Arts & Entertainment
How Queer is America?
How Queer is America?
preview by Rich Bennett
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Though audiences have welcomed the feel-good comic exploits of Will & Grace into their living rooms, the acceptance of gay lifestyles on American television get a test on December 3 when Showtime premieres its drama series Queer as Folk.
To get a sense of what the show will be like, imagine Will & Grace at its funniest and bitchiest, add more gay and lesbian characters, toss out all the well-intentioned politically correct dialog, and graphically show Jack doing all the things he only talks about.
Adapted from a controversial British series, Queer as Folk promises to be a flashpoint for both ends of the political spectrum. If reaction in the UK is any guide, the right will be shocked and appalled, and the left will criticize the show for perpetuating stereotypes of urban, image-conscious gay men who live for sex.
In the original series, the show focused on the relationship between a pair of 29-year-old friends, Stuart and Vince, living in Manchester, England. Stuart is a successful advertising executive whose life revolves around his libido, and Vince is a self-effacing grocery manager who has carried a torch for Stuart since they were schoolmates. That relationship undergoes upheaval as two new people enter their lives: Nathan, a teenager who has just come out, and Alfred, a child Stuart has fathered for a lesbian couple, Lisa and Romey.
The show’s frank depiction of homosexuality garnered lots of attention. There was abundant nudity and plenty of outrageous encounters, but nothing we haven’t seen before between heterosexual couples in an R-rated film. But that in-your-face sexuality and Nathan’s age (15) had many up in arms.
Despite all the controversy, the show became a hit, primarily due to the strength and intelligence of its scripts. Russell Davies, the show’s writer and co-producer, created characters who felt no need to apologize for their lives or justify themselves, no compulsion to spell out exactly what they are feeling and why. It is left to the audience to figure out the ‘why’ for themselves. Invariably, people interject a bit of themselves into the motivations of the characters, thus making the drama more compelling.
As with many gay-themed dramas, the scathing remarks of the characters are among its highlights. When Stuart arrives at the maternity ward with Nathan to see his new son, Lisa snipes to Stuart and Romey, “So, you’ve both had a child on the same night.” On his ever-present cell phone, Vince describes a straight bar he has just entered, “It’s all true. Everything we’ve ever been told. Oh my God, flock wallpaper… Can you believe it, they’ve got toilets in which no one’s ever had sex.”
Though Showtime is making alterations to Americanize the series (Nathan will be 17, the action takes place in Pittsburgh, and all the characters are being renamed), there’s no doubt there will be controversy.
In Britain, the controversial nature of the show led the show’s sponsor, Beck’s Beer, to pull out. Things are no different here, where even the suggestion of what Queer as Folk might air has led a slew of companies to shun lucrative product placement opportunities. New York magazine has reported that major brands, including Versace, Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, Old Navy, and Abercrombie & Fitch, have refused to be associated with the show. The NFL was so concerned that its name or that of the Pittsburgh Steelers would be mentioned on the show that its marketing director wrote to the producer demanding the removal of any such references from the script.
The controversy has created good word of mouth for the show. That, combined with the posting of video clips on the Internet, has whetted American appetites. Anticipation was further heightened when GLBT television newsmagazine In the Life produced a documentary about the show. Though the series has been available in England for some time, European videotape and DVD format incompatibility with American players mean the Showtime version will be the first chance for most people to see what all the fuss is about. C1TV, a small cable television network, controls distribution rights to the British version in the U.S. It did air the series in a number of markets, but cut much of the sexual content. (The only way to see the original series in its uncut form is to order VHS tapes from the C1TV Web site or through PlanetOut.)
Marketing the show directly to the gay community, Showtime hopes to create a following that expands into a wider market. To some degree, this is what happened when the original British series ran. Popular with gays and lesbians thrilled to see a drama about people they could identify with, the show also attracted plenty of straight women and teenage girls who enjoyed watching provocative drama and its requisite male eye-candy.
Showtime’s Web site currently features a number of animated Queer as Folk postcards you can email to friends. Among the titillating come-on lines employed on the cards are “A pretty face, a hot bottom and an attitude to match” and “From butch to lipstick lesbian—the girls are all here.” These are not the marketing tactics we’ve come to expect from network shows such as Will & Grace.
Of course, it might be wise if producers had a chat with Hal Sparks, former host of Talk Soup, one of the few recognizable names in the cast (excepting Sharon Gless who plays his character’s mother). In an interview with TV Guide Online, Sparks felt compelled to describe his male-to-male kissing on the show as “a little bit like kissing a dog.” Perhaps it’s best that Sparks is playing the more conservative, semi-closeted character on the show. Heaven knows how he’d react if he had the role of the sexual predator whose tongue was prominently on display through all his kissing scenes, to say nothing of the other places it wound up.
From all accounts, the first few episodes of the show should closely mirror the original series. After that, all bets are off as American producers seek to develop a show of their own. Where they’ll take it is anybody’s guess.
Though Showtime uses “No Limits” as its tagline, certainly there will be limits on what we’ll see. But when Showtime calls Queer as Folk “the boldest gay-themed series ever developed for American television,” it understands what reactions may follow.
After all, this isn’t the channel’s first foray into that landscape; it produced Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the City several years ago. Back in the ‘80s, it broadcast the groundbreaking show Brother about a Philadelphia family in which one of the brothers was gay. Though that straight-acting brother had a decidedly effeminate best friend, the show never lapsed into the easy comedy of queer jokes, choosing instead to deal with family issues with respect and dignity.
Nearly two decades later, we can only hope for as much from Showtime this time.
