“I’d love to write a regular column, like a gay Sex and the City,” said every gay 20-something writer in their first pitch to a major outlet.
Luckily, when HBO decided to give a certain writer with the same vision the greenlight on a primetime series, the network made an excellent choice trusting their new “gay Sex and the City” in the hands of buzzworthy writer/director Andrew Haigh.
The new show, Looking, reportedly follows an all-gay (or gay for pay?) cast looking for love in the “City by the Bay.” Production had San Franciscans getting excited last weekend as camera crews and star actors Jonathan Groff and Russell Tovey took to the streets to begin filming the show’s pilot. As you can see in the clip below, even straight folks at KTVU are hard up for Looking because it will bring “big business” to the city.
Some onlookers had different thoughts about the new show, one even claimed it may be “past it’s time.” According to a random passerby in tinted prescription glasses and an NFL jersey, Looking is so over because “somebody should have done it a few years ago.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
But we say nay to the nay-sayers! This show sounds like it will be pretty progressive, and at least the producers are casting a wide variety of diverse gay men, including “real military men…willing to get tight, military-style haircut” and “hipsters…able to pull of Hipster vibe with your own clothes and styling.”
A gay actor starring in an HBO series about gay hipsters hooking up with military men in San Francisco? We’re sold.
knowrites
If by progressive you mean homogeneous, upper middle class – wealthy white gays in fabulous apartments/locals, dealing with issues that are trivial at best in the Bay Area. Then yes. Progress!!!
jimstoic
GREAT opening sentence.
jimstoic
@knowrites: Did you miss the part about “casting a wide variety of diverse gay men”?
knowrites
@jimstoic:
From the casting AD
– Real military men — or fit men — in their 20s to 30s, willing to get tight, military-style haircut
[ho ho ho fit men you say, guess we won’t be seeing any B___RS no kidding real original]
– Gay/gay-friendly men and gay and lesbian couples willing to dance with same-sex partners
[granted this is a opportunity to add a splash of diversity…….pssst they won’t…..]
– Hipsters 18 to 30: “Must be able to pull off Hipster vibe with your own clothes & styling.”
[You don’t say, I wonder if they require authentic trust funds to go with the overpriced haircuts and vintage clothing]
I wonder how my homeless people we’ll see on the show. I’d say it’d make a great drinking game but everyone would go home sober.
Homophile
Predictable /yawn worthy comments.
Jake357
“somebody should have done it a few years ago.” Pretty much. And I echo Knowrites sentiments as well. Cliche SF? Check. Threadbare plot draped over naked bodies like a napkin? Check. The vague sense that between Sex And The City and Queer As Folk and Tales of the City that this will all have been done before? Check. I don’t expect much from this show and thus far it hasn’t raised my eyebrows. I will, however, admit that any hot love scenes with Russell Tovey might make me change my mind. If they wanted to represent a different kind of gay experience they should have built this show around workaday gays in a less “fabulous” city. It smacks of window dressing and not of substance.
patricklee5150
Sounds fabulous!
andy_d
@knowrites: You forgot attitude-laden and provincial. Lived there. Dealt with that. Over it. Now in the NYC area. Much more real.
sailor374
There already is a gay Sex In The City show. A web series called Old Dogs-New Tricks and its
basically a Sex In The City crossed with Queer As Folk. Its set in LA about 4 successful older men and the men they play with.
Homophile
I love how everyone knows so much about a show they’ve never seen.
stanhope
I’ll watch it to support it but I wholeheartedly agree if diverse only means “military types and twinks” then I’d be disappointed. I like, to some extent, DTLA. At least there we see racially diverse men. To see another show of white, well off men, with great lofts incessantly going to the gym and boyfriend problems will get old fast. I also agree that the setting in San Francisco also conjures up notions of cliche.
stanhope
@jimstoic: Did you see what they cited as diverse? A closer observation would be helpful.
TinoTurner
I’m a white guy but everyone needs to shut the fuck up. Has no one heard of Noahs Arc? I watched that show mainly for how delightfully awful it was and for the reverse racism. Everyone had hot hook ups, rich boyfriends, amazing houses and the ONLY white people ever filmed were gay bashers. It was pure entertainment as I’m sure this HBO krap will be too.
Reid Condit
I dare this show’s writers to deal with the fact that for almost 30 years now, San Francisco has had no gay bathhouses that respect the privacy rights of gay men. For those you have to go to Berkeley, San Jose, or — perish the thought — Los Angeles. SF used to be a great gay town, but that was 40 years ago. Aside from a few days in the year when the rules of assimilation are suspended so bring in some bucks — such as this coming Sunday’s Folsom Street Fair — I think it’s highly unlikely that HBO will be able to make gay life in SF very interesting, much less enticing.
CaptainFabulous
Queerty, where bitter old gay queens go to bitch moan and (hopefully) die.
The amount of vitriol and incessant whining never ceases to amaze me.
Charlie in Charge
Interesting to see how many are making funeral arrangements before the birth. Let’s see how it does.
barkomatic
Oh please. Everyone on this board is going to watch this show for the man-candy alone. Afterward, they will criticize the show when talking to their friends but then tune in again the next week and the week after.
Pistolo
Please just don’t let it be something every gay man has to answer for when straight people watch it.
Paul F
@knowrites: You forgot to add older “grey” gays to that list of obvious.
AEH
@CaptainFabulous:
So what are you doing here?
CaptainFabulous
@AEH: I come for the articles, I stay for the ridiculous comments.
frshmn
@Reid Condit: Nothing quite defines a great gay town like bathhouses.
TVC 15
@knowrites: @andy_d:
Totally agree with you Andy: very provincial there.