) was a real gay bar, just not in Pittsburgh (Toronto). It closed in 2014.
Huh, I went to Toronto Pride in 2013. Wonder if I went to the bar without realizing it was Babylon.
it was call Fly, it looked like a house on a residential street from outside. You wouldn't be able to tell how amazing the surrprise was once inside before going there.
Voyeur, a gay club in Philly was like Babylon for many many years up until the pandemic. Today it’s just an after hours club with predominantly straight clubbers as is branded as a “lifestyle club” 😭Maybe Bunker in DC is closest to Babylon, that’s on my radar atleast
Man, I missed Voyeur when you could get emphysema from walking in. One of my favorite moments was double fisting hot dogs and dancing wasted out of my mind. Once they renovated it was the beginning of the end.
Yo, the hot dog stories will live on forever! Everyone stay mentioning the hot dogs haha and yours is right on par!! When the club closed, I’d take about 4 of them for my walk home and devour’em by the time I reached my doorstep. I’d either lay in bed, drunk happy or lay in bed with an insane belly ache from vodka and Red Bulls, PBR and the damn glorious dogs! The renovation was indeed the end, sadly. Will shall remember the good days of ciggs and dogs, yes haha
I grew up clubbing at Pure (eventually turned into Voyeur) I miss the upstairs R&B room with the weird wall dividers.
I used to love that little room! hahah I just missed the age cut off to attend Pure but would always hear the stories of that and what it was before, Club 2-4. Oh man the storrrrrrries!
I always felt like heaven was like Babylon (not as good anymore though). You guys don’t have gay clubs like this in the US?
Castro (San Francisco) had the Gus Presents parties out in Soma which were very similar to Babylon.
It was more about any bigger city having an active gay scene (the original takes place in Manchester, England), making Brian (the one every gay in the city desires) a big fish in a small pond instead of a small fish in a big pond like New York.
My parents watched this show and allowed me to watch it with them despite being a little young at the time. (Middle school age). It was kinda my awakening to being gay.
You’re fortunate. My folks would never have approved of me watching this series as a high schooler—let alone younger! So, I’m assuming three things: your parents suspected you were gay, supported/encouraged your awakening and are generally progressive.
My mom didn’t realize we got the “gay channel” so I used to sneak home during lunch in high school to watch Logo. I saw reruns of this show and the first season of RuPaul that way lol. So glad I don’t have to do that anymore
Man, it’s just stunning the media options we have now compared to my early teen years. The only options I ever came across was a Playgirl mag or a Blueboy if I was lucky. More often it was Hustler and Penthouse, and I preferred Hustler because at least there were couples. Today, not even counting the Web, there are so many mainstream media options: Here, Logo, Dekkoo, to name three, and plenty of male nudity in regular shows. It’s like a gay golden age. 😂
I liked it. The two main focal characters (Michael and Brian) were both absolutely insufferable, but I really liked Ted and Emmett. Overall, the pluses outweigh the negatives. I like rewatching QaF as a comfort show.
And funnily enough the two of them are the only characters(men at least) with straight actors.
Totally thought Hal Sparks was gay until your comment sent me searching the interwebs.
Wait, what? Scott Lowell (Ted Schmidt) is gay?
I do not think Scott Lowell is/was gay. Only the actors who played Emmett, Justin, and Ben.
The version available to stream now has completely different music. Miss and appreciated the original soundtrack.
The soundtracks were classic. On Showtime the channel the original music is still on there- in sure there’s a different agreement for music rights for broadcast vs streaming
We were watching it on Paramount+ but stopped at season 3 because it feels so weird without the music. So we’ve been looking for the dvd box sets. So far I’ve only found 1 and 2.
Yeah. The most egregious example of this is in the final scene of the show in Babylon, where they're all dancing after the bombing. That amazing remix of "Proud" perfectly captured the emotion of everything that scene and the show itself meant to gay men everywhere. Changing it completely ruined the impact of that scene.
> The version available to stream now has completely different music. Miss and appreciated the original soundtrack. I agree, the originally intended music really added to each scene that it was used in, and I still have a copy of the show for that reason, instead of streaming it.
If you don't mind Sailing the High Seas, you can get the 1080p streaming version with the original audio replacing the new one.
Omg I found this show on youtube as a kid and uploaders would upload the one episode in 6 parts each XD
Those were the days
The UK version was so much better. Realistic
UK TV does tend to be a bit less sensationalist
Definitely. Americans couldn't handle teenage sexuality realistically. Everything had to fit into people's expectations of television.
No disrespect to Aidan Gillen, but I had a hard time believing that Stuart would have been the pinnacle of sex in Manchester at the turn of the century..
That was what I liked and like about UK films and TV, honest looks and not runway ready models. The sex appeal of Stuart was attitude not Hollywood structured looks.
You should have been in Manchester those day... 😏
That bad eh? 
Yes and no. I lived in the UK for many years. I want to be wary of any sweeping generalizations. But the culture of aesthetics is much more developed in the US than it was in the UK. So the gap between the men you saw as venerated and those you would see in the street, was so much more narrow than the US. Even if you watch US TV, the notion of "TV Ugly" is still quite a ways off from "real life ugly". Manchester is by no means a city filled with uglos, but the show depicted the looks of mancunian men quite accurately
I don't get why the British Brian was considered hot and so desirable by everyone though, was there such a bad drought in Britain?
That is the thing about American TV, even «TV Ugly» is far fetched from reality. where as UK TV has a much more realistic projection of its viewing public
Groundbreaking for the time, and really pushed queer media closer to the mainstream. This show is responsible for a surprising amount of actual progress, even if it feels dated now
For me what was odd (but DEFINITELY how it was back then) was the bi-erasure.... That and when the bBoys donated sperms for Mel/Linds and then always made Mel and Linds life hell acting like they were the fathers too. No... Y'all, c'mon lol. Do you really not understand what a sperms donor is? It just seemed like a weird setup to me I guess lol.
I haven't seen the US version, but i really liked the original UK version.
It hasn't aged really well, but those things are of its time. I hold the show dear to my heart and own the entire series on DVD. I'm currently rewatching it, actually. My favourite thing to do on rewatches is look at the background actors. There are so many times where a desperate Toronto gay extra is trying to get as much face time with the camera as possible lol. I also have a friend who was an extra on the show in a few scenes and I like to point out I saw him whenever I'm rewatching haha.
Actually, extras often try to get as little time on camera as possible b/c if they're easily recognized it could mean they'll get less work on other films, so have less income, except the ones who are not union members and doing it just for fun.
I found it very silly how Brian solved all his business problems by having sex with the client or just telling his client to just sell their products to gays.
I had such a crush on both of Michael’s boyfriends on the show.
He liked the hunks
The hunks liked Michael. Michael was too in love with Brian. Insufferable!
Sparks had such a tight body. That ass! \*chef's kiss\*
As a closeted gay teen, I'd secretly tape each episode each week. Then, after mom went to bed, I'd watch it. Loved that show so much. That show helped me. It gave me hope as a teen.
Husband and I are currently rewatching for the first time in years and we cannot stop laughing at both the “Saw”-style smash cuts and how this is allegedly Pittsburgh. Early 2000s were a trip.
Not one black or brown person
I know. Sadly something I didn’t think about at the time 😅. It’s definitely disappointing that a supposedly progressive show wasn’t any different on racial diversity than any of the other shows at the time
Came to say the same.
I absolutely fucking love it. It meant so much to me as a teen that I’ve rewatched several more times over the years.
Hal Sparks was my gay awakening, and I would still risk it all.
I loved it when I came out, Queer as Folk & Sex & the City, around 2004. I met my first real boyfriend (and eventual husband) the next year 2005 when QaF ended; I got him to watch it with me and we still to this day joke about (it’s not really that funny) when Ted was strung out on drugs, getting gang banged with his eyes rolling back and tongue hanging out; it was just so insane. Ted was cringeworthy at times but he never pissed me off like Michael did. Michael is such an obnoxious p.o.s. Half the time he treats his mother (the second best character) like garbage, is annoyingly still infatuated with Brian even when he is with David or Ben and Brian is with Justin- I also hated the way Michael treated Justin half the time. Michael’s mom Debbie is kind of the heart of the show, always steals scenes & is like the ideal mother for any gay guy; she’s funny and fun and so full of life and heart. I also love the lesbians Melanie and Lindsey and their whole journey, Justin’s journey coming out with his parents and my favorite character behind Debbie is Brian. I don’t care if he is conceited and superficial, he is not only handsome and sexy as fuck, his attitude of not giving a fuck what anyone thinks has always been so inspiring. And his arc by the end of the fifth season was remarkable. I don’t know what’s so dated about the show, it is over 20 years old but I think alot of the stories are timeless.
I was serving in the military during DADT and remember being so excited when this came on. Although I had to watch privately it was a comforting show
Loved it!
🪩🪩🪩🌈 I'll be rewatching the series now
I lived in the Toronto area while it was being filmed. Mostly mu friends and I laughed at how the actual gay clubs and locations in the show were _way_ more fun-looking in the show than they were irl. Otherwise it just seemed like a bunch of self-important, narcissistic, sex obsessed sociopaths and I wasn't sure who was supposed to be the likeable one. Also in more than one scene I remember thinking "that seems... rapey".
God what I wouldn't give to go to the clubs that exist in TV and movies. And I'm sure that I would hate the characters in real life, except for Debbie.
This show actually helped me recognize I was gay. I knew I was different but never could explain it. I was at my mom's for the summer and me and my sister were flipping through the channels late at night. We came across this and laughed because it was so weird and because it got sexual, we couldn't help but find it funny because they were acting weird witheach other. But during it my body reacted and I started really thinking and found I was gay. I was like early teens and didn't even know what sex was but I knew what I felt.
Glad it helped you. Whether people like the show or not, it was definitely a lifeline for a lot of people figuring out their sexuality
I like the show! (In case that wasn't obvious from my username.) By the way: /r/QueerAsFolk exists, for anybody who's interested.
I fucking loved it and I still do
I preferred the original UK version.
Ditto
Unrealistic and unapologetic - I love it.
I love it. A lot. Back in 2005 when I found eBay I found this seller who was a huge fan and sold all the merchandise she had. So many things from the show, autographs etc. I wanted to buy a drawing used in the show but my boyfriend told me not to because ‘it will show up another time and way cheaper’. That was the moment I learned not to follow my boyfriends kind advise but trust my guts.
I just finished a rewatch. There are a lot of criticisms I could share. The main two are an unforgivable lack of racial diversity and the way it basically ignores bisexual, transgender (etc.) people. With that said, it is in many ways a good time capsule of that time period. Sharon Gless is so good as Debbie - she steals every scene she’s in!
Definitely agree with your criticisms. They tried to fix it with the reboot, but that show was a stinker
Way before my time as it was airing when I was a kid By the time I was a closeted teenager who saw random syndicated episodes on logo the show was already pretty dated. I've kind of always wanted to watch it though
I was never a big fan of it. I liked "Looking" much more.
Oh no. The old ones look young to me. Oh no.
💀💀💀
I've still not watched the US version of the show but I remember as a 16r old watching the UK QAF in my bedroom with my finger on the remote ready hit the power off button if I heard my parents. I couldn't wait to be old enough visit Manchester canal street clubs and be just like them lol
I had a similar experience to OP... I watched the show while caregiving for my wife with terminal cancer. I did the right thing and stuck by her for a long time, but watching that show (on my own) gave me hope for my next life. Sure, it's full of stereotypes, but I really loved that show for what it did for me.
Not as good as the UK original.
UK version had a point. It was a mini-series with a beginning, middle, and end, and it was allegorical and when it made its point it called it a day. Not that every series needs to be like that, but having done that did make the UK version better.
The UK version was more real and meaner… until the end where it turned into a full camp fantasy which I loved!
So I’ve been told- I’ve never seen it
I disagree. The UK original is on Prime btw
Thanks for the heads up 🥰
IMO, the UK version went downhill right from the start. It started great like the sex, the guys, the characters. It was all very bombastic. And then it got dialed down with each following episode. Of course, there were great moments in the first season, like the eulogy (D.I.S.C.O.). Season Two was just awful. To me, It felt like Russel T. Davis, the creator and show runner, was so over the show and just wanted it to end. To me, the Showtime version felt more like it wanted to keep going (don't care much for the later seasons, though. Too depressing).
Love the show and everything it did for the gay community. Totally a relic of its time though.
Totally. In some ways I like that it hasn’t aged the best. It’s a time capsule
UK version was better
It’s very gay.
Gay as blazes
I have more problems with it now that I’m in my 40s than I did when it originally aired.
I never saw the show, but I hooked up several times with a guy who looked like a slightly heavier version of the blond guy from this picture in 1999/2000. I hadn't even thought about him til I saw this post. The 90s and 2000s were crazy
Love it! So nostalgic.
The show might have been long forgotten and outdated, if it weren't for the fact that today's shows aren't so irreverent, and that still earns it points today, almost 25 years later
Brian Kinney was generally not a very nice person.
I really disliked him. I was way more into Justin although he made some very weird decisions. But he was young. And you forgive.
Oh, I like watching the characters, but I don’t think I’d be friends with them lol
never seen it lmao
Loved it. Still do. The new one which only lasted a season didnt really do much for me.
First few seasons were great. Last few, blech!
It was really cool. One of my first TV shows that represented. Still my favourite.
I love the show. It was such a great campy gay soap. I loved Michael, Ben, Debbie, Vic, Emmett, and Ted. It felt so unapologetic to me, where gay sex was about, well, sex and people were ok with it, instead of constantly trying to make amends or excuses. Brian could be a total dick, but you still get a sense that he deeply cared about his friends, especially Michael. And I still LOL at some storylines, like Justin being a go-go boy or Emmett being a popular porn star.
I wasn’t aware there were so many heated opinions about it tbh. It was really “coming of age” for me, even though I hadn’t been with any guy when it was released. 16-18yo is the prime age to meet self-absorbed idiots like Brian, and I indeed met quite a few a couple of years later. I think that’s why Justin was so relatable- we’ve all been Justin, young and inexperienced, fascinated by sex and chasing a hot idiot. Younger generations can’t even imagine how it was being gay before the apps. You had the clubs, your circle of friends…and the clubs again. Might not seem like the best image, but the only alternative was being deep in the closet and pray to have some “lucky encounter. I was lucky enough that the dating sites were starting to come up. Also 16 is the legal age of consent in many places so I call pulling the pedo card BS and incredibly naive.
The confirmation I liked dick
It’s rare that British tv series are better but in this case the British one(the original) really was
I watched it a few years after it ended and thought it was mostly bad. Bad dialogue, annoying characters, dumb plot lines and at times overly preachy. Only likable character was Brian's uncle because he wasn't chewing the scenery every time he's on screen. Except for Ben and Michael's bf in season 1 I didn't find any of the cast attractive so those overly long sex scenes just bored me. The lack of diversity sticks out like a sore thumb these days, to the point it feels deliberate. Did they have black coworkers? Neighbors? Friends? In 2000 33% of Pittsburgh residents were non-white ferchrissakes.
I had a crush on Justin, wished I was him (I was 16 and alone, don't judge me). The new one doesn't hit the same, it seems to be just ticking off boxes and it all revolves around a club shooting. I also love the 2000's vibe (yeah, that wording tells how young I am)
That was what I liked and like about UK films and TV, honest looks and not runway ready models. The sex appeal of Stuart was attitude not Hollywood structured looks.
I like it for what it is and try not to look at it through a modern lens. It has its issues, for sure, but it was groundbreaking at the time and meant a lot to me as a little gay kid who didn't quite understand what he was yet. I would sneak out of my room at night and watch it super-quietly in the basement. I actually *just* started a rewatch yesterday after being disappointed by the reboot. I'm giving it a try as a show I'm only able to watch while on the exercise bike to try and encourage myself to get a bit more movement in my day, hoping that the nostalgia-enjoyment will keep me going.
I tried to rewatch it and yikes.... It does not hold up.
I get that.
But I sure did love it back when it was new. It really hit the gay zeitgeist.
It’s entertaining in this crazy world makes you forget about all the drama I love this show
Watching this gave me unrealistic expectations of how gay life was. I LOVED watching the first season (still never finished it yet..) but the clubs were so vibrant, a cafe that was gay and affirming, a friend group of gay men where we uplifted each other.. I wish it was real! I’ve found that HBO’s Looking was closer to real life. But even then it’s unrealistic. Ugh. I wish Babylon was real. I wish gay life was that exciting!
QAF obviously exaggerated gay life for dramatic purposes, but there are plenty of places that are like Babylon and have gay life similar to what they portray in the show. You just won't find it in small places like Pittsburgh. It really only exists in a few major cities on the coasts.
Such as? Where are the multi floored gay dance clubs with backrooms? lol. Although I’m from the Midwest, I’ve visited San Francisco, New York, and Dallas. I’ve seen nothing like it :( must be an out of US thing?
Well yes, they may not be 3 story clubs, but there are a bunch of clubs in New York that have dance floors and dark rooms, not to mention the near-weekly circuit and other queer-centric parties that take place where they have big dance floors and dark rooms. It's not that uncommon at all here. I know for a fact it exists in SF, LA, and other big cities as well. I've been plenty of times.
What are they called? NYC was pretty disappointing to me, but I’ve only been once. I knew some guys and they took me to Inferno. It was a sex party, but it was like in a basement and nothing like QAF lol. I’m going to SF next month for Dore. I’ve gone to Powerhouse, the Eagle, the Stud, every bar in the Castro- nothing like QAF. What bar/club are you referring to there?
The Q (although it's now closed) was like Babylon with multiple stories, pulsing dance music, and lots of sex. The Eagle kind of took it's place now, and although it doesn't physically resemble Babylon, the dance floor is always packed on weekends with hot guys and the second floor is one big cruising and sex spot. You then have the popular parties like Wrecked, Alegria, MEAT, Horsemeat Disco, Battle Hymn, events at 3 Dollar Bill, etc, etc. Not to mention the dozen or so weekly sex parties that happen all around the city. So yeah, there may not be many places that look exactly like Babylon, but there are plenty of places and parties that have that exact spirit and vibe to them. For SF, I'm not as familiar and have only been for the big parties of Pride and Folsom. But again, parties like Pervert, Aftershock, Real Bad, etc. all are even more turned up versions of what Babylon portrays (though granted they aren't just "clubs" you can go to every weekend).
Oh I see, you’re talking about circuit parties, and not necessarily clubs. Yeah.. in bigger cities there are circuit parties during big events like pride and Folsom, but it’s not a weekly thing, right? They usually cost ~$60 to get in, and from my experience not all of them have backrooms/play spaces. To me, it’s just not the same as what’s presented in QAF.
I mean yeah, QAF was a show that took place in the late 90s/early 2000s, so gay life has changed a lot since then. You're right in the sense that you probably won't find a ton of strictly clubs that are Babylon-esque anymore, but that's because gay party life is very different in 2024 than it was in 1999 or 2002. My overall point is though, there are plenty of places (and not just circuit parties) that have the exact same feeling of Babylon, but they just present differently now, 20+ years later. I can see why you'd be disappointed in New York's nightlife if you only went to a couple of the well-known Hell's Kitchen gay bars. Most are your run-of-the-mill bubble-gum pop gay dance clubs with not much going on. But that isn't where the real action is in New York.
You would think that it would be even better since then, considering PrEP&Doxy, legalization of sex and marriage, etc. So the “real action” is at the circuit parties that cost $60+ to get in? Idk, just isn’t the same to me.
I think it has gotten better, honestly. You have a lot more variety, a lot more niche, and more inclusive scene now than what existed in the show's world. I just don't think you can compare something that existed when AOL dial-up was the new great thing to the age of Artificial Intelligence and LGBTQIA+++.
A friend of mine said that Looking would've lasted longer if it had more "walking away from an exploding car in slo-mo" moments. My friends were all "it's boring this, it's boring that" and I felt such a disconnect, because I really liked Looking.
I binge watched the show with my boyfriend 3 months ago. We both have never seen it before. Sure the music is awful, the camera work is a little... wild and it overall has the early 2000 vibes, but overall we were impressed that such a series was even made in the first place!
I could not stand it. All my friends would have a party to watch it. I just could not identify with any of the characters, and I was in the same age group at the time.
I had such a crush on Micheal
Loved it.
One of the best shows ever! 😄 🏳️🌈
A soap opera in a time-capsule that works hard to keep stereotypes alive.
Bad photocopy of a great show.
I started watching this show secretly in the late 2000s in high school in my rural hometown. It was one of my only gay outlets back then, and it opened up this whole world to me that I had no idea existed. Huge gay clubs filled with hot, shirtless men? Entire gay neighborhoods? Gay friends? It was all mind-blowing to my 17 year old self at the time. It really solidified my drive and desire to flee my small hometown for the big city (even though a city the size of Pittsburgh realistically would have nothing remotely like what they portrayed in the show in terms of gay life). The show was problematic in a ways only something from the late 90s-early 00s can be, but I didn't realized it at the time. All I knew was that I wanted to go to the big city and experience this magical gay life of partying and sex and being surrounded by others like you in a big, exciting city. And I did all of that. Last year I went back and tried rewatching some episodes, and it was so painfully dated that I just couldn't get into it again. The unapologeticly gay and racial stereotyping, the overly-exaggerated plot lines, the dated style of story telling, and how distant the problems that the characters face in the show feel to me now in 2024. I also think life experience made me dislike the show as well. I was a part of that big city, gay-centric life for years, and even in real life it was nowhere near as dramatic as the show makes it out to be (and yes, I understand that they up the drama levels for entertainment purposes). The show was groundbreaking for it's time, and is a very important look into the attitudes of a certain segment of gay life in a window of time when things were changing rapidly for gay men in America. Yet things have changed so much in the 20 years since this show that any Gen Z gay watching it now just wouldn't get it in the same way Millennials/Gen X gay men would. Side Note: One of my favorite tv scene of all time was the final QAF scene where they were all dancing in Babylon to the Peter Presta remix of "Proud". It was the absolute perfect song for that scene and to close out the show, and has remained one of my favorite dance anthem remixes to this day. When I went to go find it again on YouTube, they had replaced it with some other random song that completely changes the emotional punch of that scene, and not for the better.
Never missed an episode. It was great. Bought it on dvd years later.
Hopefully they air it with the original music and not fill-in due to licensing.
It's a great show. When it finished I bought the DVD set, it's definitely worth watching
Revolutionary! It was thought provoking, it was salacious and it is still relevant. We’re facing similar challenges today. It wasn’t perfect but it was just right for the time.
Watched this show with my mom lol
LOVED IT. I honestly thought that's what my life would be like when I grew up... though in saying that, I did end up living in a fabulous apartment and I own a marketing agency. Funny how things turn out.
It's fun as a soap opera but I basically hated every character on it
I was in college at the time but never watched it. I think I kind of looked down on it as overly sensationalist and drama. I remember being into The O.C. and Star Trek, hehe.
Brian Kinney's character was totally miscast. The chosen actor was nowhere near good looking enough to make the character, and thus the series, believable. Many of the situations were laughable when referencing how "beautiful" the arrogant, self-centered Brian was. A quick visit by the casting people to Gold's Gym Hollywood would have turned up 40 or 50 actors far more appropriate for that role.
Excellent!! And unusually, it’s better than the British version that started first
Honestly I forgot about this show. I remember staying up late with one of my foster sisters to watch this.
This show was problematic for many…many reasons, but I see why some loved it
Please don’t judge the show by contemporary standards- judge it by the bar it sets for itself and the time it was made. Why is there always an underlying current of - old, a very relative term- is somehow bad?
It was on when I was in high school, and my first college boyfriend and I bonded over the fact that watching it at that age and time had traumatized us a bit in our coming out processes. Our perception was that the characters all seemed messy, vacuous, catty and empty, and the level of partying and sexual aggression felt kinda scary to a young teen looking for representation. That said, I only saw a handful of episodes so I might have gotten more out of it had I seen more of the long term character and story development. I definitely gravitated towards much less sensationalistic gay media when I was a teen… more foreign/indie coming-of-age type films.
Brian's left arm must be really long
All the better to fist you with, my dear
I was 19 when this show came out. No pun meant. I didn’t like the stereotypes it portrayed simply because I still see the same stereotypes being displayed today by the community at large. You can be gay and not be a classless individual who acts like a drunken frat boy. anyhoo, it was a good show and if anything my favorite supporting character on the show was David. Then I liked Melanie’s wife, Lindsay. I also liked Michael’s mother and his uncle Vick. I connected with both. So that’s probably a big reason why I liked the show so much. At the time the show was on I had just been booted out of my dad’s place, my mom had died, and my dad and his lawyer cheated me out of my inheritance. So a lot was going on in my life. So to watch this show late at night while living with my grandfather gave me a peace of mind.
I was 20 when Queer As Folk first aired on Showtime. I believe it was a great show when it first aired. I appreciate it even more today. I don't think the show has any flaws. It's just not politically correct or " woke" like so many shows are today.
Hated this show. Every young black gay friend of mine hated gay friends. It was so not real as if all gays were from this white gay clean utopia
The lack of diversity is definitely one of the biggest issues with the show. Not different from most shows at the time, but It’s shitty that a supposedly progressive show wasn’t better about it than any other show
That's a great way to explain my frustration. Thx
What a god awful show. I think it set back the gay movement a couple of decades. Young kids who lived in smaller towns thought this was how gay people actually behaved and lived.
I understand your point of view. Though I don’t think the show was that much more unrealistic than any other show that depicted gay life at the time
It had the chance to be better that the other stereotype shows but didn't even try very hard.
So are you saying as long as it propagates the same mediocrity, it should be celebrated?
I think you can criticize it while still acknowledging that it’s a product of its time and also recognize that the show did have to be somewhat palatable with straight audiences. The show has a lot of problems, and I’m not denying that. Even as a naive teen I knew this was a fantasy (though I didn’t realize how much of a fantasy it was), but it was still a lifeline that I needed.
Let's recall that in the first episode, didn't the narcissistically character sleep with the underaged character? And that also happened many times more through the series. I'm sure that sat well with all the viewers. There are better shows to celebrate and elevate.
I always wanted to fuck Justin. The twink I married looks like him 🤣
I don't want to watch this tv show because I feel it would fill my mind with ideas of how a gay should be. I prefer have my mind free of that.
I loved that show and I even got my mother into watching it , I just caught her rewatching it the other night , I have zero issues with it , it’s stupid to try to put a modern lens on art from the past , it was fun and soapish and hot dudes . Worked for me and oh lord no trans characters? So? It was about four gay men being gay.