Russell Tovey is still really upset that so many gays thought ‘Looking’ was boring
By Johnny Lopez · 43 comments· Updated on January 26, 2024
After successfully launching Sex and the City and Girls, HBO hoped to recreate the magic of single friends navigating life and love in the big city with the premiere of Looking in 2014.
While the earlier two shows centered on white heterosexual women in NYC, Looking focused on a slightly more diverse group of gay men in San Francisco. And since a large swath of SATC and Girls’ fanbase was gay men, it would have seemed like Looking was destined to be a huge hit with us boys.
Despite drawing good reviews from critics, the series failed to catch on in the same way as Carrie and co. and was canceled after 18 episodes and 2 seasons, with a wrap-up film released a year later to the delight of hardcore viewers who enjoyed its nuanced and profound storylines. This author included.
You can revisit the Looking boys, Patrick, Augustin, Dom, Richie and Kevin, below:
Perhaps because it didn’t include zingy one-liners or fashionistas sipping cocktails in high-end bars, many gays at the time wrote the series off as being dull and slow.
Now seven years after the show’s final credits rolled, Russell Tovey, who co-starred alongside fellow out actors Jonathan Groff and a pre-White LotusMurray Bartlett, is revealing he’s still annoyed that the show never got much love from the gays.
“The critical narrative at the beginning was that nothing much happened in it,” Tovey told The Independent. “That it was too boring. But it was just real life!”
To illustrate his irritation, the 41-year-old described how some gay guys were cavalier with their opinions when approaching him while shooting the series on the streets of San Francisco.
“They’d say, ‘You’re in Looking!… but I’ve not watched it, I’ve heard it’s boring’,” he recounted to the outlet. “They hadn’t even seen it! And it’s about you, in your city, filming outside your coffee shop, and you’re not even intrigued to watch it?”
“His tongue slipped in and then they cut and he went to me, ‘I just slipped my tongue in there…Is that all right?’ I said, ‘If it’s all right with you.’”
Despite being heartbroken about the lackluster reception, Tovey believes it would fare much better with audiences if it were to be released in the current climate.
“It really, really frustrated me. It broke me, honestly,” he admitted. “If that show came out now, it’d have a completely different response.”
Despite Looking being canceled too soon and not getting the standom it deserved, Tovey is happy that young queer kids have a lot more options of seeing themselves on screen than he did in his youth.
“Look at Heartstopper or Glee. If we had them shows when I was growing up, I would have felt a bit better about myself,” Tovey said.
“I’m so proud of the way the world is now. For young kids to be able to say, ‘Cool, I’ll watch Glee tonight and then go to a gay bar’ – that is an incredible gift that’s been handed down. But we must pay respect and remember where that gift came from.”
Since Looking, Tovey has gone on to other TV shows including roles on Quantico, The Flash, Years and Years, and, most recently, American Horror Story: NYC alongside Zachary Quinto, Charlie Carver, Sandra Bernhard and Patti LuPone.
While you can binge both seasons of Looking on HBO Max, check out a few more photos of Tovey being totally not boring below:
“The elderly bark. The young bite. The life is a circle of day and night.”
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We watched, of course we loved it but mostly because of the setting. The Great City Of San Francisco. If it was set in Podunk Texas……then no. The actors were hot. Two thumbs (or one fist) up!
At the end of the day, Tovey is a great actor who has been in some really quality films: “The History Boys” and “The Pass”, just to name two.
Kudos to him for defending “Looking”, but I, like most audiences, found it dull, like watching paint dry.
The recent reboot of “Queer As Folk” that got canceled after one season was much better. At least “Looking” made it to two seasons, with a movie closure to boot. If the rest of the series had been as good as the finale movie, it might have had a shot.
yes he has ears BIG Dumbo ears and he really should have the surgery they give to toddlers to pin them back. I definitely would take it more seriously as an actor without those big ears flopping sorry I’m trolling but it’s the truth. Looking sucked BTW good actors boring storylines .
I never thought Looking was boring. Some of the characters were a little insufferable at times, but for the most part it felt true to life.
I will say though that it was a little hard to believe Jonathan Groff’s character being as naive as he was. With that group of friends, living in that city, looking the way he did, and being close to 30, it was a little far fetched, even though they tried to explain that he used to be a self-conscious overweight kid. But Groff is still a charming actor and the season 1 episode that just follows him on a day-long date with his new bf is exquisite.
I think the main plot of episode 2 was Jonathan Groff’s character freaking out about potentially having to touch an uncut dick for the first time, because he was interested in a Latino guy and his friends told him that Latinos are usually uncut. All this, despite the fact that his character, as you said, is a close to 30 year old resident of San Francisco, and the first episode established that he has a very active sex life that includes cruising.
I diligently watched it at the time and I did not like it. It was a multi-episode relationship drama with a basic and very slow storyline, so the comparison to more sitcom-like and zinger-heavy Girls and Sex and the City is not working for me. Gays fixated on physique and status and treating their friends and partners horribly just because also wasn’t that appealing. It seriously lacked humor, any given episode of Drag race shows how everything what i think was wrong with Looking can be turned into TV gold with just a few well placed jokes. However, if the bet was on the hotness of the actors and general ambiance, sort of an artsy piece… well, a Wong Kar-wai movie it was not.
Agreed. This man is so insufferable. He has given multiple interviews where he whines about his life, his career, etc. It’s so grating. Some actors, if they’re bad at PR, should just be quiet and stick to acting — the silence and mystery would probably serve them better. Now that I know how annoying he actually is, I just roll my eyes.
I watched every episode of Looking as well as the film. I enjoyed it to a degree, but unlike SATC, they forgot to make the characters likeable. Jonathan Groff’s character was so awkward at times that it made it heavy going. Perhaps it would have been better if Murray Bartlett had been the lead as at least he had developed a better sense of who he was as a person. As for Tovey, maybe the writers were eager to include a non-stereotypical ‘masculine’ gay man, but his character came across as cold, remote, and worst of all, smug.
The trick that SATC pulled off so well, was that it played on female archetypes that, rightly or wrongly, many women wanted to be, or at least could relate to in some way. That wasn’t the case with Looking, and whilst, as you’d expect, the characters served to move the stories forward, they only rarely connected with the audience. That’s not enough to make a show a hit and ultimately, made viewing it a test of endurance, rather than one of enjoyment.
All the main characters were unlikeable while the supporting characters were people I’d want to hang out with. This was best demonstrated by Tovey’s character who was a nice guy in season one but became a regular and, consequently, a dick in season two.
OASN, I never found the S&tC women to be any better. They spent all their time judging others and blaming their failed relationships on the men in their lives. The few times when they accepted that they might not be perfect and were willing to admit that they might be at fault were the moments they actually achieved some semblance of happiness.
Looking was a snoozefest. Raúl Castillo was a treat, though, as was O-T Fagbenle, but they got rid of him too quickly. The comedian Bashir Salahuddin also made an appearance, as a straight man, but I wish he’d played a gay character. Daniel Franzese also made a memorable appearance. In general, though, meh.
I like Russell Tovey as an actor, but “Looking” was ponderous and dull. And that dullness extended to the art direction. All those grays and muted greens and dull blues, including the clothes (don’t get me started on the clothes!). I get that it’s SF and gloomy weather and hoodies and tech culture, but hello! In a story about a gay guys, there has to be at least *some* color and bling.
Also, “Sex and the City” was only ostensibly about a group of straight women. Any gay guy who lived in NYC during that period will recognize himself and his best friends in Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.
I enjoyed the show but the other comment hit the nail on the head. Not eonogh lauggter. My friends and I in Seattle did plenty of cruising but had more time hanging out , restaurants , dropping over at each others homes, a few of us had ltr and our lovers all interacted with all of us. Gave each other nothing but support. Actual cis families dropping in with varying degrees of acceptance. And not the naked greed and fame seeking of that horrid so called reality show. We went to movies, played games, dinnerd, beaches, vacations just a sunnier chosen family life. Deep support. Not as outlandish as queer as folk but not ever Bleak
I’ve never had cable or HBO. So, Tovey can shake his finger at someone else.
Although, I was able to watch the first episode. Where, if I recall correctly, the Groff character cruised Buena Vista Park, and was turned down after a personals ad date. There was also a three way. All of which I had participated in or happened to me.
What bothered me, and keep me away from making it must see TV, was being told that it was an IMPORTANT series to watch. I’ll go to school if I want to have lessons and lectured to. Also, I was told that the series represented, and presented, the whole of the gay community. As I said, didn’t watch the series, but I’m sure they failed at that.
How can Tovey, or anyone else for that matter, expect gay men to have put time aside to watch the show, when they don’t attend movies in a theater that are about LGBTQ+ characters. Before and since the series ran.
I didn’t find Looking to be boring. It was good for the times. I’m surprised Tovey took it so hard from the decenters. I don’t believe it was the majority view.
The Jonathan Groff character couldn’t carry a series; tried to make him true to life but he wasn’t. They should have put more drama/unexpected events into the plot. It’s a pity that the series focused on the lives of gay men still are so few that we maybe have unwarranted expectations from any series that makes it to premium streaming. I’d love to see more series/sitcoms depicting gay life – something post Modern Family.
Cam
Jonathan Groff’s character may have worked if he was 21 and just moved to San Francisco for his first job. His naivety would have played more realistic if that were the case.
However, him being 30, out for decade, and living in San Francisco all that time, and STILL acting like a giggly wide eyed child just didn’t work.
Also, the character of Augustin was so ridiculously unlikeable and they never gave us any indication of why these people were friends and why the others put up with such an unlikable person.
Then, in response to criticism they overcorrected and in Season 2 gave Augustin a complete personality transplant.
I saw the final movie and it annoyed me because it was good. And it showed me that the series could have been good. It was watchable, but it wasn’t engaging. In Sex and the City, first and foremost the characters were at least likable.
I love more LGBTQ content going out there, but I never understood why Looking seemed determined to make me work to enjoy it.
But really wasn’t that the whole arc of Groff’s Patrick character? A rather emotionally immature guy who has it together in his work life, but in his private life is a mess? And if you watched the looking movie you see the growth of the Patrick character emotional maturity happening. He kind of explained it in the movie quite well. He had to. Because the series got cancelled and that was the writer’s way of saying see? This is what I was going for. Sex and the City was a comedy. Looking was not. It’s apples and oranges. As for Augustine and his character transplant, not really. Or in your world are people not supposed to evolve? He was totally self-absorbed in Season 1 and he got his comeuppance with the death of his relationship and his ex reading him for filth about who he was. This spoiled Coral Gables rich family princess who has the luxury of seeing himself as this cool artist while not exactly producing any art. And it saddens me I am analyzing series characters
who are long gone and who aren’t real persons lol. Ah, me.
No, Johnathan Groff’s character didn’t make sense for his age and where he was living. Being giggly and wide eyed over the idea of a foreskin from a 30 year old out of the closet guy in SF is ridiculous. Maybe Groff couldn’t play the age correctly or maybe the writers should have made everyone a decade younger and they didn’t know how to write for guys in their 30s.
And no, Augustin didn’t “Evolve”, he literally changed from one day to the next. And the change was such a ridiculous knee jerk over correction that it was almost an f-you to the viewer.
One day he was a vicious, cruel self absorbed narcissist and the next day he was a completely different person in response to viewer comments that there is no way the other characters would have been friends with the guy.
That has more to do with who Tovey hangs around with than the actual feelings of most gay men. I’m sure the muscle mary party circuit might have found it boring. Because it showed gay life as just as mundane and ordinary and occasionally drama laden as straight life. It was a beautifully written series that HBO ended way too soon. But it’s show business. Maybe it didn’t catch on with the straight folks who have no problem with gay characters as long as they don’t have an active sex life on screen. You can look to Bros’ flop to get an indication of that. While the gay community didn’t wholeheartedly support it, the so called straight allies didn’t come out in droves either.
Bros was the most miserably miscast cinematic gay bore movie of the century. Of course it flopped. Hard to use it as a comparison for good films. I couldn’t get past 5 mins.
Bros was funny and well written, but your account has stealthily defended Republicans on other posts, so not surprised you complain about a movie that cast every major part with an out of the closet LGBTQ person as being “Miscast”.
I’m neither a “muscle mary” nor “straight” but I found Looking quite dull. Bros wasn’t great but it also was not a “bore.” It had quite a bit going on, and if it had had a different lead, it probably would have done better than it did.
It’s highly acclaimed Billy Eichner was a faux pas in casting. Read the reviews. Can’t argue with facts. A more attractive actor would have saved that bomb of a show.
I liked the show a lot but in the early episodes Jonathan Groff’s character was so weird and unengaging that I feel it turned many people off. I had to stick it out because I liked the other characters but Groff’s really turned me off as his insecurities weren’t entertaining coming from a 30 year old man. Russell was great and sexy in this series. The single movie wrap up showed how good the show could have been but I feel the poor writing in the first episodes doomed it. Sadly no other gay shows of quailty have turned up since and gay men are being ignored now as the trans issue has taken over the nation dividing us even more. It can’t get any worse than creepy Dylan Mulvaney becoming the new face of the LGBTQ community setting us all back 40 years with her over the top “look at me” antics that insult trans and real women alike.
I didn’t find “Looking” boring at all and I was disappointed when it was canceled. I liked the fact that it included a wide variety of gay men, rather than just the usual twinks and brainless party stereotypes.
I was massively turned off by Tovey when he essentially thanked his Dad for saving him from being effeminate. Took years for me to finally be able to stand him. I did like him in the latest season of AHS.
Following @DarkZephyr, Tovey’s anti-effeminacy, which Queerty reported on some years ago, was revolting. It turned me off of him for a while. He has since backtracked but clearly he was dealing with internal homophobia. I hope he keeps working through it.
The closer comparison with Looking is Girls, which was rawer and less stylized than Sex and the City, but still at times quite funny. Its chief characters ran the spectrum of likability, but the show was worth watching because it always included interesting twists and turns in the four main characters’ lives, and had very lively secondary characters as well. To its credit, Looking was more diverse and reflective of SF in some ways than Girls was of Brooklyn, even taking into account the “girls'” milieu, but didn’t do much with that.
Russell needs to dig deeper. He’ll find that Looking wasn’t merely boring. The characters were odious (his in particular), the storylines were painfully ungratifying and lacking in any kind of insight, and the overall production was drab.
“Looking” is incredibly boring. The cast was mostly wonderful and worth watching, but the story lines, narratives, and dialogues were completely inert. I began making parodies of the show, re-titling it “Lacking,”
as in lacking
Drama, Interest, Suspense, Plot, Storytelling, Humor, Purpose, Drive, Spark, and so on.
And the show did it’s best to make SF look like Pittsburgh.
I have to say I was disappointed when HBO decided not to bring back “Looking”. I didn’t find it boring at all. There were parts that seems unrealistic, considering how much it costs to live in San Fran these days (or when it was shot) I often wondered how these guys could pay. the rent.
But boring, no. It did show that gay life is not all sex and drugs. Sure some characters were more prone to being involved in those things than others. I enjoyed seeing their everyday lives and was happy that for the most part, the characters lived lives that did not involve looking for the next hookup, but rather focused on their futures and relationships.
It’s easy to play “Monday Morning Quarterback” and pick apart various aspects of the show and claim they are unrealistic, but how would people compare this series to Showtime’s “Queer as Folk” where almost every gay stereotype was depicted. HBO, and the actors involved, should have made another go of it. That final movie they put out, where they tied up all the loose story lines, was disappointing. Like doesn’t always work out that well for everyone.
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dbmcvey
If you’re on crystal or have adhd most things are boring.
ThatGuy22
I loved Looking, as did my friends who watched it.
dbmcvey
I did too! A really nice, low key show with several really amazing episodes.
abfab
We watched, of course we loved it but mostly because of the setting. The Great City Of San Francisco. If it was set in Podunk Texas……then no. The actors were hot. Two thumbs (or one fist) up!
lykeitiz
Was “Looking” boring? Does Tovey have ears?
At the end of the day, Tovey is a great actor who has been in some really quality films: “The History Boys” and “The Pass”, just to name two.
Kudos to him for defending “Looking”, but I, like most audiences, found it dull, like watching paint dry.
The recent reboot of “Queer As Folk” that got canceled after one season was much better. At least “Looking” made it to two seasons, with a movie closure to boot. If the rest of the series had been as good as the finale movie, it might have had a shot.
BLAKENOW
yes he has ears BIG Dumbo ears and he really should have the surgery they give to toddlers to pin them back. I definitely would take it more seriously as an actor without those big ears flopping sorry I’m trolling but it’s the truth. Looking sucked BTW good actors boring storylines .
theaterbloke
Don’t put down the ears. They give you something to grab onto.
CatholicXXX
I thought it was okay. Shame it was cancelled. First impressions..
smittoons
I never thought Looking was boring. Some of the characters were a little insufferable at times, but for the most part it felt true to life.
I will say though that it was a little hard to believe Jonathan Groff’s character being as naive as he was. With that group of friends, living in that city, looking the way he did, and being close to 30, it was a little far fetched, even though they tried to explain that he used to be a self-conscious overweight kid. But Groff is still a charming actor and the season 1 episode that just follows him on a day-long date with his new bf is exquisite.
abfab
Seeing Groff in Spring Awakening. Seeing Groff in Looking. Seeing Groff in Hamilton. Seeing Groff anywhere anytime……….yes please.
afmandan
I think the main plot of episode 2 was Jonathan Groff’s character freaking out about potentially having to touch an uncut dick for the first time, because he was interested in a Latino guy and his friends told him that Latinos are usually uncut. All this, despite the fact that his character, as you said, is a close to 30 year old resident of San Francisco, and the first episode established that he has a very active sex life that includes cruising.
Someguy
I diligently watched it at the time and I did not like it. It was a multi-episode relationship drama with a basic and very slow storyline, so the comparison to more sitcom-like and zinger-heavy Girls and Sex and the City is not working for me. Gays fixated on physique and status and treating their friends and partners horribly just because also wasn’t that appealing. It seriously lacked humor, any given episode of Drag race shows how everything what i think was wrong with Looking can be turned into TV gold with just a few well placed jokes. However, if the bet was on the hotness of the actors and general ambiance, sort of an artsy piece… well, a Wong Kar-wai movie it was not.
Prax07
It was indeed boring. It was dull and I couldn’t relate then, it’d make no difference to me today.
Now give me a new show based on the continued lives of Mickey & Ian from Shameless and I’d watch every minute.
Man About Town
Does anyone remember the phrase “crying all the way to the bank”?
Brian
Agreed. This man is so insufferable. He has given multiple interviews where he whines about his life, his career, etc. It’s so grating. Some actors, if they’re bad at PR, should just be quiet and stick to acting — the silence and mystery would probably serve them better. Now that I know how annoying he actually is, I just roll my eyes.
Random
I watched every episode of Looking as well as the film. I enjoyed it to a degree, but unlike SATC, they forgot to make the characters likeable. Jonathan Groff’s character was so awkward at times that it made it heavy going. Perhaps it would have been better if Murray Bartlett had been the lead as at least he had developed a better sense of who he was as a person. As for Tovey, maybe the writers were eager to include a non-stereotypical ‘masculine’ gay man, but his character came across as cold, remote, and worst of all, smug.
The trick that SATC pulled off so well, was that it played on female archetypes that, rightly or wrongly, many women wanted to be, or at least could relate to in some way. That wasn’t the case with Looking, and whilst, as you’d expect, the characters served to move the stories forward, they only rarely connected with the audience. That’s not enough to make a show a hit and ultimately, made viewing it a test of endurance, rather than one of enjoyment.
theaterbloke
All the main characters were unlikeable while the supporting characters were people I’d want to hang out with. This was best demonstrated by Tovey’s character who was a nice guy in season one but became a regular and, consequently, a dick in season two.
OASN, I never found the S&tC women to be any better. They spent all their time judging others and blaming their failed relationships on the men in their lives. The few times when they accepted that they might not be perfect and were willing to admit that they might be at fault were the moments they actually achieved some semblance of happiness.
Kangol2
Looking was a snoozefest. Raúl Castillo was a treat, though, as was O-T Fagbenle, but they got rid of him too quickly. The comedian Bashir Salahuddin also made an appearance, as a straight man, but I wish he’d played a gay character. Daniel Franzese also made a memorable appearance. In general, though, meh.
Flaneur
I like Russell Tovey as an actor, but “Looking” was ponderous and dull. And that dullness extended to the art direction. All those grays and muted greens and dull blues, including the clothes (don’t get me started on the clothes!). I get that it’s SF and gloomy weather and hoodies and tech culture, but hello! In a story about a gay guys, there has to be at least *some* color and bling.
Also, “Sex and the City” was only ostensibly about a group of straight women. Any gay guy who lived in NYC during that period will recognize himself and his best friends in Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.
barryaksarben
I enjoyed the show but the other comment hit the nail on the head. Not eonogh lauggter. My friends and I in Seattle did plenty of cruising but had more time hanging out , restaurants , dropping over at each others homes, a few of us had ltr and our lovers all interacted with all of us. Gave each other nothing but support. Actual cis families dropping in with varying degrees of acceptance. And not the naked greed and fame seeking of that horrid so called reality show. We went to movies, played games, dinnerd, beaches, vacations just a sunnier chosen family life. Deep support. Not as outlandish as queer as folk but not ever Bleak
Goosecurls
I’ve never had cable or HBO. So, Tovey can shake his finger at someone else.
Although, I was able to watch the first episode. Where, if I recall correctly, the Groff character cruised Buena Vista Park, and was turned down after a personals ad date. There was also a three way. All of which I had participated in or happened to me.
What bothered me, and keep me away from making it must see TV, was being told that it was an IMPORTANT series to watch. I’ll go to school if I want to have lessons and lectured to. Also, I was told that the series represented, and presented, the whole of the gay community. As I said, didn’t watch the series, but I’m sure they failed at that.
How can Tovey, or anyone else for that matter, expect gay men to have put time aside to watch the show, when they don’t attend movies in a theater that are about LGBTQ+ characters. Before and since the series ran.
Diplomat
I didn’t find Looking to be boring. It was good for the times. I’m surprised Tovey took it so hard from the decenters. I don’t believe it was the majority view.
Fahd
The Jonathan Groff character couldn’t carry a series; tried to make him true to life but he wasn’t. They should have put more drama/unexpected events into the plot. It’s a pity that the series focused on the lives of gay men still are so few that we maybe have unwarranted expectations from any series that makes it to premium streaming. I’d love to see more series/sitcoms depicting gay life – something post Modern Family.
Cam
Cam
Jonathan Groff’s character may have worked if he was 21 and just moved to San Francisco for his first job. His naivety would have played more realistic if that were the case.
However, him being 30, out for decade, and living in San Francisco all that time, and STILL acting like a giggly wide eyed child just didn’t work.
Also, the character of Augustin was so ridiculously unlikeable and they never gave us any indication of why these people were friends and why the others put up with such an unlikable person.
Then, in response to criticism they overcorrected and in Season 2 gave Augustin a complete personality transplant.
I saw the final movie and it annoyed me because it was good. And it showed me that the series could have been good. It was watchable, but it wasn’t engaging. In Sex and the City, first and foremost the characters were at least likable.
I love more LGBTQ content going out there, but I never understood why Looking seemed determined to make me work to enjoy it.
phillycap
But really wasn’t that the whole arc of Groff’s Patrick character? A rather emotionally immature guy who has it together in his work life, but in his private life is a mess? And if you watched the looking movie you see the growth of the Patrick character emotional maturity happening. He kind of explained it in the movie quite well. He had to. Because the series got cancelled and that was the writer’s way of saying see? This is what I was going for. Sex and the City was a comedy. Looking was not. It’s apples and oranges. As for Augustine and his character transplant, not really. Or in your world are people not supposed to evolve? He was totally self-absorbed in Season 1 and he got his comeuppance with the death of his relationship and his ex reading him for filth about who he was. This spoiled Coral Gables rich family princess who has the luxury of seeing himself as this cool artist while not exactly producing any art. And it saddens me I am analyzing series characters
who are long gone and who aren’t real persons lol. Ah, me.
Cam
@phillycap
No, Johnathan Groff’s character didn’t make sense for his age and where he was living. Being giggly and wide eyed over the idea of a foreskin from a 30 year old out of the closet guy in SF is ridiculous. Maybe Groff couldn’t play the age correctly or maybe the writers should have made everyone a decade younger and they didn’t know how to write for guys in their 30s.
And no, Augustin didn’t “Evolve”, he literally changed from one day to the next. And the change was such a ridiculous knee jerk over correction that it was almost an f-you to the viewer.
One day he was a vicious, cruel self absorbed narcissist and the next day he was a completely different person in response to viewer comments that there is no way the other characters would have been friends with the guy.
phillycap
That has more to do with who Tovey hangs around with than the actual feelings of most gay men. I’m sure the muscle mary party circuit might have found it boring. Because it showed gay life as just as mundane and ordinary and occasionally drama laden as straight life. It was a beautifully written series that HBO ended way too soon. But it’s show business. Maybe it didn’t catch on with the straight folks who have no problem with gay characters as long as they don’t have an active sex life on screen. You can look to Bros’ flop to get an indication of that. While the gay community didn’t wholeheartedly support it, the so called straight allies didn’t come out in droves either.
Diplomat
Bros was the most miserably miscast cinematic gay bore movie of the century. Of course it flopped. Hard to use it as a comparison for good films. I couldn’t get past 5 mins.
dbmcvey
Diplomat,
Bros was really funny and had a great cast. Thanks for admitting you didn’t watch it so we can just ignore your opinion.
Cam
@Diplomat
Bros was funny and well written, but your account has stealthily defended Republicans on other posts, so not surprised you complain about a movie that cast every major part with an out of the closet LGBTQ person as being “Miscast”.
Kangol2
I’m neither a “muscle mary” nor “straight” but I found Looking quite dull. Bros wasn’t great but it also was not a “bore.” It had quite a bit going on, and if it had had a different lead, it probably would have done better than it did.
Diplomat
It’s highly acclaimed Billy Eichner was a faux pas in casting. Read the reviews. Can’t argue with facts. A more attractive actor would have saved that bomb of a show.
ShiningSex
It wasn’t boring. A lot of queens don’t have good attention spans.
It was good show.
SFMike
I liked the show a lot but in the early episodes Jonathan Groff’s character was so weird and unengaging that I feel it turned many people off. I had to stick it out because I liked the other characters but Groff’s really turned me off as his insecurities weren’t entertaining coming from a 30 year old man. Russell was great and sexy in this series. The single movie wrap up showed how good the show could have been but I feel the poor writing in the first episodes doomed it. Sadly no other gay shows of quailty have turned up since and gay men are being ignored now as the trans issue has taken over the nation dividing us even more. It can’t get any worse than creepy Dylan Mulvaney becoming the new face of the LGBTQ community setting us all back 40 years with her over the top “look at me” antics that insult trans and real women alike.
Cam
So a post about Looking was your opportunity to derail the topic and go on a rant about how bigotry is all the fault of trans people?
Doug
I didn’t find “Looking” boring at all and I was disappointed when it was canceled. I liked the fact that it included a wide variety of gay men, rather than just the usual twinks and brainless party stereotypes.
DarkZephyr
I was massively turned off by Tovey when he essentially thanked his Dad for saving him from being effeminate. Took years for me to finally be able to stand him. I did like him in the latest season of AHS.
Kangol2
Following @DarkZephyr, Tovey’s anti-effeminacy, which Queerty reported on some years ago, was revolting. It turned me off of him for a while. He has since backtracked but clearly he was dealing with internal homophobia. I hope he keeps working through it.
The closer comparison with Looking is Girls, which was rawer and less stylized than Sex and the City, but still at times quite funny. Its chief characters ran the spectrum of likability, but the show was worth watching because it always included interesting twists and turns in the four main characters’ lives, and had very lively secondary characters as well. To its credit, Looking was more diverse and reflective of SF in some ways than Girls was of Brooklyn, even taking into account the “girls'” milieu, but didn’t do much with that.
Joshooeerr
Russell needs to dig deeper. He’ll find that Looking wasn’t merely boring. The characters were odious (his in particular), the storylines were painfully ungratifying and lacking in any kind of insight, and the overall production was drab.
Chaucer
I thought Looking was a great show and not boring at all. I liked the character development and the relationships.
ladron
“Looking” is incredibly boring. The cast was mostly wonderful and worth watching, but the story lines, narratives, and dialogues were completely inert. I began making parodies of the show, re-titling it “Lacking,”
as in lacking
Drama, Interest, Suspense, Plot, Storytelling, Humor, Purpose, Drive, Spark, and so on.
And the show did it’s best to make SF look like Pittsburgh.
Joseph1971
I have to say I was disappointed when HBO decided not to bring back “Looking”. I didn’t find it boring at all. There were parts that seems unrealistic, considering how much it costs to live in San Fran these days (or when it was shot) I often wondered how these guys could pay. the rent.
But boring, no. It did show that gay life is not all sex and drugs. Sure some characters were more prone to being involved in those things than others. I enjoyed seeing their everyday lives and was happy that for the most part, the characters lived lives that did not involve looking for the next hookup, but rather focused on their futures and relationships.
It’s easy to play “Monday Morning Quarterback” and pick apart various aspects of the show and claim they are unrealistic, but how would people compare this series to Showtime’s “Queer as Folk” where almost every gay stereotype was depicted. HBO, and the actors involved, should have made another go of it. That final movie they put out, where they tied up all the loose story lines, was disappointing. Like doesn’t always work out that well for everyone.
Seth
It would seem that the only thing more boring than watching Looking 13 years ago is hearing people complain about it, today.