December 13, 2000

8:42 PM

I guess it's their choice. Because, "they" are forcing you to watch Queer as Folk. It's kinda funny reading stuff like "I wish I had Showtime so I could cancel it." or "I dumped the Disney Channel a few years ago, over their "Gay and Lesbian" week at their park", maybe, it's just sad. [note, free-republic link]
posted by tiaka (20 comments total)

Queer As Folk has played on the Showcase network in Canada twice now. Though it recieved high ratings, both times the network failed to incite interest from many advertisers for fear of being linked to the celebration of "the homosexual lifestyle" or the forcing of "this anti-family propaganda on the American public". Remarkably, however, there was no outcry in the press or the streets.
In fact, Canda is getting ready to launch the world's first all-queer channel, PrideVision. It will be interesting to see what transpires here when this channel is finally launched. I will be pleasantly surprised if advertisers jump on the bandwagon, though from the rating numbers of the Queer As Folk airings, potential customers may not be the issue....

Though I do not support the ideals of the Free Republic or its members, cancelling their Showtime service and stating the reason why is indeed an excellent form of protest.
posted by Ms Snit at 10:07 PM on December 13, 2000

It's funny how Americans are so "unsuspecting" of a show called Queer As Folk.

I do have to agree with this assertion:

But as Sex and the City has more talk then sex, Queer As Folk has more sex than talk.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing but I thought as a comparison, it's not an unfair one to make. I won't pretend to think that Sex is a great show but I thought that the first ep of Queer was really boring and awful.

The only thing going for it is the sex and even then you never get the real goods. The sex on Sex seems more graphic and there's all this filler in between that is actually not so bad. Anytime a character talked or interacted with someone else it just seemed overly wooden and just plain bad. The production values were kinda poor, too.

Maybe I'm not the target audience for this but I was expecting more. Something at least on par with Sex and the City.
posted by amanda at 10:09 PM on December 13, 2000

Queer as Folk was a huge hit here in the UK earlier this year, the box-set of videos and the soundtrack album sold millions. And advertisers were queueing up to establish their 'queer-cred'.
I have to say, of the two, for me Queer as Folk was far better then Sex and the City, but that could be to do with the setting, I'm more familiar with the UK than the US.
posted by Markb at 5:15 AM on December 14, 2000

I don't think movie channels have sponsors. Anyone have more info? At least not in the form of commercials, which is why I like a lot of the 1/2 hour shows on HBO, etc.
posted by thirdball at 5:35 AM on December 14, 2000

What's sad is that I ran across a site yesterday where the posters are even more venomously homophobic than the freepers.
posted by harmful at 7:16 AM on December 14, 2000

Our friends from outside the US need to remember that what's being discussed here is not QAF as you know it... It's an "American remake" - and having ordered a copy of the original just to make sure I hadn't just misread everything for the past two years, I can confidently state that the American version is a pale imitation of the original. I watched the first epsiode, having read such great things about the original series, with great anticipation. To say that I was underwhelmed is putting it mildly. I'd advise anyone who seriously wants to know what all the hoo-hah was about to order a copy of the original British version from C1TV, who have both VHS in NTSC format and DVD coded for Region 1. The difference is astounding.
posted by m.polo at 7:25 AM on December 14, 2000

Yawn, how comes there's porportionately so many more gays on TV than I know in real life? (of course I live in the midwest, and everyone knows there's no gays there..)
It's like the token black guy on sitcoms. (or on spin city, where they conveniently combined the token gay and the token black into one)
Rrggh, and, while I'm ranting, NO black people I know talk like black people on TV. ("Yo, me and my homes were just chillin in the crib, aight?") Jeepers cripes, tv sucks.
posted by sonofsamiam at 7:35 AM on December 14, 2000

One of the advantages of watching the UK version of Queer as Folk is that acting always seems better when lines are delivered in a British accent -- any British accent.
posted by kindall at 8:00 AM on December 14, 2000

One of the advantages of watching the UK version of Queer as Folk is that they are, in fact, acting. The same cannot be said of the automaton stereotypes populating the US version. (Sharon Gless must have some serious karma she's trying to repay; what in the world did she think she was doing?)

Sincerely yours,
The Midwest's Only Self-Professed Homo

(Yeah, right, sonof...)
posted by m.polo at 8:16 AM on December 14, 2000

One thing. I used to LOVE Talk Soup, I mean, it was the best. With John and all. After he went away, Hal did his thing for a while and was gone too. Was he fired? Or did he just go away to do this? Anyway, I want John back.
posted by tiaka at 8:34 AM on December 14, 2000

A US remake with Sharon Gless (sadly gone the same way as so many other 80's actresses - wooden 'straight to video' movies)? I can only imagine.....[winces]
posted by Markb at 8:39 AM on December 14, 2000

kidding, m. polo.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:37 AM on December 14, 2000

I haven't seen QAF, have met peurportooneatily more queer midwesterners in real life than I have seen on tv, and my old next door neighbor has been guest hosting on Talk Soup recently. She's not queer or from the midwest, but she is funny and excellent cool and she's black but she doesn't talk like sonofsamiam's friends don't talk. Oh, and I think that when Cagney and Lacey broke up, Tyne Daly got custody of all the talent. er... not that they are gay midwestern actresses... I mean... sure Tyne Daly is a divorcee, but not necessarily a gay one... and uh, Sharon Gless is still married... er... and there is no reason to think it's a sham... even though she was in that QAF show... er... hm.

okay, so I didn't have anything valid to contribute. I just wanted to be part of the conversation.
posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 9:52 AM on December 14, 2000

Yawn, how comes there's porportionately so many more gays on TV than I know in real life?

Sounds like a personal problem to me. Perhaps you should get out more.
posted by capt.crackpipe at 10:49 AM on December 14, 2000

I agree with you about Talk Soup, tiaka.

Where the hell is Hal? I thought he was on vacation or something when I started seeing all the guest hosts, but then he never came back.

I guess they figured they could do it more cheaply with guest hosts (who might do it for free just to get publicity and airtime) than with a *real* host.

Anyway, I thought he did a great job of getting his ass kicked in that episode of Martial Law. I'm afraid I'll be giving "Dude, Where's My Car?" a miss, though, even though he's in it.
posted by beth at 11:58 AM on December 14, 2000

Also, I don't watch e! all that much these days, but, was it canceled? Talk Soup? I don't see it at all. I mean, the show was, really, really bad with the guest hosts playing the same record over and over again. Apply gag 3 on clip 2,3 and 5. Best Hal sketch - All over your body commercial spoof. I want John back, he's the best. Though Craig wasn't bad.
posted by tiaka at 12:29 PM on December 14, 2000

I just want to say that I love the line, "I wish I had Showtime so I could cancel it". It's so Rutlesesque "Everywhere, people were burning their records. People were buying records just to burn them. Sales were phenomenal." or something like that...
posted by dagnyscott at 12:43 PM on December 14, 2000

I'm afraid I'll be giving "Dude, Where's My Car?" a miss, though, even though he's in it.

Since topic drift seems to be the official topic here, I figured I'd hop in on this. I'm going to see it just so I can shut my brain off and laugh for a while.
posted by cCranium at 1:50 PM on December 14, 2000

I love me some Hal, but why the hell can't he get his website updated?!?
posted by Dreama at 4:34 PM on December 14, 2000

Hal chose not to renew his contract -- way back last spring, in fact. Read into that what you will.
posted by dhartung at 8:54 PM on December 14, 2000