Few shows in the modern era of television have caused as much conversation within the gay community as HBO’s Looking. Framed as a response to straight and female-centric series that follow a group of young friends going through life, love, and everything in between, the series created by Michael Lannan and produced by Andrew Haigh caught our eyes as one of the few shows to be for us, about us, and by us.
But what did that mean exactly? For many, Looking seemed to be fighting a losing battle, carrying the weight of an entire community longing to see themselves on screen, and unable to accurately represent a universal gay experience (something it never aimed to do).
This year marks a full decade since we first started following the misadventures of Patrick (Jonathan Groff), Frankie (Frankie J. Alvarez), Dom (Murray Bartlett), and Doris (Lauren Weedman) in San Francisco. As gay representation has dramatically expanded over that period of time, maybe we can look back at the show with kinder eyes, and see what the creators always wanted: Just a group of friends trying to get by, as we all are.
As we close out another Pride season, here are 20 fascinating facts you didn’t know about the series, which just even inspire a rewatch!:
Rank Amateur
I never saw this series until about 2 years ago. I read that it got poor reviews and I never understood why. I thought it was a great show and would happily have watched a 3rd season.
SFMike
I enjoyed this show and thought it deserved a couple more seasons, but I think the problem was kind of a lack of humor and a miscast Jonathan Groff who was just to neurotic and annoying to be relatable or strong enough to support a series. There was much to like, the San Francisco real locations and especially Russell Tovey and Murray Bartlett, but others were cringe worthy and were people you didn’t really want to be around. Nice try but I didn’t really care what happened to Kevin and didn’t really want to wait for him to grow up or care about his forced relationship with bland neck bearded Richie who I couldn’t see his Kenin’s WASPy character even being interested in.
Apolodorus
This site has such an obsession with this series that it’s actually unhealthy. You have been harping about it since 2014. 2014!!!
Please get over it. It’s been 10 years.
BCOZ
Speak for yourself Apolodorus, I can’t get enough of it. Loved the series, and love reading about it. Just don’t read the articles (or comment) if they don’t interest you.