It’s been a huge year for gays on television, and we mean that literally. John Goodman is in a sitcom about a large gay man in Ohio. Richard Hatch took off his clothes, survived “Survivor” and became the most overexposed celebrity in America. The skinny actors on “Will & Grace” did their part, too, by winning the Emmy for best comedy. But none of those shows has prepared the TV audience for the 10 p.m., EST, Dec. 3 debut of “Queer As Folk.” “Queer” is not just the first TV series where all the major characters are gay. It’s the first to treat gay people simply as people. Michael is in love with Brian. Brian can’t handle commitment. Justin’s mother doesn’t understand him. Ted is too geeky to find a boyfriend. Emmett sells clothes and says “fabulous” a lot. If they were straight and had a laugh track, they’d be “Friends.” Instead, they’re simply gay men in Pittsburgh living their lives–sex included. The sex is not insignificant. While it’s never gratuitous (or full frontal), “Queer” is not shy about showing people kissing and moving in ways never seen before on TV. Is it in-your-face? Absolutely. But “Queer” is also honest, engaging–and maybe important. “It’s the first time that gay men are not apologizing for who they are by making themselves eunuchs or victims or clowns,” says Peter Paige, who plays Emmett. “TV isn’t made like this.”
It would be easy to overstate the explosive potential of a show that’s naked in so many ways. But “Queer As Folk” has, you might say, a past. It debuted two years ago in Britain with a British cast but essentially the same daring storyline. The public went ballistic–especially over the story involving an underage young man sleeping with a 29-year-old ad executive. But then something strange happened. Viewers settled down and became involved with the characters rather than their body parts. Still, when Showtime acquired the rights to remake the show, many people in Hollywood predicted the cable network would neuter it. In fact, other than adding two years to the kid’s age–he was 15 in Britain–the American “Queer As Folk” takes more risks than the British version: more sex, more graphic language. It’s also richer. Showtime has spent more than $1 million per episode–about standard for a net-work drama–and hired Richard Kramer (“Once and Again”) and Jason Schafer (“Trick”) to write scripts that are both funnier and softer than the British show. “This is an odd and wonderful mixture of raw and charm,” says Dan Lipman, one of the executive producers. “Something that is dark and threatening isn’t something you’d want to return to.”
“Queer As Folk” is something of a calculated risk for Showtime. The network has yet to hit on a series that grabs the public’s attention like “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City” have for HBO. With about 13 million subscribers, Showtime is less than half the size of its cable rival. A little controversy wouldn’t hurt–not that the network looks at “Queer” that way. “We’re not in business to offend anybody,” says Matt Blank, chairman of Showtime. “We think there’s an opportunity here to provide programming that wouldn’t see the light of day without us.” Showtime did submit an early version of the pilot to the Motion Picture Association of America to get a sense of how it might be rated if it were a movie. Blank says they’ve taken some of the board’s suggestions to heart, but not to the point of gutting the show. “There’s a chance some of our episodes would get an NC-17 rating strictly because of the homosexual nature of the sex,” Blank says. “If these were heterosexual portrayals, there wouldn’t be any problem getting an R rating.”
The toughest part of making “Queer As Folk” may have been casting it. “My manager told me not to do it,” says Paige. “He said, ‘I’m afraid that when we take you over to a network they’ll say they can’t put you on in prime time because they just saw you getting worked over on Showtime’–‘worked over’ are not the exact words he used.” But the cast says the daring nature of the show is what appealed to them. “I could smell the trouble,” says Sharon Gless, the “Cagney and Lacey” star. She plays Debbie, who is a sort of den mother. “When I read the script, I went, ‘Send me in, Coach, because I want to be a part of this one’.”
As wonderful as “Queer” is, it can be a bit of a hard sell. Scott Lowell, who plays Ted, says his Pentecostal parents aren’t sure what to think. “They ask about the show, but I don’t give specifics. When a magazine story comes out, I cut out the article and just send the pictures.” Try as they might, some of the straight actors can’t get used to making out with men, even though it’s not PC to admit it. “What do you do?” says Chris Potter, who plays Dr. David. “Soon as they say cut, you spit. You want to go to a strip bar or touch the makeup girls. You feel dirty. It’s a tough job,” he says. Hal Sparks, who plays Michael, says having a mixed straight-gay cast may help the non-gay viewers. “If it were just gay people, your average straight audience would just go, it’s a gay show, it doesn’t concern me,” says Sparks, the former host of “Talk Soup.” “The nice thing about this show is that, after about 10 minutes, you get so involved with the people, you forget they’re all gay.” At least until the next shower scene.
