MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

When Showtime’s Queer as Folk premiered in December 2000 it was the “gayest” show ever shown on American television. Not only did it feature gay men and lesbians as the main focus of the dramatic narrative (and not as witty, sexless comic relief), but the showrunners, life-partners Ron Cowen and Dan Lipman, were determined to hire as many gay writers, directors, designers, and crewmembers as they were able. They also attempted to cast out gay actors in leading roles, but especially the core group of friends: Brian, Michael, Ted, Emmett, and Justin. But casting gay actors proved more difficult than “CowLip” had imagined. The show had trouble from the start casting not only the lead roles, but even guest turns because of the belief that appearing on QaF would damage the careers of actors through the perception that anyone taking such a role would be labeled as gay, tainting their future prospects as hetero leading men. Because of this the majority of the main cast were unknowns, including star couple Gale Harold and Randy Harrison, who had virtually no acting credits when they were hired. But behind the scenes difficulties did not end with casting, as one major character was written out after Season One due to the actor’s blatant and vocal homophobia, another heterosexual actor was advised not to “come out” as straight in order to retain the illusion and audience identification with his gay character, and another gay actor remained closeted for his entire first season for fear of hurting his future career, even while co-starring – and doing explicit gay sex scenes – on “The Gayest Show on Earth”! I will examine these issues, as well as discussing the changes that have happened in the eighteen years since that premiere.