It’s official. HBO’s Looking will not be returning for a third season. Despite a small but dedicated fan base, the series experienced a sharp decline in viewers during season two, so this news doesn’t come as a complete surprise.
While the series may be over, HBO has announced it will produce a TV special to tie up the story’s loose ends for loyal fans.
As one of the few series on television that was created by a gay man (Michael Lannan), written by a predominantly gay staff and that starred many out actors (Jonathan Groff, Murray Bartlett, Daniel Franzese, Russell Tovey), it’s a shame there wasn’t more support from LGBT viewers, who criticized the series even before it had premiered for not representing every facet of the queer community.
So if you watched the series, here’s another chance to weigh in on these pressing questions: Where did Looking go wrong? And do you think HBO can turn things around with its planned TV special?
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.
Sound off in the comments section below.
Wayde Manning
Everywhere…. it didn’t under represent nearly as much as it overrepresented. Not to mention the “worst gay ever” thing 😉 class act.
Chad Jason
Where did Queerty go wrong posting about ‘Looking’ every 4 hours?
John Sterna
It was b o r i n g. Plain and simply
Riess Livaudais
It was AWFUL from day 1.
Edward Livingston
When the main guy left the cute latin boy
Tommy Gaige
It should have been an hour long, not enough time to suck people in ð???
Jason Updegraff
maybe it was the lack of dragons ????
Mark Hesselgrave
I liked it a lot.
Dane Griffiths
Nowhere. It was an honest glimpse into the lives of a group of gay friends navigating love, sex, community and life.
MiltonandRobert Appleby
It was not good enough period.
Victor Martinez
Boring and a stupid man-child as the lead.
Wigim
Second season may have been too real for some or just not TV enough. No one person could relate to every story line but if you’ve been around… a lot of it seemed vary familiar. May be it wasn’t entertaining? I’ll miss the guys.
darwinbell
I loved this show most of the time, but i thought their biggest miscalculation was overestimating how much the audience was invested in the central love triangle of Patrick, Kevin and Richie. I DID NOT want to see Richie get back to together with Patrick…Patrick in no way deserved him. I was not the least bit invested in whether he stayed with Kevin. And someone in SF would NEVER give up a rent controlled apartment to move in with someone they had been dating for less than 3 months (or a year). They def got the mood of SF right and the secondary characters (even Augustin toward the end of the 2nd season) were WAY more interesting than the lead. I will really miss seeing SF on a tv show every week. They really got my city right!
George Lovell
These guys just never seemed to be having any fun, even when they were at a party or a bar.
Taskebab
It went wrong at the point when nobody was watching…
Daniel Richards
I’ll just stick to Queer as Folk.
Rene Sosa
Not enough Richie.
James Benson
well where do I begin UGH it was a very good idea for a series but lack much needed Dialog and no story line
Eric Oswald
I refused to watch based in the trailers alone that showed us “Pretty White Gay Guys With Problems.” As if a bunch of pretty white (oh wait, there was allegedly one Latino guy) guys allegedly unable to find love is real. I think the bigger problem is that the guys who actually look like all of these model-actors in this series are never looking for love – they’re only looking for instant gratification for their narcissism.
a308936
@darwinbell: Nailed it. I stopped watching because I was not invested in the lead character at all after the first season and only checked in periodically during the second season because of it.
Frankie Mendoza
It was a dumb show
David Edward Hollis
When Patrick and Richey broke up I was done
Prague
I suppose the show put off a lot of people because not much happens in it and it is slow paced. People are so used to story driven fiction. They didn’t get that Looking was mainly about the emotions of its characters. Their emotional journey. Simple emotions. Honest emotions. Told in a low key fashion. Much like was Weekend. I think it was rather good, I don’t think it was great. I’m not sure it knew where it was going. I sure enjoyed watching it. I enjoyed spending time in San Francisco. I also enjoyed the attempt at a different kind of storytelling. There should be more of this. And I’m thankful we get a TV special to wrap things up. That’s the respectful way towards viewers other networks should ALWAYS follow.
Zodinsbrother
Patrick was not a sympathetic or charismatic character. To he honest, his story and his behaviour was just irritating. The rest of the characters I loved. Personally, I wanted to see Richie and Kevin get it on.
Xzamilio
I just did not care about it… at all. And frankly, Queerty — and please don’t take this the wrong way — but, you were almost aggressively pimping this show to get people to watch it, and it was a little obvious at some points. I saw an episode, and didn’t care for it, and this is a guy who loves seeing LGBT love be displayed in a positive all-inclusive light.
Dwight J. Robinson
i liked the first season.
i hope there’ll learn from the comments and create better shows like this in the future.
Jay Willard Abbit
A couple of things. It had a horrible pilot, the first season had the core cast interacting almost never, much of the core cast came across too vapid early on, there was no focus in the early episodes, and the thirty minute time slot was too short. Fortunately, the show found its footing mid-way season 2. Unfortunately, it was too little too late for a lot of viewers who had already tuned out.
Joel Mount
Very boring show
Cam
Just my opinions here.
1st season.
It started off with them in a cruising park and right off the bat gave the impression that it was going to play on old 70’s gay stereotypes.
Patrick was supposedly 30, and out for a decade in San Francisco and yet behaved as though he was a 21 year old who just came out and moved to the city. It would have been more realistic if he was written as Dom or Augustin’s younger brother, then his behavior would have been understandable. Groff already seems to have a tendency to play everything as if he is young, and then to give him story lines where he hyperventilates that maybe he might see a foreskin….ugh.
They never, EVER gave us any indication of why those three guys were friends in the 1st season. They weren’t together as friends, they didn’t act like friends, and seemed to have zero history or reason to be together.
Which leads me to Augustine, maybe in the writers minds it seemed like an interesting idea to create a character who was spoiled, pseudo-artsy, and self centered, the problem was, the writers didn’t understand subtlety, they made Augustine’s character so cartoonish and unlikable, that it wasn’t realistic. NOBODY would have been friends with that guy, and if they were they would have dumped him as a friend. He was such a villain that they should have just put him in a cape and had him twirling his moustache evilly.
Doris’s character in the 1st season, was played too over the top, almost at the Tori Spelling in “Trick” level.
2nd Season, they listened to the audience about Augustine, but they way way way over-corrected. They literally created a different person and had the same actor play him. They also went in a ridiculous direction that was almost a F*ck You to the audience, seeming to say “Well so, you don’t like Augustine? Well NOW we’ll make him work with homeless trans kids, AND date a bear, AND the bear will be HIV Positive, AND he can go on Prep, AND he is going to be so supportive of Richie etc….It was ridiculous. They had the same lack of subtlety they had with Augustine in the 1st season, they just went in the other direction with it. His nice supportive personality was better, and an improvement, and you got the idea that he and Patrick were friends, but they still didn’t want to write it realistically.
Dom, where do I start, Lynn tries to help, Dom acts like a child, He is offered the possibility of managing a hot restaurant, he acts like a child, Doris offers him some money, and like a child he runs and spends it all before he even has it, then lashes out at Doris, like a child.
Doris, much better second season, she and Malik one of the only bright spots in the show.
Patrick, ugh, where do I start? His emotional maturity level was non-existent, and never once did they have him behave as if he was older than 21 years old. There was also NEVER any realism. Another poster pointed out somebody moving out of a rent controlled apt. for a new relationship. That is a perfect example. So, he is supposedly good friends with Augustine, yet leaves him there high and dry with no way to make rent with no notice? Also, his name was on the lease, so how did he break the lease and get out so easily? And what the hell is wrong with dating your boyfriend and just sleeping over at his place for a few months until you know for sure? But no, like a child Patrick just wanders off into a new apt. leaving destruction in his wake.
And lastly, as I said in another post, 1st season cliffhanger = “Will Patrick pick Richie or Kevin?” 2nd Season Cliffhanger = “Will Patrick pick Richie or Kevin?”. That kind of lazy sitcom writing wasn’t just boring, it was irritating. Who cared? Maybe if Patrick or Kevin were likable it would have mattered, but frankly in the real world Richie would have been better off never talking to that man child Patrick.
The writers seemed to want to write for young characters, so why not just make them young, then at least their behavior would make sense.
I wanted to like the show, there is a lack of LGBT content on TV, and I kept hoping, but writers need to realize that they can’t just write sitcom B.S. or insipid plotlines like “Augustine the “Artist” using the rent money to hire a hooker for “Art”.
Rant over, and I really really hope that HBO brings out another gay series. It’s a shame that this one just didn’t seem to care.
Raúl Hernández
Agustin. Also, Patrick going back to Richie. He should’ve stayed with Kevin.
Edson Mejia
SportGuy
@Eric Oswald:
Exactly! It was never a show about the gay community so why would the gay community watch it. Simple as that.
Derek Sparling Aitken
It was boring and uninteresting. Just portraying an imaginary gay life with masculine guys fucking everyone. Nothing about it felt new or different.
Paco
@Rene Sosa: Yes this! “Not enough Richie”
Don Salvato
Get over it things get cancelled
Paco
@Eric Oswald: Augustin was pretty much white and Richie was sent away for most of the second season, so yeah I agree. It was not a diverse show at all.
Boxton Beats
It was too realistic and thus boring
Richard Molinar
Should have been longer than a :30 min. show.
charwegl
Everyone knows it went wrong with the main character. He was horribad. It’s really hard to have a show where the main character just isn’t likeable unless they supoorting guys are pretty solid. That didn’t happen.
CABS2000
Hated, HATED the lead. His character was so profoundly unlikeable. There was no empathetic vulnerability we could latch onto. There was no strong story. What main theme we were supposed to be attaching to? There was no overall tension we could connect to. Even if we were to say this is vignette-style, it wasn’t. Just unfortunate. I so wanted to like it. I suppose on a shallow level, the hotness level wasn’t hot enough.
VampDC
So disappointing. HBO made a wrong decision. The show got more praise than Girls and Togetherness.
JackT
@Chad Jason: Well, something had to replace Queerty’s posts about Tom Daley every 4 hours….
Dzaman Dzan
There was just not enough peen in it.
Troy E. Pelaar
It was boring!
badtungsten
It was simply BORING.
sportyguy1983
HORRENDOUSLY awful show. How it ever even got a 2nd season in unexplainable.
Southstguy
Dear media, please give your Looking love to Please Like Me. Thank you.
Aussie Col
Just wondering why people that hate Queerty – spend so much time on it? Just wondering
Vince Bayard
But “Girls” is going to be renewed?!
Lazycrockett
Gays like glitter, Looking wasn’t sparkly enough.
dhmonarch89
it started slow- many people dropped out and didn’t give it a chance. The second season was as good as anything on TV today- especially the last 3 episodes!
Fang
I fucking hated Patrick. The lead character was abhorrent, and the dialogue between Patrick and Kevin was disinteresting, unbelievable, and…really just plain annoying.
Looking was a really superficial show. There wasn’t any real content to it and its characters were vapid. The (perhaps only) exception to this was Augustin and Eddie’s relationship, but their moments on the show always felt fleeting as the camera inevitably turned to that insipid Patrick. The fact that Looking began explore current topics in gay life (trans teens, PreP) was promising. However, I really think that even if Looking had the opportunity to continue forward, the show would just discuss these issues in unsatisfying and shallow ways. And nowhere else did I see other important issues on the horizon.
I read a comment on another Looking post about how it is RIDICULOUS that there is a show in San Francisco without an asian person as a main character. I agree. Looking had *sort of* a diverse cast…but it wasn’t diverse enough to represent the demographic of the young, fairly affluent gay men of San Francisco in 2015.
In general, it was quite boring. Nothing felt fresh, interesting, original…
Looking had a ton of potential and it fell short. I would really like to see someone else take up the torch and make a vibrant show about gays of our time. There’s so much talent in our community. It’s a wonder why these writers got this chance.
Curt Baranowski
Everywhere. It was so boring and none of the characters were likable.
lykeitiz
No character development. No back story as to how the main 3 became so close. Secondary characters introduced with more history than the main ones. Slow dialogue.
People complained about a lack of diversity, but I don’t see many white people on Empire or many black people on Girls, but those shows work.
It’s called writing.
Larry
Damn….What a bucket load of BITCHY QUEENS……I enjoyed Looking….
For you young little bitchy queens…..Try searching for anything on TV in the 60s, 70s, 80s, until Campy Will & Grace in the 90s ….
Ya’all oughta be grateful any Channel wants to carry a gay themed show….
If you don’t vote and just bitch…..you’ll get what you deserve in 2016…Good Luck
I was young but I can still remember Stonewall….You have NO IDEA how far things have come…
Michael Martinez
Clearly, gay men MUST /be portrayed as sex addicts, and yapping poodles to be of any interest on TV. Or they need to participate in reality shows being the Gay-mous and Any characters in things like Drag Race or the fluffy but safe nelly queens on Amazing Race and Survivor. Otherwise, holding up a mirror to modern gay culture is “Boring” and the “fashion is bad”, and “ewww must we talk about HIV and PrEP?” As a community we have become the vapid shallow things gay men and women spent 50 years fighting to begin with.
Professor Fate
1) Gawd awful boring.
2) They don’t call it “broadcasting” for nothing.
3) Jonathan Groff couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag.
jdgilmore
(First off Larry…yes most comments here are from bitchy queens!) LOOKING didn’t go wrong anywhere. Most LGBT had already decided to hate it and judge the show before it ever aired the first episode. My biggest gripe is the complaint “it was too slow…” Guess what…real life is slow….its moments we share with co workers family lovers friends …its not DYNASTY moments! LOOKING tried to show real life in a real city and so much rang true to !e. I am sad and disappointed and will miss LOOKING!! Take that HBO and bitchy queens! ?
hithere2
I’m sorry but I just don’t get all the hate surrounding this show – I loved it from day one. I felt this was the first time that gay characters were portrayed true-to-life and not some straight writer’s idea of how gay people are (as much as I liked parts of ‘Queer as Folk’ – c’mon – that show was too over-the-top and played so much into stereotypes it got tiresome toward the end). Despite being about (mostly) gay men, at its core it was a show about friends and what happens in that type of intimate relationship where things are discussed and shared on a daily basis. It was subtle and beautiful and brilliantly written showing vulnerable characters making their way through life – and I will miss it. I can also say it was the first time I have seen on TV gay characters and friendships between gay men that reflect my own life, and for this I am grateful. I’ve bought season one on DVD, will do the same for season two, and look forward to the ‘wrap up’ finale when it airs.
ProfessorMoriarty
Murray Bartlett is out? Didn’t know that.
I’m disappointed “Looking” was canceled, but grateful they can wrap it up. The only two missteps, in my opinion:
1. Making Augustin so awful in the first season that we wasted the entire second season redeeming him.
2. The fact the show was only 30 minutes long and only 8 episodes a season. Not nearly enough time or episodes to spend time with these guys.
stranded
yes, the snail pace of the show was annoying.
The over celebration of San Fran.
Augustine as a horrible character.
I like Groff, but from the get go, i didn’t think he made sense casting wise. Visually, he’s just too hot to be playing a character that insecure and he wasn’t believable as a game designer. Also he was way to old to be that immature.
I never got to care about Dom
I’m surprised the second season lost ratings, i think it was better than the first. More Doris, the visual pleasure of having Tovey, introduction of the character Eddie and even the change in Augustine was nice.
martinbakman
@Paco: I just binge watched S1 and I found Richie was the best character. For me, Raul Castillo was the best of the cast. Great acting and a hot dude.
I enjoy this kind of show, although I understand some did not. What bothers me is how so many critics and wannabe critics seemed to take pleasure in picking it apart, and made me wonder if they saw it in the wrong context. I’m told S2 is even better than S1, which was a great binge watch.
Did gay men expect to see the meaning of (gay) life or something along those lines represented on he show? Frankly, this was more a soap opera kind of story, and so not always representative. It is what it is.
I listen to OutQ radio and it seemed everyone there loved picking the show apart, which was sad because that probably kept people from watching sooner.
And now we won’t have it to kick around anymore.
At least Queerty tried to push the show.
I draw an analogy to NBC’s attempts at live musicals. What a treat to see a live musical on TV. Though not perfect, they were fun to watch, yet so many drama queens blew up about how bad Sound of Music was. Heck with that. How often do we get live musicals on TV? How often do we get a drama like Looking centering around mainly a group of gay men? Would it hurt to focus on the good aspects of these noble efforts a little bit more? Perhaps sometimes we’d be better off holding our bitter tongues and forcing out something positive.
Remember, we’re in this together, or are we?
Kangol
It broke no new ground.
It was too ethnocentric in a very diverse city.
It had too little humor but wasn’t serious enough.
It couldn’t attract enough viewers to keep it on the air, which ought to tell the writers something.
Make it a show about Richie, or Eddie, or Frank, but someone other than a character like Patrick, played by an actor like Jonathan Groff, who should not have been the center of the series, and it might have gotten more viewers.
Kangol
@Vince Bayard:
Girls, for all its faults, and there are many, is at least quite funny, in an appalling, outrageous way.
JohnG
The problem was that the pace was slow and episodes were only 30 minutes long. I did like the storyline and season 2 was much better than season 1. Too bad it didn’t get the viewership and it didn’t catch on. I actually liked the characters….too bad. HBO, next time you think of making a gay drama, please make the episodes an hour long….
Blackceo
YESSSS!!!! Everyone has pretty much stated what was not right about this show, but one of the common threads seems to be how unlivable Patrick’s man child character was. He was horrible. I said before I think the show tried to do too much in a half hour period. The flow often just was not right and that is a problem with writing, casting, and directing because plenty of other half hour shows make it have have made it work. Half the time I was bored senseless. No I don’t expect a show to represent every facet of the gay community or even have characters I relate with. I couldn’t relate with any of the blanquitos from Queer as Folk but the actors, stories, and dialogue made it worth watching. When I don’t relate to the characters and you have bad story lines it’s just not going to win a diverse and loyal audience.
The only reason I bothered watching season 2 was because they said Richie was going to be a regular. LIES!!! He was recurring at best in season 2 and the crap they gave him was not worthy. I kept waiting for more Richie and it never came. Most of the other time it would be on my tv but I would be tuned out. It just didn’t work and they should be grateful for two seasons when some shows get canceled only after a few episodes.
Blackceo
I meant to say how unlikeable Patrick’s character was; not unlivable. Damn auto correct. Queerty instead of shoving Looking down our throats how about someone working on an edit function.
sfprman
Should have been an hour, like Girls should be, too. I liked the show.
should have added a lesbian or two.
Should have added some more straight folk.
It’s San Francisco, why are there no gay Asians?!?!?! Gay Filipinos?!?!?
The audience could have quadrupled by including more straight, lesbians and gaysians
Very LA ish vibe in spots, including that whitebread hook up part in the condo building, the lack of gay Asians represented, etc.
Loved that it was actually filmed in SF. A little too much time in the Mission, which hipsters love, but ….
Focused too much on the alternagay hipster with a beard.
Richie’s character tried too much to not be gay. He was pomposs with a chip on his shoulder. In reality, he’d be a flamming Latin queen cutting hair in the castro.
I actually liked Patrick’s character, even though he acted like a more recent transplant. Being a newbie on the gay scene in SF is a unique experience shared by many in the city. I actually liked the show and Patrick’s goofy naivity.
I wish that Patrick had a pug.
jorgecruz
Here is my opinion on why the show didn’t work. Characters changed their basic behaviors overnight and often more than once. Richie was a completely different person from season one to season two, same with Augustine even Dom. Some of the bad choices Patick made in the first season had back story and context, in the second season the bad choices were contrived and presented almost for sheer shock value. Your supporting players became more likable and your leads became less likable. There was no concept of time or continuity in the episodes. There was carryover from one episode to the next but you couldn’t tell if a day, a week or a month had passed since the last episode and that left huge gaps in the storytelling.
Ultimately you had a show about people that kept saying they just wanted to be happy and then made every possible choice to sabotage their own happiness. That isn’t deep meaningful theatre that is inconsistent writing and shallow story-telling.
blasted
@lykeitiz: Did you really just go there? Like really? Of all the Pale skinned media pushed down minorities throats and you are butt hurt that there aren’t many roles for White actors on Empire. Really, there can’t be one or two or three shows where there isn’t some white guy or girl with a savior complex where the world doesn’t revolve around them. Because I can tell you in real life that shit does not happen, and if you think your minority friends are the planets and you are the Sun, something is deeply wrong with you.
Even though you know Rhonda Lyon Played by Kaitlin Doubleday is white, her race is actually is brought up as a plot point, along with her and her husband
Andre dealing with issues that have nothing to do with race, such as Kink, Open Marriage, Power plays to take over the company, and Mental illness, Success. She is far more interesting in the times that she is on screen than, “Looking” has ever been. The difference is that Lee Daniel didn’t give her this role simply because she was white and made her one dimensional, she’s interesting.
Anika calhoun Who’s strong powerful, smart, beautiful woman whom is also multiracial, and has a white father. She is not just her race, and it’s made very clear that she loves her father and would do anything to protect him even when she is being blackmailed.
Race in handled much differently than on mostly or all white shows where the minority are reduced to some damn caricature or stereotype. All the characters in Empire have depth to them. By the comments here the same can’t be said.
Cucumber/Banana handled diversity much better, and it should have been talked about more here. I really wished DTLA got a second season it was also far more interesting cast, and one of the few times you saw an interesting gay Asian characters as lead. It had so much potential. Go on Netflix and then complain to me how there needs to be more diversity on gay show, when you scroll up and down all you see is snow…. I am done. Dude you need to get a clue.
Mmiller888
I liked that it was like a fairly real slice of life. I can’t count the number of people in real life who act immature, screw up majorly, and are simply not heroic.
I am sick of procedural crime dramas, psychological thrillers, and all other shows that dwell on the worst in the human condition and the heroic or antiheroic people who “protect us”. A dose of real people with real faults was refreshing.
Blackceo
@blasted:
I don’t recognize you as a frequent poster here but I love every single word you just wrote. Completely and 100% co-sign. However, In regards to lykeitis, I domt think that poster was complaining about the mostly Black cast of Empire or no Black women on Girls. His point (as I took it) was that when there is good writing and good actors it doesn’t matter so much up about how ethnocentric a show may be. Like I said regarding Queer As Folk, I didn’t relate to any of them White boys, but the writing was good and I was invested in their stories.
But, you do make a good point about certain types of gay media being shoved down our throats. There are dynamic Black gay characters on tv right now with Jeffrey on The Haves and The Have Nots and Jamal from Empire, challenging stereotypes of Black gay men. Jamal’s character is groundbreaking and an integral part to one the most popular shows on TV right now. Other than a few snippets by this website and the other “mainstream” gay blogs, it’s been crickets, and Jamal is a character worth writing about. Even the one article done on the show’s creator Lee Daniels on this website was how The Black community needed to deal with its homophobia. But the good that Jussie Smollet’s character has done to challenge said homophobia and stereotypes..oh no…we don’t hear anything about that. But if a Black athlete or celebrity says “no homo” tomorrow in a tweet or on Instagram it will be a story here.
Ryan Tierney
I started as a big fan & was really excited, but for a dramedy it wasn’t very funny & the characters weren’t very likeable. By season 2 I wanted to like it more than I actually did. I’m more into the characters on Girls, also a 30 min show. Looking only really worked when Doris was there to steal every scene.
skipvanpelt
i watched the first episode and was bored to tears. It was a poorly done imitation of “Queer as Folk”
darian
I tried to like it but after missing two episodes and watching the episode four of season one and not having any desire to try and see what I missed I knew then that this wasn’t something that interest me. As a young guy I would like to see a show about older gay men with their shit together I’ve just about had it with watching young guys (yes that includes guys in their 30s) like fucking idiots.i to
Believe there was a guy on the last looking article who said there is a life for gay men after 40. I’d love to see it.
darian
@darian: Oops auto-correct strikes again. Meant to say young guys bouncing around like fucking idiots.
Gigi Gee
@darian: I’m 48. My husband is 46. We’ve been together for more than 26 years. We have lives. Good lives in fact. Most of our friends are our age, but not all have been happily together with partners for as long as us. They mostly don’t want a long term relationship but they’re all happy, successful people. When I was your age I couldn’t imagine being 30. It seemed impossibly old. Ha! Now I can’t imagine being in my early 20s. Those years just seem impossible now. It really does get better.
Gigi Gee
I loved looking. Watched every episode multiple times with my hubby. The last scene of the last episode with Patrick and Richie, when Richie lovingly touched the back of Patrick’s head, broke my heart. I’ll miss this show a lot.
stanhope
@Dane Griffiths: it was as honest a portrayal as RuPaul’s Drag Race and a third as entertaining.
Robert Zakem
It was repetitive and sometimes boring. The characters were pathetic and whiny. You want to smack Patrick and Dom needs to grow up. Perhaps it represented a segment of the gay population but not everyone lives in San Francisco. There was nothing cutting edge to it like Queer as Folk.
Ron Jackson
I wanted to like the show and tried many times to watch an episode all the way through. It was boring and had the worst writing I’ve ever seen. It was just like Haigh’s “Weekend”. Dull and way too much hair.
Marco Antonio Pareja
The writing!
wilfredo267
People claim that it’s a shame that the show was cancelled because it really did portray current gay life in a real way but l think it just captured a small part of the demographic. Unfortunately the heart of the show was focused on Patrick and the audience just didn’t relate. The true heart of the show to me was the ensemble and the writers made a huge mistake by focusing most of it’s energy on the very polarizing Patrick. ln my opinion this show was cancelled because the writers failed to see what was in front of them. Oh and by the way…spin off Dom and Doris!!!
David
The show is also airing here in the UK and is now dying the same slow lingering death is suffered back in the US.
I don’t think people set out wanting to hate the show, I certainly didn’t, having moved here to London from SF I was to watch it and see a dramatic series set around the lives of Gay men back home. So in some cases I think people expectations were too high on the front end, I guess mine were because after watching it I found:
1). The writing was cliché’d.
2) The characters were one dimensional – either unlikable or unbelievable
3) It tried to both unapologetic AND preachy at the same time.
But mostly I just didn’t recognise it. For a show that billed itself as telling the stories of a group of gay men living in SF, it wasn’t in any way inductive of the life that I and most my friends back in SF live. Stock camera shots of Twin Peaks and the Castro didn’t make up for the fact that despite being set and filmed in SF, it didn’t feel like life in San Francisco. And yeah that is probably an unfair expectation and criticism. But it is what is.
The life of the average Gay man in SF frankly does not make for Dramatic television, unless you count commuting problems, cost of housing and the frustration of not being able to find parking, or reserve the zip car you wanted, as things that are dramatic.
So what I came away from watching LOOKING with was the realization that I don’t want a TV Show to claim to show me my life, I don’t need to see my life on Television, I am already in that show…
May be the answer is to just be honest and do what the hetero soaps so, Create a fictional town or instead just embrace the cliché as fantasy and set the thing in WeHo or South Beach and be done with it.
Dante’s Cove was completely ridiculous, but at least it was more fun to watch.
DennyB
@Cam: My thoughts exactly and especially loved ‘just put him in a cape twirling his moustache” hahaha You win!
jag4313
I really enjoyed the show. However, the show should have been an hour long so we, as an audience, could relate more with the characters. It was also quite slow at times but artistically I appreciate that. I wish this was not the last season but I am “looking” forward to the TV special.
Camilo Sandoval
It couldn’t have been that the show was boring as hell or anything.
Garold Bulmerr
lots of gay men lives infuckhoues gets 3 to 11 manpussy a day rew with honey
Nico Vasquez
Show was so boring. And I actually was seriously turned off by the first episode when it had those dudes hooking up in the bushes. It made me feel horribly misrepresented as a gay man, and felt that it left us in the 60’s and 70’s or something. Then after the blow job scene it was BORING. Story sucked. Character development sucked.
wilfredo267
@jag4313:
l agree with this. This show would have been better served as an hour format.
jason smeds
I would have liked to have seen some homophobia on the show. Homophobia is something that is real, and needs to be shown in a show. When shows avoid showing homophobia, it suggests they are not realistic shows.
The other problem with the show is that it appeared to be very narrow in its content. This often happens when a gay man makes a show about the lives of gay men. If the show had been made by a straight-identifying man, it might have been broader and thus more interesting.
Adam Hackel
Oh come on I finally find a good Gblt show and this. But real housewives goes on.
Ridpathos
Definitely not enough dragons NOR a strong female lead character who kicks arse.
I watched one episode and was bored out of my mind. I’m just not interested in a show about a bunch of gay guys trying to have sex.
There’s not enough explosions, intrigue, gunfights/swordfights, etc.
I’d rather watch a regular show with a few gay characters (or even a gay main character) but doing regular things like sniping somebody in the arrow from half a mile away. Or usurping a king through a web of lies and assassinations.
Ridpathos
@Ridpathos: *sniping somebody in the eye with an arrow
Tancredo Buff
Looking had good intentions but bad executed even that second season improved the writing. The storytellng made it boring and sometimes it jumped like a beheaded chicken.
vive
All that surprises me is that people expected anything better after that borefest that was “Weekend.”
dr35
I agree wth the majority that if there’s anything specific that killed this show, it’s the writing. The show was extremely stereotypical, which I get is honest, the trouble is that honesty makes it polarizing. We’ve all met Patrick, who for the record I feel was acted just fine by Groff. His situation with Kevin is an all too common thing in the community after all. The issue with that character wasn’t Groff’s portrayel though specifically, as it was really with the way the character was written. There’s two types of gay men that can relate to that character though… The one who dates the asshole guy that’s cheating, and the asshole guy that does the cheating. I think that’s why this character was so aggravating. Plus, in small 30 minute chunks there was little to NO development on these characters. Kevin’s partner may have been a real dick? That’s how they portray him in the conversations between Kevin and Patrick, but they never actually develop it! The way it was written in fact, I was on the side of Patrick’s sister, thinking the whole scenario was gross. It’s those shallow relationships that give this community a bad name. So, that being said, I think those characters and that little development out a real damper on things.
Richie was the most adorable and innocent character, and got exactly what the adorable, innocent gay man today gets… Completely screwed. That was perhaps the most frustrating thing for me.
I rather enjoyed Augustine’s character, though again, the development was seriously lacking! Is it great he turned himself around? Sure. But that development was overnight.
I think this show was amazing In it’s portrayel of Dom and Doris as well. In fact, I think they nailed it on the head. Again though, we skipped all of their development and went straight to the cataclysmic fight that could end their friendship. That fight, though inevitable, should’ve been 3 seasons later.
Ultimately if you had to narrow it down to one thing that took LOOKING to its demise, it’s the writing, and the rushed development. There were moments where this show shined with heart, but those were quickly passed over.
onthemark
I think the basic problem is that apparently, judging from the show, San Francisco is a tiny little town with hardly any gay people in it. So the few gay people who live there end up stuck being “friends” for no particular reason. So if a fairly good-looking 30 year old is desperately “Looking” for love, he can’t go dating (or even slutting around) like a normal guy in a big city, since he only has one or two guys to “choose” from in the whole entire place. If he has a bad argument with one (who is his his boss, yet), his only option is to run off in desperation to the other guy’s place of employment. And if you need a best friend, you are pretty much limited to the girl you pretended to date back in high school.
If only these folks lived in a really BIG city – like, say, Tulsa or Omaha – these problems would not happen!
MCLamb
I really, really wanted to like this show, but it really was, very boring. The characters weren’t all that likeable, the story lines kind of …meh. It always felt like a less interesting version of Queer as Folk.
blasted
@Blackceo: I understand what @lykeitiz: was trying to say, but the comparison to me was completely not necessary or appropriate. I also agree with your post following mine. A better, more appropriate comparison would have been “Looking” to “Queer as Folk” or “Girls” like you made, and he made after the Empire comment. We all know Black media, shows, movies, magazines were created in contrast to not having representation. This has been highlighted in the media for the past few years, especially in Hollywood, Magazines (with the common practice lighting of people of color, or stating that people of color can’t sell magazine which have been proven untrue), the Fashion industries lack of diversity in the Open letter sent and numbers recorded of open discrimination. It pisses me off that the LGBT community can use the very civil rights movement spearheaded by people of color to achieve their goal, while still holding on the to the same values that keep all minorities down. That is apparent on any and every Gay form of Media. White privileged doesn’t go away because you’re gay. It’s a slap in the face when someone says, well black people have BET and there are no white people there… like really? you have over 400 channels with tons of pale skinned people on it with cable and we have one or two, Or when there are like three or four Spanish speaking or ethnic centric channels, people try to use that as some sort of excuse, but it really just points out systematic and institution racism. The circumstances are just different and it should be common sense to know that. That was my issue with what he said.
He is correct though that the writing is important, for me that point was overshadowed by that inappropriate comparison.
RomanH
Very, very frustrating show. It had such potential, but Patrick is so unlikable and the plot so serious it just turned into a mess. I seriously hated the final episode because Patrick was so ridiculously stupid.
Dom was an okay character, but that plot moved sooo slowly. Look, he got a neon sign for his Chicken Window! Woohoo!
As the nail in the coffin, Cucumber and Banana recently aired in the UK and they’re pretty much the opposite of Looking: fun, groundbreaking, adventurous, and sexy. Russell Davies does it again.
mediajky
The show had many problems, but the major one it had were its lead characters, mainly Patrick and Augustine. Pacing, twisted storylines, unrealistic portrayals perhaps would have been passable if Patrick had something about him that was redeemable or passionate. BTW that is not Johnathan Groff’s fault, he played what was given to him. To me Patrick came across as an ignorant, entitled, narcissistic, passive aggressive man who was under the deluded impression that he was old fashioned and kind.
Roland Hamburger
watched the 1st episode and it was a complete turn off for me
dunner
i am a gwm living in sf i loved the show
Matthew Rivs
…here comes all the trolls commenting
Blackceo
@blasted:
Again, co sign with all of that. You need to post more.
Andy Davis
I think some people had trouble with the deliberately measured pace of the show. The American version of Queer as Folk was basically a gay soap opera, while this felt more akin to something like My So-Called Life.
Mykel C. Johnson
Yeah, the first episode put me to sleep.
Russell Deason
As a gay San Franciscan I didn’t appreciate the inaccurate representation of gay life in SF and the lead character Patrick was a neurotic self-loathing mess painful to watch. I’ve known some uptight gays in my time but Patrick took the cake for ridiculous nonsensical behavior. I’m glad HBO gave this train wreck the axe.
vive
@onthemark, actually, you pretty much nailed the problem with living in small cities. Maybe that’s part of what I found so depressing about the show – it really is too much like life in a small depressed city.
Edgar Francisco Estrada
too boring
allenl
@Cam:
Wow. Really?
Aay'ron Mayo
30min isn’t long enough for anything to happen 2nd season was better than the first and then cancelled
Gary E Garletts Jr
Too intellectual for the masses
Marvellis1
I love Jonathan Groff. The program should have been an hour segment and the scripts were good, but could have been great. The network just had a peek out of the closet here, with good actors but too short a segment to develop insightful stories about gay life. San Francisco was the perfect setting.
NJjoe
Right! 30 minutes was not long enough for this to develop and HBO never gave the show a chance. I will miss Murray Bartlet and all his hotness. Dom and Doris I felt were the most intersting characters and I had hoped to see where Patrick and Kevin’s relationship was to heading and evolve.
HBO’s promotional department & televison development dropped the ball on “Looking.”
Paco
@Andy Davis: LOL! That is too funny. I was thinking the same. “Looking” did make me think of “My So Called Life”, with Groff playing the Claire Danes character and SF being the high school. I loved that show BTW.
Anthony Whitfield
Not enough diversity amongst the characters. There’s more to gay society than white homosexual twink men, or Hispanics that could pass for Caucasian
machuffin
One problem is the casting. I didn’t like anyone in the show. Also, having a show “about” gay men is kind of dumb. There needs to be a better “point” to the show. Plus, the characters were not people I would want to spend any time with in real life so why would I want to spend my free time watching them. Also, I live in the real world and am also gay. I dont’t live in a world where being gay is the center of my universe.
Blackceo
@Russell Deason:
“As a gay San Franciscan I didn’t appreciate the inaccurate representation of gay life in SF and the lead character Patrick was a neurotic self-loathing mess painful to watch. I’ve known some uptight gays in my time but Patrick took the cake for ridiculous nonsensical behavior. I’m glad HBO gave this train wreck the axe.”
[IMG]http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/neverhft/58983906/35116/35116_600.gif[/IMG]
I see no lies!!!!!
Clark35
The show sucked, and it focused mainly on white gay men in SF, and I agree with everything Cam wrote.
wazuma
The stories were way too complicated. The characters too broken. And I can’t identify myself with any of the characters – is there no straightacting professional gay man in SF?
Thomas Hogueisson
It was BORING.
BlackBanshee
It really did not make for good TV at all. It was extremely boring. Every episode was a struggle. Even surprised it made it to season 2.
That man-child character by Groff was plain annoying. The entire show centered on him and it became too much of his boring, sickly character.
That show was either too realistic for some or very unrealistic for many others. No in-betweens. I enjoyed the Grindr fight scene in the final episode though and was very satisfied to see Groff’s character in that much pain. Self righteous justifying piece of shit deserved it!
Now, go watch Cucumber or Banana on e4 and get to see what makes for good gay TV!
BlackBanshee
Also I think one of the problems of the show (if not the only and major problem in itself) was vividly summarized in its final episode; that house party…
Too much white.
stan2015
My only Problem with the show was that Patrick was immature. Hard to root for someone like him. He is attractive BUT “HE had Peter Pan Syndrome” and designing Video games is the icing on the cake. He will always be a wallflower because he has no idea how to be a man. Even if he was straight he would not be bf materiel to anybody. Taking a phone call during a hook up? Not good!
Cam
@Gary E Garletts Jr: said… “Too intellectual for the masses”
____________________
If you thought this show was “Intellectual” then you must LOVE “2 Broke Girls”, and “Two and a Half Men”.
DonovanS28
Oh idk maybe the fact that the main characters personality was exactly like the main characters personality in Queer as folk, and every other gay TV show -_-.
José Loyola Barragán
It had a slow start, but the metaphors and everything was coming together in the last 2 episodes of season 1. The way they told the story not hand holding the viewers reminded me of the Sopranos a little bit.
markgtx11
I believe it was Larry Kramer who said that we are not a gay community but rather a gay population.
Therefore, in my opinion any series that has a primarily gay theme and target audience is pretty much setting itself up for failure because there will always be someone poking holes in it for what it is or isn’t. There is no way any one show can be wholly inclusive or representative of every gay experience in one show. So instead of enjoying it for what it is and generally supporting it, you get a large group of people focused on how it doesn’t measure up and hate watching it for sport. I know I didn’t do that to Noah’s Arc and enjoyed it even though it wasn’t an exact reflection of my life reality as a gay man.
Looking was by no means a perfect series. I also feel it could have been better in different ways. However, I watched it and enjoyed it for what it was and left the rest. Given the realities of developing a full story in a five-hour season I can see how many of the things people complain about would become a problem. I don’t think a show should be immune to criticism just because it is a “gay” show, but when large groups of gay men sit around sharpen their claws on it on online blogs, openly hope for its demise every week, and are virtually dancing in the street when it gets cancelled, it sends a message to HBO and other channels that homocentric shows are probably not a good investment and more than likely not a good idea in the future.
I for one am grateful for the show and will gladly add both seasons to my collection, as will many other gay men who liked it as well. If you hate the show, that fine, too. But if we start chasing every gay show through the forest with pitchforks whenever it doesn’t measure up to our personal expectations, we shouldn’t be surprised when there are less and less of them in the future.
IvanPH
Since it was considered a “DRAMEDY”, i expected it to be sometimes funny. It was not. Doris delivered some witty lines and she’s not even one of the lead actors.
Jonathan Groff was a miscast. Bad actor. The overwritten neurotic character does not help either.
lykeitiz
@blasted: My comparison WAS appropriate. It’s you who misunderstood. @Blackceo: understood exactly what I was saying.
I never implied that “Looking” didn’t lack diversity, or that minorities get fair or equal representation on television in general. You read all of that into my comment yourself.
My point was the opposite. If “Looking” wasn’t going to fairly represent the city it was set in, then the least it could do is rise above that with the writing, which it didn’t. I used “Empire” and “Girls” as examples of shows whose primary makeup is of one race because it doesn’t matter….they are both good shows. So no, it would NOT have been more appropriate for me to compare “Looking” to “Queer As Folk”…..another show about white boys.
I don’t appreciate my words being twisted and you implying that I am something I am not, so I’ll end this the way you ended your unnecessary rant to me: “Dude, you need to get a clue!”.
stevebond
Had it not been based in SF it would have been more believable. Most of us don’t live there so that whole scene is so myopic. Shameless is so good because it’s in Chicago and not New York or LA. Believable cities will attract more people who can relate.
Bubbleandsqueal
Doris. Any female character named Doris. Especially a sassy faghag named Doris.
Bubbleandsqueal
@Gary E Garletts Jr: No, the show didn’t have any characters who were remotely intellectual. All they talked about was hooking up, relationship “issues”, and trite “feelings.”
Twelvepla
The only problem with the show was that it was 30 minutes long and around 8 episodes a season. Had they been given more type and more episodes, they would have been able to tell more cohesive storylines. A lot of the episodes seem to have weeks elapse between them, making the episodes disorientating. There was also significantly more sex in season 1 than in season 2 for some reason, though that is not the most important issues. I will agree that Patrick was more of a step backwards than anything, but that has mostly to do with the actor playing him, in my opinion.
The story was ground breaking for us because despite the fact that most of you don’t see it, we need more shows that show us and our relationships as normal instead of some aberration of heterosexual relationships. We are 10 years past the ending of Queer as Folk, and we need our stories to be showcased and like it or not, these characters are a lot more realistic than the gay archetypes on various other networks. Looking was a good thing for us whether you liked the show or not. More of us should be upset that it was canceled, not because it was a stellar show, but because it being canceled will make it harder for networks to green light shows that display our lives, realistically, on tv without it being secondary characters, or over exaggerated stereotypes.
Jimmy Lee
I used to live in the Castro many moons ago, and I thought the show was pretty authentic. I didn’t find the characters particularly likeable though, except maybe Daniel Franzese’s character Eddie, but I don’t find that many people in real life that likeable either, which is why I moved away from San Francisco to begin with.
Bill Hardie
No one wants to watch normal people live their lives and deal with everyday problems.
sdmikaele
Story lines were dated..like old script from Queer As Folk…
As far as gay story lines or characters, Its sad when NETWORK TV is more in tune, realistic and well cast than pay TV, cable.
Scandal, How to get Away with Murder, The Night Shift, Empire, and even ABC TV FAMILY…a teen gay romance and he has lesbian foster Moms!!!!
LOOKING started centering all the storylines around the cute preppy white boy,good job, driven by sex, from good family and has it all, and then lusts for his typical slutty boss gets that gets naïve employee instead of pursuing the truly meaty storylines…aging gay man, Dom, the bear and having sex with an HIV+ partner,being a ethnic and gay…issues of importance..we end with a room of preppy white boys, THE STEPFORD GAYS, all living in the same building about to have an orgy… VERY ORIGINAL …NOT. The creators, writers, producers chose this path, now where did it get them…and as far as what happens to Patrick and Kevin ??? Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn…save your $$$ on the film, or get new writers. Why am I so upset??? I subscribed to HBO just to watch this.A waste of my time and $$$$
Geeker
Well the fact that is was all about pretty upper class white people probably didn’t help.
michaelmt1009
I would have watched it if it was available on other formats besides HBO & HBOGO.
Rich Cruz
They took every gay cliche and ran with it. It’s 2015 gay marriage is being fought for all over the world more and more gay men and women are building families. It’s not all about sex and drugs anymore in the gay community even when your single. Gay men have evolved from those cliches its to bad television hasn’t.
sweven
all the characters except Richi were absolutely unlikable. Also, another gay tv show portraying the worst of us? come on, that show was an devolution instead of evolution. Yes, a lot of the show was about things that do happen in our community but, why again portraying the worst of us? why not to show our evolution and achievements? we can get marry now, We can be faithful to our partner, we can be great parents, we can be happy while facing adversity, we can be mature, we can be nice to each other. There was this post once saying “if you don’t like it, instead of criticize it just don’t watch it” and that is exactly what I did, and many others I guess. This show managed to make me feel so bad about being gay or working class every single time. Those guys (the characters) were awful people, awful (except Richi). I hope no crazy homophobic preachers use it against us in their sermons. that show brought up horrible memories to me. When are we they going to make a gay show that is happy, uplifting, ENCOURAGING AND AFFIRMING, portraying characters with VALUES?
IcarusD
The argument that it had “too many white people” baffles me. It featured more people of color than any LGBT show except Logo’s “Noah’s Arc.” I will concede that the lack of Asian characters in a city that’s 34.4% Asian (versus 14.1% for California and 5.3% for the US as a whole) was noticeably startling. And the class issue also seems strange to me; only one of the main characters (and his eventual love interest) had a “middle class” job, and none were upper class, really (though it seems that the florist may have had wealthy friends, we never actually saw them).
I mostly watched it for the main character: San Francisco. I totally get why some people found it boring. I don’t get why people found it offensive.
smito
@John Sterna: Yea I think you are right daddy
markgtx11
So now that Looking has been hate watched into oblivion, which gay show is everyone going to help get canceled next?
Richard Holaday
I’ll stick with Queer As Folk reruns ð???
CCTR
@sweven: ” why not to show our evolution and achievements? we can get marry now, We can be faithful to our partner, we can be great parents, we can be happy while facing adversity, we can be mature, we can be nice to each other.”
With all those truths you have, you should never allow a tv show make you feel bad about being gay. The show in and of itself was a testament to achievement given there have been few shows created and written by, starring and focusing on openly gay men.
As for crazy homophobic preachers, they have the Bible and their interpretation of it as a tool to use against us.
GB
This show sucked. The story and acting were so boring, they would put you to sleep. I’m a big follower of Jonathan Groff, but this was his worst performance. They advertised this as a comedy, but it was only a bore.
Jose S. Granada
<3 amor absoluto por looking
stanhope
@Rene Sosa: Not only not enough Richie but they punked him. Patrick couldn’t serve up her pearl of great price hole to Richie but he could lean against a tree for a bareback party with Kevin. It was toast for me after that.
vive
@Rich Cruz, @sweven, actually, many straight people have evolved away from 50-style monogamy, and I don’t see why some gay people should suddenly think “values” means you should be like the Cleavers. The sexual revolution already happened half a century ago, for heaven’s sake.
I agree that the characters turned me off because of their values – not because they were sluts (that is neutral for me), but because they were assholes. For a good relatable show about sluts who were relatable and not assholes, see Sex and The City. Those girls may have slept around but they had good values.
Cam
@vive: said….
“not because they were sluts (that is neutral for me), but because they were assholes. For a good relatable show about sluts who were relatable and not assholes, see Sex and The City. Those girls may have slept around but they had good values.”
________________-
Great point!
Clark35
@stan2015: True; but he does describe a lot of gay men in SF, Palm Springs, and other gay ghettos who do have Peter Pan syndrome or who stayed glued to their cellphones even during sex.
@Geeker: Indeed. Or the one guy who was playing an HIV+ man is not actually even HIV+ or on meds.
Clark35
@vive: Exactly; but this perfectly describes rich/upper class white gay men in SF and other gay ghettos.
enlightenone
@Cam: You kept good notes, not that you needed to. Excellent!
I will simply add that the whole giving up the “goodies” to Kevin and not Richie, I just couldn’t get past. It made no “cheating-sense!” It is insightful that you would suggest that if he were the younger brother of Augustine or Dom, with his repressed adolescent mentally his erratic, irrational thinking and behaviors, HIS choices would have made more sense. Something tells me this was not the writer’s intent for this 30 yr old, gay, leading male, living in 21st Century S.F. white-“privileged” character.
Somehow, the most well-written character was Frank. How he dealt in and with his relationship with Augustine is a lesson for all of us at any age and any time!
enlightenone
@VampDC: “The show got more praise than Girls and Togetherness.” That has been my thinking all along!
Both shows are well-written – moving, insightful, humorous, and relate-able no matter your gender, age, or sexual orientation, yet we are all represented. Just human in an over-the-top sort of way, very much like “Shameless!
enlightenone
@JackT: “Well, something had to replace Queerty’s posts about Tom Daley every 4 hours…”
Now I wish I didn’t have viewer criticism of the show. Tom Daley, I don’t get it even if I was a gay teenager of any hue. Obviously, he is an exceptional swimmer and he has been rewarded for it and made some cash. Anything more is beyond me! Makes more sense for him to be featured in a gay version of “Tiger Beat” magazine, since he has been GAY for the past two years or Star magazine since he is with an over 40 year “celebrity.”
enlightenone
@Lazycrockett: “Gays like glitter,”
Too messy!
enlightenone
@Professor Fate: “3) Jonathan Groff couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag.”
How he is considered an “actor” is beyond me! In the looks department?…”Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!”
enlightenone
@Blackceo: “Queerty instead of shoving Looking down our throats how about someone working on an edit function.”
Don’t hold your breath! I’m sure you won’t.
IzzyLuna
It went wrong because the premise of “a series about gay men looking for love” is tired. Being “gay” isn’t a hook anymore. It’s not 1993 anymore. Get creative. Get original. Add new spins. Add all aspects of the community: Bears, transgender women, drag queens, crazy storylines, over-the-top drama, make it fun!
vive
@IzzyLuna: “It’s not 1993 anymore. Get creative. Get original. Add new spins. Add all aspects of the community: Bears, transgender women, drag queens, crazy storylines, over-the-top drama, make it fun!”
In other words, give us something more like “Tales of the City,” which came out in – wait for it – 1993!
enlightenone
@Blackceo: Completely agree!
But if a Black athlete or celebrity says “no homo” tomorrow in a tweet or on Instagram it will be a story here.”
And it wouldn’t be a STORY, just “And?”
enlightenone
@darian: “…As a young guy I would like to see a show about older gay men with their shit together I’ve just about had it with watching young guys (yes that includes guys in their 30s) like fucking idiots.”
And I desperately want it for you in 21st America, with the expectation that a character or two does not have “their shit together.” None on this show did other than Richie for the most part though choosing a COMPATIBLE partner wasn’t his strongest attribute as is for many folk gay or otherwise. Len (Dom’s want-to-be boyfriend), seen about as much as Richie in 2nd Season, knew what he wanted and why; and more importantly, he communicated it clearly in his words,actions, and deeds!
Len John
This show was cancelled because of all bitchy queens who will criticize anything. Grow a pair dudes.
enlightenone
@CCTR: “As for crazy homophobic preachers, they have the Bible and their interpretation of it as a tool to use against us.”
But images have more power, especially in the “mass Media and short attention span” age!
enlightenone
@stanhope: “Not only not enough Richie but they punked him. Patrick couldn’t serve up her pearl of great price hole to Richie but he could lean against a tree for a bareback party with Kevin. It was toast for me after that.”
You said it better than I have! Thought I was practically the only one that thought and felt this way about that whole mess. Frankly, I was surprised that I had such a strong reaction and still do though people do even worst things to each other each in life or fiction.
CCTR
@enlightenone: To people that believe in the Bible, nothing trumps it, especially not a fictional tv show about gay men. If crazy preachers were able to use that show against anyone, the show would not be on the cancelled list and would have been a ratings hit! “…I hope they don’t use that against us” is in the line of closet mentality…and not good for anyone.
Merv
Number one problem: It wasn’t on basic cable. I can barely justify keeping basic cable, much less springing for premium channels. And I’m certainly not going to torrent it like a pathetic tightwad college student.
markgtx11
Looking is a breakthrough show that provided one of the most honest and refreshing portrayals of modern gay culture. Looking features story-lines and characters that depict the real emotional complexity of people living with HIV, and tackles tough issues like transgender homelessness. It truly is like nothing else on TV.
To some fans of the show, it is the truest representation of themselves on TV; for others, it is a rare opportunity to see characters that remind them of their friends, loved ones and fellow community-members.
HBO has a history of taking risks for the sake of artistic expression and producers around the world look to HBO as a trendsetter.
Please sign the petition to tell HBO: reconsider canceling Looking, and renew these powerful stories — our stories — for a third season.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/555/751/323/hbo-honor-our-stories-renew-looking-for-3rd-season/?cid=fb_LG_AdsLooking&z00m=22809455
Cee
The reason it was criticized was because none of the characters were likeable and it was boring. Has nothing to do with not representing every facet of the queer community. Queer as Folk didn’t represent every facet of the queer community and was still successful. Looking went against Writer’s 101. You need at least one character who’s likeable….someone that viewers want to see succeed, but with Looking a lot of people didn’t care. There was no one to root for, other than Richie maybe…who wasn’t a main character imo. He wasn’t part of the group of friends who the show was centered around. Even the creator of the show is a douche. That statement he released talking shiz to the viewers who complain about the show lol Your show was already on the decline and that’s how you address viewer’s complaints? Next time take our advice. Listen to your customers bitch.
Cee
@darwinbell: I disagree with you. They didn’t get the mood of SF right. I felt like it was some podunk town they were filming in. Couldn’t believe that was my city. In what year was that show supposed to be set in? 1980s? The characters were ridiculous too. These people are in their 30s? lol
Cee
@stanhope: LOL I forgot about that. Blocked it out. Normally I would be turned on by a scene like that against the tree, but I was actually disgusted. That’s how I know something is wrong with that show.
Cam
@Len John: said…
“This show was cancelled because of all bitchy queens who will criticize anything. Grow a pair dudes.”
________________________
Really? Not low ratings? Not bad writing? Oh, and if you’re trying to defend a gay show, labeling people who don’t like it with homophobic slurs kinda counteracts the phony point you were trying to make.
vive
@Merv: “Number one problem: It wasn’t on basic cable.”
Yes. Who are all these gay people who can afford HBO anyway? It seems to have basically been aimed at the kind of upper middle class assholes it portrayed. (I watched some episodes at the house of an acquaintance.)
Cee
@darian: @Zodinsbrother: Now that would have been a reason to watch. If they would have made Richie and Kevin do some scandalous shiz behind Patrick’s back. The drama from that would have saved the show lol
ChgoReason
NO one cares about hipster storytelling!
ShowMeGuy
Where did LOOKING go wrong?
It forgot that we live in a post-“Queer As Folk” world.