LOOKING — Page 12

How profound, fflagg. You're so... deep. For what it's worth, I think the principal actors are attractive, but hardly the preternaturally beautiful soft porn stars we see in most gay... "cinema". They look like real guys I'm friends with. I don't know what to say. Some people go to the gym.

Speaking of gay cinema, I just realized where I recognized Murray Bartlett, who plays Dom. He burned up the screen (of my ipad) in August a rather good--not great--but good film about love triangle in LA in the midst of a record heatwave. I thought the director, Eldar Rapaport, showed lot of potential and did especially well with the quieter, intimate almost dialog-less moments between the actors. Who, yes, fflagg, were attractive.

Never mind the fact that Jonathan Groff looked cute in that vest.

One doesn't look "cute" in a leather vest. One looks "hot."

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I've also never seen Groff look "hot." He's perpetually adorable. Even when he was totally naked in that one movie I thought he looked cute. And the way he kept hugging the vest closed in this episode sealed the deal.

It's a Theaterworks tour of CRUISING.

Not that I'm opposed. Will watch the episode tonight!

If the cast of Looking is too attractive for someone, you really are not gonna have a ton of options of other tv shows to watch. I mean of course they're attractive--it's TV, American TV at that, but I do think they a least mostly seem more realistic looking than a lot of shows. *shrug*

Right, that's basically what I meant. While there's no denying that I think the main cast are obviously more attractive than the average person (though again, I think this probably tends to be true of actors anyway,) the way they are shot, groomed (do you groom actors?,) etc doesn't give them that uber glossy look you see on the vast majority of tv shows...

Excellent recap by the excellent Dan Callahan on vulture.com:



YES, Pal Joey! Great recap. I picked up on the moment that Callahan describes below--the restaurant scene between Dom and Lynn (Bakula) and agree that it was a really sharp choice:

Lynn listens to Dom outline an idea for his own restaurant. “So, this isn’t a date?” Lynn asks, and Dom gets uncomfortable, but then Lynn reassures him and says, “I was just messing with you.” Bakula plays this scene very close to the vest, so that it’s hard to tell if Lynn is genuinely hurt when Dom just wants to talk business, and this is a sharp choice on his part. A gay man of Lynn’s generation would be a long-practiced expert at protecting himself by hiding his true feelings whenever he felt it was necessary.


How we doing ratings wise, guys? Any improvement? I hope HBO has the stomach to keep it going through at least one more season, the way they did with the wonderful and strange Enlightened.

Updated On: 2/11/14 at 12:30 AM

Judging by the reactions of people I know and by people I follow on social media (and the responses to those people), I feel like a decent percentage of the gay audience bailed on it- which is a shame.

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Yeah, I would imagine that HBO will consider both the trend in ratings and the buzz (or lack thereof) for the show before canceling. I mean, Girls' ratings may be down this season, but there's pretty much zero chance that they would cancel the show anytime soon due to its outsized cultural influence. It feels like half the professional blogosphere has paid their rent writing Girls recaps. There's no chance of Looking becoming that impactful, but I think positive press will be more helpful to this show than it would be to a network or even basic cable show.


BTW, Eric (and anyone else who knows a good thing when he sees it) the future Mr. HorseTears has a rich history of taking selfies--get thee to Instagram! He is also currently on stage in London in The Pass, a play in which he portrays a gay footballer trying to keep his private life quiet and for which he has been receiving very positive notices. Below, for purely dramaturgical reasons, please find several photos of our proud Brit on stage in The Pass...

Updated On: 2/11/14 at 01:41 AM

Oh my...

Photoshop, anyone?

I think Looking stands *some* chance of catching on a bit more in the off season with online/DVD/repeats the way some other cable shows have -- I dunno, it seems like a show that could benefit from binge viewing (especially since the season will only be four hours...) Of course if someone finds it deathly boring I suppose four hours of that won't help.

I completely forgot about The Pass though I did read a few posts on it--obviously I assume the selfie is from his dressing room. I appreciate the photos, although that first one has me a bit worried that he has chest stubble from shaving... To be honest, I've only really been aware before of, umm, Mr HorseTears from his work in the BBC miniseries of Dickens' Little Dorritt and Being Human...