Queer As Folks– 1.01 – Premiere – A to Z Challenge – Day 17

“Nobody deserves to live in a closet”

‘What I'm not confused about is the world needing much more love, no hate, no prejudice, no bigotry and more unity, peace and understanding. Period.’
- Stevie Wonder

Prologue

Up for discussion today is the pilot episode of Queer as Folks - the US Version.

I love British television and tend to hate the American remakes of good British TV shows. But this was a pretty decent adaptation, I must say. This is not the type of TV I usually watch but it is the show that but Showtime on my radar as the premium cable station to watch.

About the Show

Seasons: 5 | No. of Episodes: 83
Premiere Date: 12/03/2000 | End Date: 08/07/2005
Status: Off-Air
Genre(s): Drama

Story in a nutshell: The series follows the lives of five gay men living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Brian (Gale Harold), Justin (Randy Harrison), Michael (Hal Sparks), Emmett (Peter Paige), and Ted (Scott Lowell); a lesbian couple, Lindsay (Thea Gill) and Melanie (Michelle Clunie); and Michael's mother Debbie Sharon Gless) and his uncle Vic (Jack Wetherall).
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Title: Premiere| Writer: Ron Cowen & Daniel Lipman| Director: Russell Mulcahy
Episode Summary: After a night out at the club Babylon with Michael, Emmett and Ted; Brian picks up a cute guy named Justin for a night of fun, but afterwards coldly rebuffs Justin's attempts to see him again. Michael also gets lucky taking home a hunk only to be happily interrupted for a trip to the hospital after Brian learns that Lindsay and Melanie have had a baby boy, Gus. In the meantime, Michael stays in the closet at work, which causes some problems with an interested co-worker while at the same time he struggles with feelings of jealousy over Brian's relationship with Justin.
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Awards

Character of the Night
• Michael

Best Character Interactions
• Brian & Justin

Most Memorable Moment
• Brian pours a bottle of water all of himself as part of his seduction ritual.

Best Line
•Emmett: When did 70’s night become 80’s night?
Ted: I remember this song from high school.


Best Scene
• Brian, Michael and Justin go to see baby Gus for the first time.

That Awkward Moment Award
• That awkward moment when you’re interested in someone and they’re interested in you but it’s just not the right time.

Miscellaneous

Favorite Actors
• Hal Sparks & Sharon Gless

Favorite Main Character
• Debbie Novotny

Least Favorite Main Character
• Emmett Honeycutt

Favorite Side Character
• Dr. David Cameron

Least Favorite Side Character
• Daphne Chanders

Fun Fact: The series was set in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which it depicted with a good deal of creative license. Pittsburgh was chosen as the closest parallel to the UK series' industrial setting of Manchester, England. However, since Pittsburgh does not have a large gay district like San Francisco or New York, almost all of the Liberty Avenue scenes were filmed in and around the Church and Wellesley area of Toronto which is that city's gay village. In fact, not a single shot of the real Liberty Avenue was ever used in the series.

Tasty Tidbit: The series, at times, made humorous reference to its image in the gay community. A few episodes featured the show-within-a-show Gay as Blazes, a cheesy, dull, badly acted, and abundantly politically correct drama which Brian particularly disagreed with, and which was eventually cancelled.

Side Note: Queer as Folks was the first American television series that depicted simulated sex scene between two men containing mutual masturbation, anal sex, and rimming.
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Grade: B
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Comparable Shows
If you are interest in finding more shows like Queer as Folks then I recommend you watch one, some or all of the following shows: Dante's Cove, The L Word and/or Will & Grace.
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Up Next: If you like Beauty and the Beast, Grimm and/or Hannibal be sure to the blog out tomorrow, if not be sure to come back Monday, when I talk about the first season finale of ABC's Revenge.