When did Queer As Folk jump the shark?

Any time Gale Harold was on screen.

He really over played the "aloof and arrogant sex symbol top" role. It became annoying after the first few episodes.

I stayed with it till the end because it was all we had.

I know people hate the first season, but it was the only one I liked.

My name actually IS Michael and I have a thing for comics and old toys, and I've had a Brian or two in my life.

BUT if a Dr. David came into my life and wanted me to live in his beautiful house and go to France, I'd be all "au revoir Brian!"

When they sold the concept to American television. I knew the show would be a bust when TPTB put Gale Harold in a jockstrap for the water scene. They completely missed the point of that scene.

I had really liked the original U.K. Queer as Folk. But the US version didn’t do it for me. The U.K. series was unlike anything I’d seen before. I really didn’t like that bitchy lead in the US version.

I don't think it ever did. It was always light, fluffy, style over substance.

[quote]No parent of ANY child - straight or gay - would tell an older man to fuck their kid, because he's having issues.

That’s why it’s a soapy gay drama and not a documentary.

I liked the show. I haven’t seen it in a long time, but I remember season 2 being a little bit off. But over all, I really enjoyed the series.

I don’t think it had a chance to jump the shark, but if it had gone for another year or two, I’m sure it would have. It ended at the right time.

[quote] I really didn’t like that bitchy lead in the US version.

Which one? Gale Harold, Randy Harrison, and Hal Sparks were all diva bitches.

[quote] When did Queer As Folk jump the shark?

When they chose Pittsburgh as the setting of some "gay mecca."

HA!

I think it was right after Justin had sex with Brian for the first time.

Season 1, episode 1. It was always awful.

What r10 said. It was never a good show.

The first season was watchable at least, as it went on it got worse and worse.

When they decided Michael's father wasn't a war hero but some tired old drag queen the producers thought was hilarious......

YES, r12. That whole "Michael's father" fiasco was when QAF officially crossed over. God, what a stupid plot line.

It peaked with this scene.

When it started.

I don't think the character of Brian would fall for an effeminate average looking blond monkey.

The show was always preachy, campy, stereotypical, dreck and incredibly delusional. The opening sequence was perhaps it's finest moment. I was young then and watched it because (as a poster above stated) - it was all that we had. Being closeted when starting college and pledging a fraternity, it was an escape from a very straight world in an era where there was little else that was "gay" in any way on television. While I find it somewhat nostalgic, I have no interest in re-watching much of the series. The British original was FAR better (and gave us Charlie Hunnam !!).

The first season followed the UK series (kind of, sort of) for the first half dozen episodes, but then veered off into serious soap opera land.

OTOH, Brian Kinney was a revelation to me as a closeted high school kid--not all gays were femme swishers and I thought Gale Harold did a great job as an actor and that he was hot AF.

The guy who played Michael came off as special needs and it was like he'd wandered in from a different set. Not surprising because the actor Hal Sparks was a stand-up comic, not an actor, and was doing sketch comedy while everyone else was doing soap opera. Except for Sharon Gless, whose character seemed transported from a 1970s sitcom.

There was so many JTS moments in later years-when Brian developed cancer, when Justin joined the gay guerilla group (Pink Panthers?) and shaved his head, the bombing in the final episode...

Also probably didn't help that the show, and Harold in particular, became a frau obsession (they'll find this thread soon enough) and so the writers catered to that fan fiction mentality.

IIRC, many of the fraus who post on DL think the sex scenes were real or something like that.

It was NEVER good because it was so humorless and took itself so SERIOUSLY. That turned it into instant melodrama, and ultimately camp...and not the good kind!

The acting was horrible and I couldn’t stand one season of either the UK or American version. At least the UK version had hotter guys ie Charlie Hunnam. Going from UK QAF to US QAF is such a downgrade in writing acting and looks.

The Brit version was much better and shorter. I couldn't care less about the American version. Probably it jumped the shark when it was remade then. Sad.

R5 yeah right, someone tell that to the showrunners, who took the light, fluffy British show and turned it into a melodrama of annual gay bashings and homeless teens with AIDS.

Honestly the only episode I liked was episode 1, because it was basically a shot-for-shot remake of the British one. The whole show was bad, but a true, wtf, jump the shark was the plotline where Ted became a super successful porn site owner, with Emmett as his star.

Am I really the first one here to mention “Special Guest Star” Rosie O’Donnell???

It was of the moment. I think the programmes have to be watched with a view to remembering that.

The UK one was set at a time when Manchester was an exciting gay Mecca. Canal Street or Anal Treet was packed with bars filled with hot guys. Those days are gone now. The UK and US versions were both ok.

Was too busy obsessing over Six Feet Under.

Why is Manchester no longer a gay mecca, R24?

How does a city stop existing as a gay mecca?

San Francisco will always be that for the USA. You can't just make it disappear.

R24 tell me more — what happened to Manchester? What changed and why?

Manchester is no longer a Brit gay city!!!! Boo hoo hoo.... Too many invaders?

Like every US adaption of a UK show it was merde from the get go.

It jumped the shark when queeny Justin decided to help his faghag Daphne out by taking her virginity.

When Justin walked into the flying saucer was the truely Jump The Shark moment.

His memory loss post abduction was a stretch.

I howled during that "Please fuck my son!" scene. That was off the hook gay camp entertainment.

To me Queer As Folk never really jumped the shark, because it always was a trashy soap that knew it was a trashy soap. Jump the Shark would mean that the show, and the audience, believed it had any real artistic credibility (left) to lose.

Loved their "Gay as Blazes" spoof of a respectable gay show some critics expected / demanded QAF to be.

Tell me again how many seasons and episodes the Amercan tripe version had. It seems like thousands of episodes to doze off on them.

When Emmett hooked up with ancient Mr. Pickle Penis who he met when he was cam-whoring.

When Brian broke into a smile in season 3.

Too bad about Manchester, but we’ll always have Pittsburgh!

When the diseased uncle turned into a toilet tramp just that one time and his trick was an undercover cop...

OOPS!

Is this a show a about the gays?

Much as we mock it, especially the American version, there is still an army of frauen who obsess over it and its stars, attend fan cons, write fan fiction about it, have viewing parties to watch episodes together and all that.

A wiser man than I can have a go at why this particular soap opera continues to resonate with middle aged women, but it certainly has taken on a life of its own almost 20 years after the fact

[quote] Sparks was a stand-up comic, not an actor, and was doing sketch comedy while everyone else was doing soap opera. Except for Sharon Gless, whose character seemed transported from a 1970s sitcom.

R18, see R19 for truth.

Sparks & Gleason has good chemistry and were actually playing those scripts the smartest and most entertaining way they could (and should) have been, as a semi-absurd sitcom. The network and the showrunners and the rest of the cast preferred to go the po-faced brainless melodrama route for cash, which is no great sin except when you factor in the virtue-signalling press they’ve been doing for it ever since; as if it’s high art and cultural-front activism they’d have done for free. As if.

R38, what?!

You are all pathetic snobs. If you want highbrow go to the theatre. Idiots!

The writing and acting is a little better than the US remake, but it’s absurd to suggest the UK cast was better looking

Terrible writing.

Couldn't stand prissy little Justin. Loved Emmet. 90% of the time I'd turn on mute and just ogle Brian. Good actor/bad actor; who gave a shit, he was Gorgeous!!

Aiden Gillen was completely implausible as the hero top in the UK version, while Gale worked as the hero top in the US version.

The kid from the US version was boring and ugly. Charlie Hunnam in the UK version was hot and iconic and I wanked to him soooo many times.

[quote]When did Queer As Folk jump the shark?

When an 30 year old guy took an obvious teenager still in high school home and banged his brains out.

Or, when the "concerned" parents found out that a 30 year old guy took their teenage son home and banged his brains out and didn't do anything.

It first jumped the shark with the casting, which was across the board wrong and awful.

After the first episode. It simply didn’t age well at all.

That show was on the wrong side of the shark from day one.

The writing just sucked.

So did Gale Harold’s and Randy Harrison’s acting. Hal Sparks wasn’t far behind. They made Ryan Idol look like Robert Deniro in comparison.

Episode 1 of the American version.