The cast of HBO’s Looking all had post-show career booms

I had Looking playing on TV last night. While I can understand it didn’t have a major audience, I totally enjoyed the show.

What happened to that other guy though, the annoying one

Did the latest Matrix bomb? I hadn't heard.

R1- Me too. I just finished watching ALL of the episodes. I think I'm enjoying the show more now than when it was first shown on HBO.

I just started watching the HBO movie Looking which of course continues the story of our S.F. guys.

I never found Patrick appealing. Dom was hotter (though I wasn't really attracted to any of the guys on the show) and he was insecure and more complex than Patrick who had a rather privileged gay life and career.

R3 It was streaming on HBO Max the same day as its theatrical release, so it was never going to make as much money as Spider-Man.

I thought it was fine - Groff got to beat the shit out of Keanu and his fight scenes looked impressive.

What about that annoying blonde fag hag?

Who the f decided San Francisco was the place to set a relevant gay drama in the 2010s. Fail. Tone deaf

This show was treated with absolute vitriol in 2014 but I know many who discovered it during the pandemic and love it. I think it will age well.

Uff R6 - that woman was really annoying!!

This thread made me go back and watch it again. I do love how they got the light and mood of San Francisco down. Another vote for the reboot.

matt riche? bleh

I loved Doris!!

The Matrix Resurrections did notably worse than a whole bunch of big movies that simultaneously streamed on HBO Max for a month (Dune, Space Jam 2, Conjuring 3, etc.). It was a disaster, financially at least.

WHET Russell Tovey?

^he’a been everywhere: The Good Liar, Quantico, a bunch of smaller films; Flesh & Blood (PBS/masterpiece).

The Doris actress showed up on “Hacks” as the boozy governor(?) of Las Vegas.

OT Fagbenie has done really well as well. Of course, it might be that Looking cast really well, rather than it was itself a major launch-pad.

AKB seems to be one of the most sought after people for pictures of his well endowed junk on LPSG.

Although it was quite frustrating, I did enjoy Looking - it suffered from the age-old problem any 'gay' TV show does in that it couldn't be all things to all people, it was telling a pretty narrow story of a specific group of (not especially likeable) characters and most people couldn't get past that.

It doesn't need a reboot, gays just need to let things be what they are sometimes instead of constantly complaining about what they aren't.

The Matrix Resurrections was a bomb because a) it was ok, but wasn't really anything amazing (certainly not a smash that would entice people back to the cinema) and b) it was completely unnecessary. No one was asking for it, it felt completely pointless to 'resurrect' it - they should have done something completely new set in that 'Universe'.

R18 ....who??

R17 Yes, saw him in the Handmaid’s Tale and he’s in that new WeWork show coming up with Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto. He’s hot and was great on the show.

The show's major issue with its protagonist. Groff is hot and I like him in other things, but his writing was terrible. He was a 30 year old man who had lived in SF for a decade, had very horny friends, but was shocked! shocked! by such concepts as douching as foreskin. And he was so aggressively awkward in every situation, I was waiting for him to be diagnosed with autism.

I get that the show was trying to be "informative" but they needed a younger character for that.

Ugh, that mustache.

This show was like "Girls" for the Grindr set. "Oh, poor me. I'm coasting through life in an obscenely expensive city, and my biggest problems are finding true love and deciding which oddball creative job better suits my obnoxious personality disorders!"

I agree with R23. The Patrick character was insufferable, and so unrealistic with his constant wide-eyed naivete. That Halloween party episode..... ugh.

I forgot that Groff’s ex-boyfriend in the first episode is played by cutie Jason Ralph, who went on to do that show The Magicians.

Julia Duffy as Patrick's mum was pretty perfect casting. But yes, I still cringe when I think of his rant about Prep at the Halloween party.

Patrick drunkenly calling Brady a “Truvada whore” must have been ripped right from DL.

R25 after the Halloween episode, I was like..."he's definitely autistic right? That's where they're going with this"

I got roasted for that.

Who is "AKB"?

I last saw the actress who played Doris on that Netflix show about the gay guy with cerebral palsy, "Special". The main character's mom was played by Jessica Hecht (Susan, one of the lesbians from Friends) and the woman who played Doris was the mom's friend. It was basically the same character as she had in Looking, as far as I remember - overly energetic, apt to say too much, etc. I actually liked Doris.

i remember it started so well - that scene of Jonathan Groff getting it on with a stranger in a park , thinking he should make conversation, it was pretty funny but downhill from there on. All anyone did or was interested in was "being gay".

Reminds me of that Little Britain sketch when he goes to the doctor and she asks what he does for a living and he says "I'm gay".

R31 Women are fickle bitches, and they make unreliable friends. Best to avoid them.

[quote]Who is "AKB"?

Actor Andrew Keenan Bolger.

Does anybody have a link to Andrew Keenan-Bolger's leaked stuff? LPSG took it all down and I wanna see!

R35 Careful. It could be a MESS down there. I've dated a lot of disabled men, and you really never know!

Murray Bartlett is so handsome. I missed this the first time around and should watch it just for him.

R37 He is extremely hot on it.

[quote'It was basically the same character as she had in Looking, as far as I remember - overly energetic, apt to say too much, etc. I actually liked Doris.

Lauren Weedman (Doris) played a completely different kind of role – an analyst – on the Jules "bridge episode" of Euphoria last year.

R15 - he was also in the HBO miniseries Years and Years.

[quote] The Doris actress showed up on “Hacks” as the boozy governor(?) of Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is a city. Cities don't have governors. They have mayors.

States have governors.

R7, do you live in SF?

I do, and have for 20 years. I found the storylines relatively accurate based on my living here. Except of course the issue with Patrick somehow being ignorant of gay life.

Like it or not, SF is still very much a gay mecca.

R41 Drunky-poo must've meant "mayor."

The actress played the trashy mayor of Las Vegas in that show.

Interesting, R39. I'm afraid those were the only two roles in which I'd seen her, so didn't know whether or not she had range. Might check that out now!

Another “I LOVED DORIS!” post.

She was very much the patient, caring friend Dom needed. I was watching the episode of him prepping for the Pop Up and he was being nasty to Lynn. At the end Doris comes over and tells him how much she (genuinely) loves his work but “Sometimes people do just really want to help.”

She delivered that message well. I received it.

I loved Doris too. I found the first season of the show way too slow, save for the episode that he & Richie spend the day together. season 2 was so much better.

It might have been too much like "Babylon from [italic]Queer As Folk[/italic]" for the liking of some, but I loved the forest rave scenes from the first episode of the second season.

[quote] Who the f decided San Francisco was the place to set a relevant gay drama in the 2010s. Fail. Tone deaf

It was no Pittsburgh in the 2000s, that's for sure!

Groff annoyed the fuck out of me in Looking and he's been annoying the fuck out of me in everything since. He's NOT a good actor. Smarmy FUCK

R45- I didn’t like the Lyne character. He was so smiley faced but would constantly say passive aggressive things to Dom.

The Mexican guy goes out with Brady. He was way out of Brady’s league. Brady was BORING and STUPID and AVERAGE looking.

'Weekend' is my favorite gay film by far, it's perfect, and I had too high expectations for 'Looking.'.

The pasty-faced, die-eyed, smirky actor Groff was a casting error that sank the ship for me. There were other faults, too many in truth, but a less dishwater dreary Patrick with a little dimension instead of wishy-washy defensiveness might have tipped thongs in a different direction.

The mood and color and feel of the settings were especially well done. I wish the writing and some if the acting had been half up to that.

[quote]a less dishwater dreary Patrick with a little dimension instead of wishy-washy defensiveness might have tipped thongs in a different direction.

I don't happen to agree with you, but I will forever cherish the visual of thongs being tipped.

Patrick was the most real character. There are millions of gays just like him. The people with the most violent reactions to that character probably see something ugly in him that they recognize in themselves.

I loved this show - after living in SF for 10 years during the 80s-90s, it made me so nostalgic for a place that no longer exists. Bonus for having a great soundtrack by Liza Richardson of KCRW.

I preferred the webseries "Hunting Season." It was basically a shot-for-shot queer remake of SATC, but the blond lead was a relatable fella. He had a whole scene where he prepares himself for first-date anal sex, assuming the position on his bathroom floor and waiting for the water to do its job.

"No one likes a fudgy bottom!"

Datalounge is certainly awash with Patrick types, neurotic personality-wise, that's for sure.

R54 I don't know any people over 30 who are baffled by foreskin or douching. Even my more prudish friends know what these are. The idea that Patrick, after 10 years in SF and surrounded by slutty friends like Dom, wouldn't at least UNDERSTAND the basics of sex, isn't real at all.

YES!!!!! Reboot it!

Raúl Castillo was/is beautiful in everyway!!!!

I watched this after White Lotus for more Murray Bartlett and really enjoyed it. The scene that hooked me was Patrick trying to be flirty on that date with the uptight med student who quickly (and correctly) surmised that Patrick was kind of a mess. Dom being confused about falling for an older guy and vacillating between wanting him and wanting to be around him was also well-done.

The Guardian wrote about the show possibly getting a reboot.

I remember Daniel Franzese alluding to one cast member being a pain in the butt. For some reason, I assume it was the artist guy.

That show was like watching paint dry and god help us if they do reboot, they need to recast the mumbly spanish guy.

Oh, please. They sunk the show by sidelining the "mumbly spanish guy."

That is not what sunk the show but go ahead and live with your delusions.

Meh, it was no original Tales of the City.

Didn't Jonathan show his cock and ass in this?

I love this show. One of the finest gay shows ever produced.

[Quote] That is not what sunk the show but go ahead and live with your delusions.

No delusion. That relationship was what drew most viewers in and they sidelined it for a relationship with a cheater.

Patrick was essentially a young gay Woody Allen type.

Patrick's naivité would have been more understandable if they'd shown him having a life that mostly centered on his straight tech friends, not his gay friends

But given that he was surrounded by gay friends, he often came off as overly naive --the sort of things a 23 or 24 year old says/does, not a 30 year old, though they could have saved that by having him just emerged from a long-term relationship that dated back to college, which would explain his lack of experience.

The roommate character was also a puzzle, the writers couldn't decide if he was a white Miami Cuban or yet another We're More Diverse Than QAF casting choice. There would also have been weirdness with him and Richie, the Mexican barber boyfriend

There was weirdness. He treated the barber like shit and then tried to "hermano" him.

Doris turned up on Hacks recently playing the major of las Vegas.

It’s very telling that when Groff plays straight characters he has no problem coming across as sexual. He actually seemed downright pervy trying to fuck Lea Michele on Glee. But when he plays gay he defaults to this baby, doe-eyes schtick that makes it seem that it’s not the character, but the actor, that is uncomfortable with gay sexuality.

I hope he has worked his shit out because he has surprisingly played very few gay characters and I would like to see him play more.

I liked it. I may watch it again or I may not, but it was a nice diversion at the time. Much slower and low-stakes than many other shows so I totally get why people might not like it as much, but it worked for me. I liked the setting, I usually find sex scenes stupid in a lot of stuff, but here found them very realistic and well done, and sometimes I even identified with the characters.

I was more neurotic in my 20s and there is a scene with Groff's character I remember that I found very relatable. It's the one where he's started dating that guy who goes down on him and swallows, and you can see Groff's mind spiralling after that: "Wait, he just swallowed my cum and I barely know him. Does he swallow every guy like that? How many guys has he been with? If he's swallowing so easily, what else does he do up front? OMG he's having unprotected sex with men all over the city! Oh god, he's probably got an STI! Oh fuck, do I have HIV now?"

I'm embarrassed I used to be that neurotic, but do have to admit that I did identify with it.

Most people identified with Patrick. That’s why everyone hated him: they resented the fact that they were being forced to look in the mirror.

I don't remember hating him myself, but I think I was more interested in Murray Bartlett (daddy!) at the time. And I remember liking OT Fagbenle too, but he left after the first season from memory.

I really liked the sex scene from the movie too where Patrick is fucking that guy who is like: "Wait, wait! I don't want to cum just ye-- oh fuck, too late, go, go, GO! HARDER!" That was hot, and I've been in that exact situation where it's just so good and intense like that.

I agree R74. You kind of nailed it. I disliked Groff in that movie C.O.G., as well as in Looking (and didn't like the movie/series as well). I think he's really good in Mindhunter.

I love Jonathan Groff (as an actor, not as a Lea Michele booster) and Murray Bartlett. I want them both to have happy careers, because they are talented and openly gay and attractive.

In Mindhunter Groff is playing a quite interesting character in that he's not meant to be completely likeable, I don't think, and kinda up his own bum about a lot of things. Quite frankly, the way the author of the book who the character is based off of comes across (John Douglas). Perhaps many people find this a lot more interesting to watch than a character like Patrick?

JG is def not meant to be likable on Mindhunter, that character is a big creep. Just one whose creepiness is perfectly suited to achieving good things, which is the fascinating tension of the show. God I hope we get more someday

Me too, R81! I love that show, have watched through it twice - the second season is even more enjoyable - with some truly great music and photography. It looks beautiful, it's creepy, it's interesting and well written/performed. And Holt McCallany makes me hard, especially in a wifebeater. Just one more season would be great. I have heard rumours that it [italic]may[/italic] happen. The BTK thing is kinda difficult though, as we're following him but he wasn't discovered until the 2000s wasn't he? Maybe they will just follow him until he stopped killing (mid 80s) with a postscript?

Another to add to the list: Bashir Salahuddin, who played Doris’ boyfriend in season 2, is in Top Gun: Maverick.

Didn't DL trash it every week?

I know a lot of people who decided to give this show a watch after discovering Murray Bartlett on White Lotus.

Always liked this show. But of course it got bashed here when it first came out. Hard to believe it’s that old already. It was a good insight into gay urban life in a major city - with lots of SF specific nostalgia. Better writing than QAF by a mile. Shows in part how far we’ve come.

Gay Hollywood Stand Up!

We are more powerful than ever.

God, I lived this show so much. But I think I am the only one who liked first season better. And I didn't like final movie. I think DL was relatively kind to the show, by DL's standards. It's everybody else who shit on it, with ever-annoying variations "what about non binary women of color?"

Looking was a really good show, I miss it. Russell Tovey was hot as fuck in it.

Chris Perfetti got hot.

As a non-American watching Looking, my reaction was - why are these thirtysomething guys coming across like teenagers who just arrived in the big city? Maybe that's how American guys in their thirties behave, though.

For the show to work it would’ve needed a bigger cast that included a gay black guy and Asian. The thirty minute format limited them. They did pretty good though with what they had. First season was soooo slow. Second season though, they kicked into gear. It was good. Unfortunately they didn’t stick around after that. The relationship with the Cuban guy and the HIV+ fat guy was unrealistic, in my opinion. Just like Queer as Folk, this show pushed the HIV+ top. WTF?! If you’re going to appeal to chubby chasers, the one sex scene you had better these two should’ve had the Cuban as top with the chubby bottom. Also, gay guys who will have sex with HIV+ guys are usually tops, because of the greatly reduced likelihood of infection. You could’ve had an episode where they discussed how the negative guy (top) doesn’t wear a condom while fucking the poz bottom, because that’s the appeal -bottom is already poz, so no need to protect. Yes, I know I’m being blunt here, but that’s what the show was lacking (early on) - bluntness. In the second season they brought in needed conflict and some sex.

The show was such a product of its time. A show like this, about men just walking around, living their lives, and bitching about work and bad dates could only exist during the Obama era. The BIGGEST challenge Patrick faced was whether or not he wanted to get married or not.

There is no way the show would have lasted in the Trump era. It would have had to become political, and the show was so not political in any way. That was the beauty of it. Even QAF, which took place during the Bush era, needed to be extremely political.

I don’t think the US will ever get such a low stakes gay show like this for at least another 20 years or so. So even though most gays hated it, it was really unique.

R89 Ironically Russell Tovey’s career never benefited from this show, he did that show Years and Years but nothing notable after that.

R92

That's what I am talking about. Who said it needed black and asian guys? Who came out with this ridiculous idea that this small intimate gay show had to represent EVERYBODY.

R95 I didn’t say it HAD to, I said it would’ve been nice had it done that. Also, I’m not saying this for politically correct reasons but rather to make the show better. I would’ve liked to have seen what they could’ve done with gay black and Asian characters.

Congratulations to Murray Bartlett on the Emmy win last night. His career has certainly blown up.

Also looks like he brought Jonathan Groff as his date, for a full circle Looking reunion.

R97

That's so sweet.

I feel stupid, but I never realised until fairly recently that Murray Bartlett played Carrie's "new gay friend" (who had a lucky break when she freaked out on him, because imagine being tied to that!) in Sex and the City.

Does no one else agree with me that Chris Perfetti got hot?

I think Chris Perfetti was already pretty cute on Looking, R100.

[quote] I would’ve liked to have seen what they could’ve done with gay black ... characters

Wasn't O. T. Fag-bangle in this?

R102 Yes he was, and he’s also had a pretty great post-show career.

Doris is the mayor of Vegas on Hacks.

I almost didn’t watch Looking because of all the criticism on DL, but when I did, I really enjoyed it. I liked QAF, too, back in the day. I think the expectations for gay shows are unrealistic. They are supposed to be all things to all people in a way that other shows are not.