Neil Patrick Harris’s UnCoupled is a FLOP!

[quote]The series stars Neil Patrick Harris as a newly single gay man navigating the dating scene for the first time in 17 years after getting abruptly dumped by his long-term partner.

Well, at least it isn't another teen gay series. I might give it a chance.

[quote] Neil Patrick Harris is a FLOP!

corrected that for you. And thank God

That's because it wasn't CONSCIOUSLY uncoupled

LOLZ R3

In "Variety" no less.

He better save his money.

He's a talentless jackass. I hope he continues to fail!

R7 yep, enough of him already

At 75% with 8 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ve never found NPH to be an actor that can compellingly carry a show or a movie, so I’m not particularly surprised.

his oscar stint was so cringe. He really pushed gay rights back ten years back with that one. Pathetic

They had an unintentionally hilarious puff-piece profile of him this last week in the NYTimes where he was trying to decide whether his "boyish good looks" were a crutch or "a weird albatross."

He decided ultimately for the latter. I wanted to write in and point out he should feel happy because everyone I know thinks he's actually quite homely.

he's plain ugly, away with him

Not only is he plain ugly now,he always has been. Ive never understood his appeal .

This is Netflix, so is there a chance we'll see some NPH frontal? I think seeing his fat hog would be a definite career boost.

He looks like a fucking Pez dispenser in op's pic.

Monkeypox Mary

I hope he reads this thread, that's how much I dislike him

I don't get all the vitriol against NPH. He's a talented, funny man who is a proudly out actor in a loving, committed gay marriage with two children. I love him, and wish health and happiness for him and his delicious husband David Burtka.

[quote] is a proudly out actor in a loving, committed gay marriage

Nuff said...this is DL

But joke aside, I DO find him ugly and insufferable, I hate his ugly ass husband and their ugly ass house

I’ll watch it just to show my support of a show with an openly gay actor, but I am prepared to be underwhelmed.

R18, there's no one gays hate more than other gays. I'm pretty apathetic toward him, but no surprise in the least DL is ripping him to shreds. Every successful gay man must be destroyed.

r18, I genuinely love that there's a famous gay man who is indeed "proudly out in a loving, committed gay marriage."

However, my love for him does not affect my eyesight. I cannot see him as anything other than homely just because he's gay and out any more than I could see the ocean as dry.

I also cannot see him as hugely talented. He's very good in some parts, but not so good in others--he's not enormously charismatic, but he is a decent character actor.

I do think he's got an absolutely splendid singing voice.

But I think his magic is awful and boring.

Sorry! I know his being out means to you for some reason we should all think raw silk streams out of his ass no matter what he does.

I always felt he was miscast in this role

I thought he was very good in IT’S A SIN.

He is very good in certain projects. He was perfectly cast in GONE GIRL, and he was a superb Lee Harvey Oswald/Balladeer in ASSASSINS.

He took that gone girl part out of a poor unemployed straight actor's mouf. Only straight actors should play straight parts

Is this the show where his character dates a "transman?"

I will never watch that, and celebrate the flop-ness.

cheers R27, I'll celebrate with you

Judging by that Variety review he's just playing himself

r13 nostalgia for doogie... that's the gist of it and it was because of his brief role in Harold & Kumar... and then, of course HIMYM oh what novelty a homosexual is playing as a str8 player. My how novel!

r29 that's what the audience wants from him when he takes a role.

I just binged the show.

It's not terrible, but it is inaccessible for anyone who is not a gay male of a certain age. Even younger gay guys probably cannot connect with some of the issues and humor.

The Marcia Gay Harden role should really have been Christine Baranski or similar. She plays it too safe - halfway between AbFab Eddie and Baranski's Mary Anne or Jessica Walter or even Christine Ebersole.

Doogie Howser, P.U.

Sour. Peeved. And don't forget petulant. These is Harris's catalogue. All of it

What's the "surprisingly" part?

Marcia Gay Hardin: WTF, bitch? You have an OSCAR. Yikes.

I watched it. It was a pleasant enough binge.

I'm looking forward to it.

[quote] I don't get all the vitriol against NPH. He's a talented, funny man who is a proudly out actor in a loving, committed gay marriage with two children.

This is Datalounge. You've identified all the reasons he provokes vitriol.

Those Rotten Tomatoes scores are really weighted. I've read the reviews and most the "positive" ones weren't very positive. I'd put the score at more like 59%

The series ended in a predictably network TV way. It is underdeveloped but has promise.

I wouldn't call it a flop, but it isn't very good. There are some useless characters, and one of those is played by Marcia Gay Harden. Yes, she has Gay and Harden in her name.

I got 20 minutes into it. Marcia Gay Harden is woefully miscast. And she looks more like Ina Garten here than sophisticated neurotic UES socialite.

He's one of those gays, like Sean Hayes, who are mainly loved by straight people. Projects aimed at a gay audience aren't a good fit for him. He should stick with straight parts, or being the gay sidekick or neighbor or boss that's only there to support the straight characters.

I'm gay, r42, and I love NPH. Always have, always will. Don't get the hate.

I liked the show, though Michael didn't seem as sad as I was when this happened to me. He was just angry all the time. Does that make for better sitcom, I don't know. I thought it left out a lot of the story. I didn't dislike Marcia Gay Harden in the role. I didn't like the part at all. I don't find the character necessary. And I love MGH in something dramatic. I've been a fan since I saw her as the girlfriend in Equus at DC's Source Theatre in 1982 or so.

Watching now and enjoying it.

Brooks Ashmanskas plays a DLer.

NPH should gain a little weight. He is so thin that his face is aging more quickly.

Tuc Watkins is very handsome.

I don't like him, he seems mean

[quote]I watched it. It was a pleasant enough binge.

Same, although Michael's hand-wringing about hooking up got tiresome.

Loved the couples counselor who was a bitter drag queen by night.

Jennifer Coolidge would have been awesome as Claire.

Yes. Coolidge would have been great.

Is Tisha Campbell the sassy black sidekick? Please no please stop…

it was ok... it grew on me

Straight frau dream friend. Gag.

I didn't hate it. But I certainly didn't love it.

It was a low rent Sex and the City.

Not one wants to watch a couple of unattractive middle-aged gays talk about their relationship issues. It's Gay TV 101.

R50 I don’t even think fraus want NPH as a friend. He has a barely concealed rage boiling under the surface and comes across as extremely tense and quite high strung - and not in a fun bitchy way that draws in the fraus like cat nip.

[quote]He's one of those gays, like Sean Hayes, who are mainly loved by straight people. Projects aimed at a gay audience aren't a good fit for him.

A most excellent insight, R42.

I think MGH is the highlight so far (two episodes in).

Loved the hot tub sharting.

[quote]Is Tisha Campbell the sassy black sidekick?

They've given her weird styling here. She's supposed to be a super-successful society Realtor and she looks like an exploded tube of biscuit dough.

This was a little hard to watch, because the same thing happened to me—getting dumped suddenly without a real reason. It was a long time ago, and I’m with a great man now who I’m much happier with, but it did bring up a lot of old emotions. A lot rang true…the friends feeling caught in the middle, the tiptoeing back into dating, and without spoiling anything, the season “cliffhanger” also happened to me. I don’t *hate* NPH, but I don’t find him very appealing to watch, but I’d watch another season.

I wish Tuc Watson was the lead, not NPH. He's a thousand times hotter.

He's also not much of an actor.

I wish I lived in a world where, after I was dumped, I got to hook up with Gilles Marini and Peter Porte.

[quote]I don't get all the vitriol against NPH. He's a talented, funny man who is a proudly out actor in a loving, committed gay marriage with two children.

You must be new DL. Out gay actors, with or without husbands or children, are always hated here.

^^ New to DL, I meant. Sorry. ^^

[quote] He's one of those gays, like Sean Hayes, who are inexplicably mainly hated by the DL.

There, fixed it for you.

I don’t understand the hate for this series. It’s Darren Star. Meaning it won’t be deeply intellectual or full of meaning. It’s shallow, glossy, funny, light entertainment. I’ve finished the season, and, as a 49yo, felt that some of the dialogues or situations rang true. I’ll def watch season 2.

[quote]I wish I lived in a world where, after I was dumped, I got to hook up with Gilles Marini and Peter Porte.

You know you're hot when you're a terrible actor and still get cast in roles by people other than Sean Cody...

What r65 said. Darren Star equals lowered expectations. I would have preferred a more serious look at eldergay breakups, but, again, it's Darren Star. I'll watch season two, too. I'm happy to see Doogie play a gay adult. I used to hope he'd show up all grown up back in Brentwood, in Douglas Houser, M.D., husband in tow.

To be loved by DLers, you have to be:

White,

Blond,

Racist

Homophobic

Heterosexual (married is a +

AWG looks

Rumored sizemeat.

Try to keep up, kids.

It’s actually not terrible. It’s got some funny moments and some good lines. Marcia Gay Harden’s character needs to be much sharper. She’s really not the right actress for it. It’s nice to see Tisha Campbell but that wig! Oy. Brooks Ashmankas is meh, you could see Raul Esparza was just furious he didn’t get that role in his scenes hanging on Jai Rodriguez. NPH is just inherently no interesting or charming and omg the face. GURL. Why don’t older gay men understand when they get that old that holding onto your grilled hamburger abs ruins your face, especially on camera. YOU. NEED. FAT. He’s VERY hard to look at. I’m still watching it to support gay content on Netflix.

It actually is terrible. Mix and matched cliches, a fantasyland vision of Manhattan, and talented actors with terrible writing and direction. It’s Emily in Paris for eldergays.

Raul Esparza was not in the show - that’s Colin Hanlon.

I don't like him but I don't hate him. I just don't care.

Hahahah R70, I was like damn why does Raul look actually ok? I thought it might not be, but didn’t want to expend the energy to look. I don’t really care.

[quote] It’s Emily in Paris for eldergays.

Catnip for the Datalounge then.

It 100% is Emily in Paris for middle aged gays, R70.

And I say loudly: What the hell is wrong with that? We deserve a little saccharine fun too.

We can read Baldwin and Proust AND want something more lighthearted for a Sunday afternoon TV binge.

I do agree that the Marcia Gay Harden character is such a letdown. So much promise that they just didn't realize.

[quote] And I say loudly: What the hell is wrong with that? We deserve a little saccharine fun too.

Yeah, god knows the gays never get anything that's stupid froth.

[Quote] Loved the hot tub sharting.

This actually happens? I’ve not yet watched, but I feel as if I’ve already had sufficient.

He didn't shart. He puked in the hot tub after drinking too much "at this altitude."

Yeah. Wonder who NPH’s body double was. There’s no way that’s his ass in Ep. 3

I’m only two episodes in, and I definitely will finish. But it’s not at all what I wanted or expected. It’s actually a really interesting topic that could use a smart exploration, but instead we get this over-the-top version of Manhattan that does not exist anywhere across the socioeconomic spectrum. Im actually surprised NPH, as a New Yorker and someone who seems pretty sharp, would have chosen to go this direction.

Eh, I enjoyed and already binged it. An entertaining first season, and I'll watch the second. There's already too much (melo)drama going on in the "real world." I also don't feel a burning need to watch a deeply serious exploration via a Netflix series of older gay men and their issues as I have enough personal experience already in that realm. The world needs more throw away fun, and this worked for me on that level. I also still enjoy NPH as an actor.

It was an entertaining, turn off the brain watch while lying in bed waiting to fall asleep. It did have the same plot device that annoys me with so many shows. The guys he hooked up with were much hotter than him. I realize he's supposed to be moving on and no one wants to move on with someone on your own level, but let's be a little realistic. I also realize that the audience doesn't want to watch two unattractive people hook up.

Actually R75, not really. Not when middle aged gay men are the sole or main focus of the fun. It's actually pretty rare. Unless I'm mistaken?

Historically we were either dying, coming out, miserable, drugged up, the sassy friend or some combo therein.

It is vile...there is really nothing gay about it other than the leads have cocks...it is just rich (generally) white people in their self-indulgent lives....the representation of real estate agents is ridiculous (I am one in Manhattan) ... just fucking absurd...It's Dynasty...

[quote]It's Dynasty...

That would generally be considered a recommendation on DL.

It's the Sex and the City reboot meets Million Dollar Listing.

In other words, dreadful.

Now that I know that he thinks he's got the privilege of treat looks, I like him less. Delusion!

I honestly would rather watch his husband as the lead in this.

From these negative comments, it must be that once again, as I told the NYTimes this week, my good looks are my weird albatross!

O mighty Aphrodite, curse you for giving me such overwhelming beauty! Everyone is always so jealous of me!

I met him once at an Abercrombie & Fitch. (this was before his Broadway and How I Met Your Mother success) We were both looking at pants and I spoke to him. He was not very friendly. So anyway that's what stuck with me since then. I think he's talented though and for the most part has always been a proud, confident out gay man. For this I support him and hope his show is a success. I binged the whole thing and I think it's pretty good. Very Sex and The City in some parts. I really love that whole glamorous NYC scenario in shows (even though it's unrealistic) and it's definitely got that in spades. The one think I don't care for is the actor Tuc Watkins that plays his husband. I neither find him attractive or a good actor. Hoping if there's a second season that they split up for good.

That Italian guy he first fucks on Grindr is so hot. My god.

Oops. Wrong thread at R122!

I thought you guys were just being NPH haters as usual for DL….but I just watched several episodes and it’s unforgivably bad.

It’s poorly written, cliched and trite and the acting is awful.

Honestly, with all the talent connected to this how could they get it so wrong?

This is basically Darren Star pretending it’s still 1999: a New York City of magazine issue launch parties, art galleries, every gay is white (or white adjacent) and has more than enough money, and drag queens lip synch/perform at parties. The gays work in TV, art, banking and—cringe—real estate. Trans and Brooklyn (and women) exist only as punchlines or asides.

Everything is lazily written and even the locations are tired: my favorite faux pas is a fundraiser for the Central Park Conservancy being held at the little outdoor space on the 9th floor of 30 Rock…with Saks Fifth Avenue and St. Patrick’s Cathedral visible in the background.

That being said, the actors seem game and I’m watching it. The writing needs to be elevated and the incessant outdoor tight shots are awful: you’re shooting on location in New York City, pull the camera back.

I’m actually enjoying this—the first episode was pretty good.

It’s just so weird seeing everyone so old—NPH, Tuc, Tisha Campbell, etc.

Of course. I’m old too

^Jai Rodriquez too. Happy to see he’s back to acting.

An attempt at a gay Sex and the City

I thought "Sex and the City" was already gay.

Oh right R70, Colin Hanlon. We used to go to the same Crunch on UWS just as he was starting out. He was cute. Yikes. Aging is a bitch. Now he looks like old Raul Esparza.

Brooks looks like he works at Home Depot, not as an art dealer.

I warmed to it in later episodes. NPH is the weak link. The supporting characters—especially the ladies—are good. Hopefully, creatures can improve it for season 2. sATC wasnt good it’s first season, either

This will be my guilty pleasure viewing this summer.

Would also watch a season 2.

I watched it.

NPH is a good actor.

The actors who play the friends are all good -- Brooks Ashmanskas, Emerson Brooks, and Tisha Campbell -- are all very good.

Tuc Watkins îs awful. I did not understand why NPH wanted to get back with him. His acting is wooden. There's no chemistry between the two men.

Marcia Gay Harden is great.

The series was trying to be SATC too much.

Like SJP, NPH whines and is self-centered.

What made that show good was the ensemble cast and stories about other cast members.

I never understood why anyone would want Carrie Bradshaw. And I did not understand why anyone would want NPH's character. Plus, all the men he dated were caricatures.

BTW, Jai Rodriguez cannot act.

Just because it's about the lives of gay men, does not mean every actor needs to be gay. You want good actors who can interact with each other. This cast did, but you want more depth to the storylines.

Jai just doesn't exactly have much of a roll.

He cut his teeth in the theatre, especially Bway and Off Bway. He can act.

Sadly his multi-decade detour from Queer Eye through middling cable shows took him away from the stage

Agree with almost everything R93 & R103 says. Usually find Tuc Watkins much better, but he is so stiff and unsexy here. All the guys constantly calling NPH “so hot” is cringe and unnecessary. But most of all, like R93, I can’t believe how out of touch the show is with modern NYC.

Oddly, despite most things being overglamourized, Marcia Gay Harden’s first apartment is all wrong. For starters, the street shot in episode 2 of supposedly 71st and Park is completely off the mark. There are bodegas and other commercial businesses on the hectic street, which is the opposite of the real 71/park. But also, for a supposedly Uber-luxury building, the lobby is completely wrong. It’s cramped and sort of “cheap” looking for what’s supposed to be am incredibly desirable building.

R106, Stop being so ....well, gay! This is not a documentary

R106 I agree. The locations are very second string and the exteriors don’t match the interiors. Also, the Park Avenue apartment is more like the apartment rich southeast Asians would buy for their 20 year old daughter while she was at NYU. It’s not at all a primary home/showplace for a couple of their supposed wealth. It’s way too small. I suspect the location scouts approached the big real estate marketing companies and said “what have you got?” instead of doing the heavy lifting. There are spectacular homes in NYC and this is not one of them.

Plus, the directors (Andrew Fleming—he of movies like “Threesome” and “The Craft”—and Zoe Cassavetes) are shooting the location scenes in an utterly banal manner. New York City could almost be Toronto.

Tuc Watkins is 56 and does not look 50–he looks 60.

He makes it clear it’s not his dong and that the production set out to find an average dong. It flashed by so quickly but I recall a plump, larger than average dong.

Plus, he makes it sound as if they stole some random guy’s dick pix online, which I’m sure did not happen. There are laws against that, especially for high profile use by companies.

There is stock photography (that includes nudes) you can license for film and television and I’m sure that is what the production used. Why didn’t NPH just say that? It’s such a dumb thing to put out there.

“When it came time to find a photo of his private parts for Michael to post on gay hookup app Grindr, an image of a prosthetic penis was considered.

“I said, ‘Why don’t we just find a good picture online of someone?’” Harris says, adding, “I had to be fairly humble about it. It was a little insecure making because you don’t want to choose a massive dong because that’s like its own meta weird joke. You don’t want to choose a tiny dong because that’s its own weird joke. [We needed] something that’s normal, average size.

But in the scene afterwards, the guy says that it’s a beautiful penis. So it had to be nice-ish. I don’t know. It was very weird to be choosing.”

How odd, because over all my gay pages eldergays are very favorable to this short series.

Here we have a very successful out actor. And he’s a perfectly nice guy who by virtue of his honesty is doing more good in the world than all the bitchy posters on this thread astounds. What is it about anonymous Internet that exposes the anger and bad will of people. Many many successful pols, entertainers, athletes, etc who in general have stepped up for progressive issues including LGBT rights are savaged on DL. It’s not humor, it’s not wit- it’s toxic behavior. It’s depressing.

R111 = channeling her best Dixie Carter

I would say it’s Simon Halls typing but I’m sure NPH had probably fired him already like everyone else

At least they didn't cast this guy for NPH's role.

That's reason enough for these producers to earn an Emmy.

R111 plenty of us liked the show just fine and said we would watch season 2. Cool your jets!

Does NPH have the same clause in his contract as SJP seems to have: at least once in each episode the lead has to be told that they are beautiful, hot, sexy, irresistible, etc.? And in NPH's case, what a great cock he has?

The apartment MGH sells is an apartment that is used all the time by production to signify rich NY, except it’s downtown and not on the UES at all.

R107, when you live in New York, this location stuff can really take you out of it. And it always just seems to silly. If you are taking the time and cost to actually shoot in NYC rather than a surrogate city like Toronto, then actually capture the vibe of the neighborhood you are claiming to represent. That apartment is *not* Park Avenue.

Sounds nice.

Whose eye is wonkier, Andy Cohen's or Billy Eichner's?

Does he really date a hairy, breasts-cut-off woman?

R80 ITA! same

I've not seen this, but will look out for it on whatever streaming service it turns up on down under

I'm with R111 and others, I dont know why people are so down on NPH. Sure he has his flaws, but he's a successful out gay actor, and I respect that. Personally I think he's hot, I love slim older guys, thats just a personal taste thing, his look isntt for everyone but it appeals to me

Entertainment Weekly gives it a B+.

I enjoyed it—glad that it’s a gay elder story like so many of you

This reviewer must be a DL-er:

[quote]This was a tough, & arduous watch. Almost from the get go, you can’t root for any of the characters. It relies too heavily on stereotypes, which is disheartening & basic. I persevered mainly for Tisha Campbell who made it ALMOST bearable. What a waste. 2/10 from me 🥴 #Uncoupled

I thought Tisha Campbell was annoying and miscast.

I'm so sick of EVERY show about gays being labeled "Too many stereotypes."

The rest of you all are too boring to portray on TV

James Wolcott, the cuntiest straight man alive, sums it up:

[quote]UNCOUPLED (Netflix) has been labeled a gay rom-com but three episodes in & where's the rom, where's the com? I ask the jury, What did Neil Patrick Harris do to deserve lines like "this may be just the push I need to get off my ass...and hopefully up into somebody else's"?

It's insultingly bad.

R129

For you, R130,

I’m happy when actors I admire (Marcia Gay) land a good gig.

I don’t blame NPH. It’s just so dreary.

Where is the humor? The joy? The spark?

And we don’t need more gay real estate agents on TV… they are a loathsome class that most of us don’t want to spend time visiting.

They all must have known how much it sucked while they were performing it.

Not a rom-com. A dramedy.

Tuc Watkins is hot. I would watch him in anything. Too bad he wasn't the lead.

Tuc is no longer hot. Rannells has sucked the youth out of him.

Tuc was terrible in this series. TERRIBLE. And he didn’t look good either, which is 90% of the reason to hire him in the first place.

His facial features have thickened and, in his shirtless scenes (and he’s in great shape) I was transfixed by the leatheriness.

I agree that I’d prefer Burtka in the lead. David’s cute and can act. Give him a turn in the spotlight.

Neil could use a few extra pounds; his skinniness makes his face look old.

As one critic pointed out, NPH Has elected to play Michael as sour. Why would audiences want to spend time with that? (And the friends are so unappealing.)

Watkins would have benefited from a haircut. Although I wonder if he was supposed to look a little bedraggled since he was apparently miserable in his long relationship. Might have been effective if they had him get a makeover once he left NPH.

Agree with R141 that the friends are a problem. Other than Tisha, who I thought was great and could get better in a second season, and perhaps Brooks Ashkawhatever, I’d be happy to see all the friends overhauled for season 2. It’s not even that they were bad; they just added nothing. The Jonathans were wallpaper (did Jai even have lines?) and I didn’t buy them as a couple. The newscaster guy’s constant search for a hookup was overdone and one-note. The reason why SATC worked is because the friends were strong and covered for Carrie’s annoying ways.

Why does the unattractive one (Brooks) also have to be the biggest buffoon? A supposedly successful art dealer has to be clumsy, stupid, and unable to get a date?

Ben Platt’s brother Jonah Platt as Horst, the envious / sardonic / passionless co-broker with the Lagerfeld-meets-Boris accent, is the only character/ person in the cast who made me laugh, but it’s a minuscule role. Give me more of that tone and I would be all-in.

Darren Star has produced so many programs I have enjoyed (90210, Melrose, SATC) and even the failures (Central Park West, Grosse Pointe, GCB, Cashmere Mafia) have been entertaining. I don’t watch Younger and Emily in Paris, but have seen scenes, and they are polished.

But Uncoupled is lazy and cheap looking. I can’t believe Star finally did a show about gays and missed the mark so completely.

R133, “the gay real estate class” are loathsome? Really. I guess two of my best friends (very successful and generous guys) are loathsome.

You know R133, without them we’d be up shits creek in NYC.

Damn you guys are brutal 😂

I thought Watkins was hot - his acting was fine - he had about 10 lines in the entire series. He mostly just sat there while NPH’s character wouldn’t shut the fuck up. I thought he was good as a foil to the main character and you never knew what he was thinking - which tracked with the main character as well.

Way too much Marcia Gay Harden and Tisha Campbell. Found their characters very boring.

R133 You have set off the best friend alert at R145

charlie is loathsome period.

Interesting…

If there was a dick pic, I didn't see it.

r150

IIRC, it was very quick when NPH was showing the italian guy pics of apartments and there was a dick pic mixed in

Charlie, I’m not talking about rank and file real estate folks. I’m talking about the soulless, vile queens (and douche bros) who suck up to the uber rich to sell their overpriced monstrosities.

We all know the type. They have no time for real relationships. They’re too busy forever on the prowl for business to ever notice nice, interesting people in their midst,

It’s like the Million Dollar Listing guys. If those are your friends, boy, you’re missing out.

The stereotype exists for a reason.

R149 “Interesting” as in the typical, shallow, seem-personal-but-are-actually- generic talking points actors make when they’re doing publicity for a project? Or interesting in another way?

Seems like people are watching it though. It was #5 on US Netflix yesterday and is #4 today.

It's terrible but I'm hate watching it. The episodes are short.

It really is like watching a horror movie for older coupled gay men. The amount of anxiety and cringe I get from watching it is quite unparalleled. The thought of having to navigate any of that again makes me want to wretch.

[quote]Tuc is no longer hot. Rannells has sucked the youth out of him.

Are those two still together?

No.

You'd think that gay men nearing 50—or past it—would be a great deal more mature about their lives. Instead they get all giggly and prissy about farting, puking, Botoxed butt holes, and other superficial matters.

R156 MARY!!!! 😂

The odd thing is Jeffrey Richman (co-creator) is a terrific writer, including Frasier, which is so smart, and this is so not.

They’d have a couple of good lines or quips each episode. It must be very difficult to assemble a good writing room.

I also think that straight critics aren’t good bellwethers for gay material. They always say the tone is “sour” or what have you when really, that’s just sardonic cynical gay humor, especially when it comes from the older generational.

r`144- don't forget "Kitchen Confidential" starring DL fave Bradley Cooper. I tested for one of the roles during pilot season many years ago.

NPH's husband David was in an episode. He's a bad actor.

Tuc looked really old. Last thing I saw him in was Boys in the Band--he looked like a hot daddy. Now he's wrinkled with hair too big for his head

R152, I tend not to make blanket statements about groups of people. I know academics, MDs, lawyers, bankers, attorneys, designers and real estate brokers. I have good friends in every one of those professions. Yeah some brokers are jerks- but I know a couple who have become very wealthy in their profession who are good friends, good citizens and lead full lives in part due to the doors their success has opened for them- so.

As for 148- sorry you feel like that- for the record: I have a lot of reasons for thinking of myself as one of the luckiest people I know. And I’m quite certain that anyone who knows me would not describe me as loathsome.

I thought Uncoupled was very entertaining, often funny and in the big picture- extraordinary. Much like same sex marriage legal status I never would have imagined anything like the series being produced 25 or 30 years ago. NPH produced the series- he has done a whole lot for gay men by his example and his honesty. I admire him a lot. He plays all manner of roles- on the stage and film- even sitcom. I think he’s a terrific talent. Almost all gay men in show business are closeted. Not NPH-

Honest question:

Is the rather harsh and unflattering photography and lighting (and makeup, or lack thereof) intentional? Honestly couldn't tell if they were afraid of making everything look too glam and frivolous. In any case, I don't think it works in a series like this.

Also, Tyler, the rival realtor - does he have to be that grotesquely obnoxious? And why do they keep referring to him as a twink when he looks nothing like a twink?

And....is Marcia Gaye Harden morphing into latter day Anjelica Huston?

[quote]is Marcia Gaye Harden morphing into latter day Anjelica Huston?

Worse things could happen.

I have loved Tuc since he was David Vickers on OLTL but it seems like the years of smoking are caught up to him

I think one of the problems is that gay men do keep repeating the same cliches generation after generation. Nightlife, hookup culture, commitmentphobes with a different guy ever night, gym obsession, fear of aging, poppers jokes, bitchy drag queens, snippy gay takedowns. These kinds of jokes could have been written in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and so on. It’s hard to make it fresh and not come across like you are playing into stereotype, unless you pull the NPH completely out of this world.

Marcia Gay is halfway to an EGOT. Seriously doubt that this is going to win her an Emmy.

On one hand I thought: whose bright idea was it to have Tuc shirtless so much in the first episode? He looks saggy and old and well beyond his supposed 50 years.

But OTOH I thought: how great for everyone to see that men in their 50s no longer have ripped perfect bodies.

As a gay man d'un certain age, I found much of it touching, and the Brooks A. story arc one that felt real to me. Does it have some of the same flat sitcom tropes as SATC? Yes. Do I care about the characters and enjoy their company enough to want to see a Season 2? Definitely. And for all the talk about NPH's whining and dour quality--well, he's in the first months after a break-up of a 17 year relationship he did not see was in trouble. What do you expect? The hilarity of ... Three's Company?

Come an knock at my (back) door..

I loved Frank! That old queen is a delight.

I have no problem with NPH or the other actors. It's that nothing ever seems to ring true. It's not even about cliches. Most cliches are based on truth. (That wouldn't necessarily make it interesting, though) There are many ways a man who is in a commited 17 year relationship would decide to leave. Particularly when the other partner thinks everything is fine. If under those circumstances, the husband takes his things out of their apartment overnight, I might buy it if it turns out he's a sociopath. But I would expect, at least, the other one would have some kind of suspicions. Also, NYC gay men rarely lead a totally gay lifestyle anymore. Particularly married gay men. Oh, well, maybe it will get better in the second season.

Has Netflix signed off on a second season?

No.

[quote] Also, Tyler, the rival realtor - does he have to be that grotesquely obnoxious? And why do they keep referring to him as a twink when he looks nothing like a twink?

He’s 35 irl and looks it on the show. Maybe he’s supposed to be a twink to a man approaching fifty? I don’t know, I didn’t see it.

Please give examples of movies and sit comes from the 70s and 80s that you mention. I was there and there was almost nothing. Making Love? Men on film on Living color (hilarious). Cruising (universally panned then and now). Not much.

It’s a rom com R170, not Shakespeare. It’s comedy and light satire.

Netflix hasn’t announced anything yet, though that usually doesn’t happen right away.

Because of their relationship with Darren Star, I expect them to renew this, even though it won’t win awards or become a big franchise for them.

I'm curious to see the full scene with Tuc that season 1 ended with - so I hope they do renew. They renew so much garbage at Netflix - let us have this mindless gay show.

Between NPH and Star, there will absolutely be a season 2. Might have even been negotiated from the start, thus the cliffhanger ending.

LOL Netflix is ruthlessly canceling everything which isn’t a hit out of the gate.

r182 allow shit to permeate and it becomes the gold standard.

Just binged it.

Totally predictable.

Totally enjoyable.

Looking forward to a season 2.

Nice summation R166 though I don’t like the show as much as you do I’m an NPH fan. Now, why doesn’t Darren Star hire those hunk husbands from GCB? I’ll bet they’re aging well!

[Quote] I think one of the problems is that gay men do keep repeating the same cliches generation after generation. Nightlife, hookup culture, commitmentphobes with a different guy ever night, gym obsession…

And straight people love football, go out to bars, get girls pregnant, live their guns

R188, and the series’s did not necessarily showcase what the quotation claims. It focuses on the abrupt end of a 17 year relationship and it’s aftermath which obviously neither party were comfortable with! And some take the series way too seriously. It’s gay drama/rom com satire and light comedy. Not Ibsen.

Neil Patrick Harris IS The Wild Duck!

r189, I think the biggest issue with the series is its lack of a consistent tone, and that's why so many viewers have been disappointed and/or confused. I mean, nothing wrong with mixing some comedy in with the drama but the writing is just so inept and out of touch.

And perhaps the casting of NPH in the lead, mainly thought of as a sitcom star, adds to that.

Taking all your stuff and getting out clean and fast, isn't the most unkind way to leave someone. If you choose, you can be available and kind about the split going forward. I once went through a break up that took months of negotiation and bickering and dividing up and packing .... or passive aggressively not packing. And he was already with a new guy. And that guy was doing the same drawn out thing with his girlfriend. It SUCKED. Horrid cowardly people out to hurt others. Another time I busted up with a lover when I discovered his serious lies about some stuff that I had asked about and he lied. And I was living in his home. I asked mutual friends to come take him away for the day and I packed my essentials and got out. A couple months later we could be friends. Which is all we every should have been. Now friends for a few decades.

Season 1 Episode 5. 5 minutes in and NPH has already been called “hot” twice, and was this written by gays? Most spontaneous street cruising pick ups don’t lead to anal because the bottom isn’t clean and ready. They’re arguing about condoms and the real question is…is the bottom ready? And a fussy queen like NPH would certainly be concerned about cleanliness. And who is the bottom, anyway?

R193 agree but to be fair - I’m guessing the gay writers figured the condom issue was a lot more palatable to the fraus and frauleins watching than discussing whether the bottom was clean or whether there would be poop on NPH’s dick after fucking him.

Tops are expected to be the condom carriers. If the NPH character is asking about where's the condoms, he be a bottom.

What’s with all the stumbling/prat falls that happen every episode, a physical comedian NPH is not.

I've finally finished, and saw so many gags and things already used on SATC- like NPH mom falling in the garbage ala Samantha and Smith. Even the series ending song was very similar to the version of Auld Lang Sine (sp?) used in either the series or the first movie.

Someone upthread mentioned the harsh lighting, and I wondered the same thing. I had to double- check to make sure my TV wasn't accidentally set to sports mode.

I still look forward to 2, it's not the greatest but certainly enjoyable enough mindless entertainment.

Is that high end NYC two real estate agent tag team thing for real or is it an invention of this show to give him a work wife?

It's for real.

Well, then why doesn't the "twink" yYler have a work wife?

Less wealthy elite real estate bullshit, more gay dating for season 2.

Did you all know how sexy and hot NPH is? If you didn't, you'll be told every episode.

R200 because I'm not old like those two dinosaurs and can it on my own

My question during episode 3, do women really pay $400 for SJP branded shoes? After a check on amazon, yeah they do. Many also appear to think they're a good deal. Which is still amazing to me

Wonder if SJ's label paid for the product mention (albeit a busted heel reference), or did Darren Star just throw that in as a not so glowing sop to an old friend

Okay, the friend who hasn't been laid in forever, then scores a blowjob, but seconds later zips up and storms off because he doesn't like the cocksucker's mom's artwork?? Just stupid, a waste of a situation that had comedic potential.

[quote]Darren Star just throw that in as a not so glowing sop to an old friend

There may be bad blood between Darren Star and SJP. She may have been behind him getting kicked off his own show (SATC) and replaced by Michael Patrick King.

Hence, the "her shoes are shitty and may kill you" reference.

R206 that's actually funny.

R205, wasn't that the required husband contracted appearance? Burtka had to be a character that lasts a minute and done.

It was an okay binge watch for a rainy Saturday afternoon. I’ve seen worse.

Fat, sassy, unfuckable "hag": check.

OTT Park Avenue bitch: check.

Fat, unfuckable male "bestie": check.

A dick joke every 2 minutes: check.

Wise Elder/Magical Negro: check.

I thought it was hilarious how all of NPH's dates were scripted to tell him, gaunt and showing every minute of his age, how great looking he is. This seemed doubly odd as they were ALL much better looking than him.

I thought Burtka's acting was straight out of community theater.

I agree that Christine Baranski should have played the dumped socialite.

And some other real estate should have played her home. That condo was HIDEOUS. It looked like something from the '70s.

When they said "pre-war" then meant "pre-Iraq-War."

It was mindless fun, and we need more of that in this danger-lurking-at-every-turn world we now live in. Plus, it's always good to have some gay representation, even if some of the characters border on stereotype. And for those of you mocking NPH's looks, don't forget, this series is probably geared toward young women, and many of them likely find him quite attractive, in a husband material way. A woman's idea of hot and attractive tends to differ from a gay man's.

It’s frightening to think that NPH was a better child actor than an adult actor, but than again so was SJP so I guess he’s followings in her footsteps.

Looking at the earlier posts, I thought this will be garbage and NPH, a gargoyle. Watching 3 episodes now, it's actually quite entertaining and also refreshing to see an actor all wrinkly and not alll botoxed and pulled. And NPH's body is not bad either.

r211

it's the SJP clause

Is it me or does Marcia Gay Harden’s nose look like part of it was lopped off? Have never seen a nose like that.

MGH is weird for me here, I had just watched her on The Morning Show and she was delicious, but here she seemed lobotomized.

I cant't remember laughing once at anything that happened. Was that continuous rolling down the ski slope supposed to be funny, because he would actually have ended up in a full body cast.

I was shocked at how much Tuc has aged. Having said that, he is still an extraordinarily handsome man, and I would do him in a heart beat. I saw him years ago at Gym Bar in NYC at the height of his masculine beauty, and he really was head-turning, traffic-stopping gorgeous.

Would expect anyone dating Andrew Rannells would age rapidly if only out the shear exhaustion being around him so much, and I’m not talking about the sex.

I was more surprised at what a void Tuc was acting-wise. He conveyed nothing. It's as if his character wasn't even thinking any thing at any time.

Tuc barely had any lines. I think it was effective how blank he was because it made the audience on the same level as NPH in terms of not knowing why he left him or WTF happened (beyond seeing how chatty and self-centered NPH was in the couples therapy scenes).

I didn't buy the premise that Colin (Tuc's character) would just clean out his stuff after a 17-year committed relationship without telling Michael he was leaving. I think they were trying to be cutesy a la the Carrie/Berger post-it breakup on SATC. That worked on SATC because they were dating for like two seconds. It didn't ring true here because of the length and commitment of their relationship.

Btw, anyone who thinks the final scene was about anything BUT selling the house has obviously never seen a television show.

The usual bunch of urban gay peter pans.

How does NPH manage to maintain the physique of a hot 25-year-old? I was watching his old Will & Grace episode on hulu the other night, and his boyishly handsome face looks EXACTLY the same as it did in that episode from 20 years ago! What's his secret? Does he have a portrait of himself that ages, while he remains timelessly youthful looking? He is quite the snack.

I was wondering when you would show up, Neil!!!

His ass looked great in the gym scene, but the stomach is starting to sag. I'll give him credit though, that lighting was brutal.

R227 Hi, NPH!

[quote]Btw, anyone who thinks the final scene was about anything BUT selling the house has obviously never seen a television show.

Btw, anyone who thinks the final scene was about anything BUT selling a second season has obviously never seen a television show.

But if the turning point turns out to in one of two directions, there won't need to be a second season.

I’m guessing Neil works out like an animal and barely eats.

R233: he seems like a vegan

He must work out like crazy to keep that amazing body. Such amazing discipline. He has broad shoulders and a V-shaped torso that leads down into a narrow waste. Perfect proportions.

I am the Earth Mother and you are all FLOPS!

R235 - or starve

I could do without the bitchy friends with their tiresome retorts, do people act like this in real life? That said I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Maybe its the Queer as Woke effect, but I'd definitely watch a second season. It reminded me in a way to that Showtime series with Jim Carrey, but I gave up on that half way through the first season.

[quote] I agree that Christine Baranski should have played the dumped socialite.

She's doing TWO other shows right now, and she was overwhelmed with just the schedule of those two shows that almost all of her scenes in "The Gilded Age" were confined to the sets for the Van Rhijn house off CPE. I kept expecting they were going to write into the show a reason why she almost never left her parlor--she might as well have been Mrs. Manson Mingott from "The Age of Innocence" (who never leaves her parlor because she's so fat).

There have to be other actresses her age who can play NYC socialites.

I usually love her, but Marcia Gay Harden was awful and really miscast. It was cringe city every time she appeared on screen. I was embarrassed for her.

I’d go for Mary Beth Piel, who is always terrific.

I am enjoying Marcia Gay Harden, but Mary Beth Piel would certainly have been great r241.

How in the world did they manage to film all those maskless group scenes at the museum, restaurants, roller staking rink etc., during the height of pandemic? I wonder if any of those turned out to be super spreader events.

Has anyone here who lives in NYC had Tuc? He was a prime piece of ass, and I sense he has a nice meaty cock. Stories, please.

I googled old datalounge threads for any gossip on Tuc r244 and couldn’t find many specifics beyond spottings of him back in the day. No direct hookup stories I could find.

Forgot about this - loved him for making this comment...

NPH is not "boyishly handsome." My idea of "boyishly handsome" is someone with lips, and whose forehead is not freakishly enlarged, and whose face is not heavily lined.

Second, he has NO ASS. It was just bones and skin.

he has a tight body, but he's an ectomorph, so it's not very attractive to me.

I am sure he will be devastated to find that out r246.

r247, actually he's so narcissistic I'm sure he would be crushed.

I love Mary Beth Piel but she's old enough to be NPH's grandmother. Maybe even great grandmother.

There are lots of Broadway woman who could knock that role out of the park.

Hell, I originally suggested Peil, but Harriet Samson Harris would be divine.

They stole so much from SATC anyway, what about Kim Catrall?

If Kim won’t slum it for the SATC sequel, she wouldn’t touch this lacking property with a ten-foot pole.

How I Met You Father was a flop - people are actually watching this. No idea about the QAF reboot.

testing...

You bitches who think NPH is not boyishly handsome are either hypercritical and/or desperately jealous of him. He DOES have a boyishly handsome face which is extremely appealing to most people with sight, and his body is on point. He clearly takes good care of himself. He lives a fabulous out and proud life, hobnobbing with other A-list gay and non-gay celebs. NPH is goals.

R256 thats going a little far 😂 but I agree he is good looking, his marriage seems solid (as far as we can see - who actually knows about any of these celebrities) and his kids are adorable.

I'd like to see that big fat hog for myself.

Are gay men turned on by socks? I didn’t think about this until the scene with the doctor where they both kept their black socks on. I see it on onlyfans all the time but seeing it outside of porn made me think there are a large population of gays that have a sock fetish.

I thought the show was mediocre overall. But how rich was Tuc’s character? He found an apartment in a very nice neighborhood (I assume because Tisha took her afternoon walks there), then moved to Miami all while covering his half of NPH’s rent. No wonder he wanted to sell the place for profit, he was already in a hole.

R259 He moved to Miami? I thought he was just visiting. Wasn't the old guy the one moving?

[quote] You bitches who think NPH is not boyishly handsome are either hypercritical and/or desperately jealous of him.

"Desperately jealous of him"?

Are you in the eighth grade??

Less than 20% of Dataloungers would call him handsome.

[quote] his boyishly handsome face

uh, that would be a boy with progeria. ish.

[quote] I was more surprised at what a void Tuc was acting-wise

His acting on the show began with a lot staring into the middle distance. But I realized even when he's actively making contact, he's just a little bit dead behind the eyes.

Tuc was way better in BITB. I call bad direction or writing.

[quote]If Kim won’t slum it for the SATC sequel, she wouldn’t touch this lacking property with a ten-foot pole.

Guess you missed her in Peacock's Queer as Folk.

I thought the scene between Tuc and Tisha at the wedding was by far the best thing in the whole season. If the rest of it was more like that, real but funny, it could have been great. Unfortunately, it was pretty bad.

I thought NPH was the best part of the series. Tisha's and Marcia's characters and the two friends were all a waste of space. They should basically tear it down and rebuild it for season 2, still centered around NPH, but with a new concept and a new group of supporting characters. Kind of like they did with Rhoda every season.

I don’t know R220, I used to see Tuc frequently at my Crunch on the UWS in the aughts (the same one I saw Colin Hanlon at, and Meloni at his height) and he wasn’t really all that compelling. He had a kind of bland soap opera like attentiveness but not much else. Nice body, not really next level.

That’s funny R267, I thought Tuc actually came alive with Tisha too. She woke him up. There’s a kernel of a good show here, they just need to do some rejiggering. I don’t have much confidence it will happen though. Too many egos.

I think the need to have NPH’s mom need to move in with him in season two like a Torch Song situation.

I think r271 needs to complete his ESL courses before ever posting again.

I just finished all the episodes.

What a fantasy. Michael is in his 40s and he isn't all that and he draws more hot guys to him than Lily Walsh and Cricket Blair did in the 1980s combined.

So predictable that younger (ish) hot (adjacent) guy only wanted the pudgy art dealer to make a connection.

He should have said sure, three fucks, two lunches and a dinner and I'll make the intro.

Michael lives in a nice place, and makes good money. He'd be getting all the dick he wants.

NPH's character is a well-connected, wealthy (relatively) gay man living in Manhattan, but has never heard of PrEP? OK......

R274, all at once, though? Yes, it's a TV show. I get it.

But he seemed to have one guy right after another.

I thought the teacher was a good actor/well cast. He had everything but for Michael, it was just too early and didn't add up.

There were parts of the show I liked and there were parts I just groaned.

They should've had Tuc do full frontal scenes.

[quote]I don’t know R220. I used to see Tuc frequently at my Crunch on the UWS in the aughts (the same one I saw Colin Hanlon at, and Meloni at his height) and he wasn’t really all that compelling. He had a kind of bland soap opera like attentiveness but not much else. Nice body, not really next level.

Were "next level" bodies already a thing in the aughts? In the early '90s, Tuc starred in a frequently run infomercial for a home gym machine called Gravity Edge. He was certainly in good shape for that.

[quote] I wish Tuc Watson was the lead.

I wonder whether he's ever asked if he was part of the Manson family?

For a "flop," its respective DL thread has quite the longevity.

It's like when Will Truman told Barry: "Gay movies suck. But until the laws change, we're obligated to go see them."

It's #6 on Netflix TV shows, not a flop.

I liked it. I don't find it rewatchable though. Would still watch a second season anyway.

It's a winner! I loved it, and can't wait for S2! My friends are eagerly anticipating the next season as well. NPH was really terrific, and his friends were really funny. And more yummy Tuc please! All in all, great series right out the gate that barely needs any improvement for what sure to be a second season. All hall, NPH!

It’s an enjoyable, light watch and that’s enough for me right now.

Is R284 a PR shill for NPH? It was watchable, but that post is so OTT lol😄

Season two needs to open with a mass funeral for all his friends who died on a big Gay trip that he didn’t go on and then season two is about him finding new friends.

How about in Season 2 he starts dating an incredibly handsome 45 year old rich man. And everywhere they go, everyone pays a lot of attention to the beauty and none to NPH. So Michael finally says something about how he's used to be the more handsome guy in the couple but now it's cool that his couple is equal in looks. So his date rolls his eyes and is genuinely confused, and says, "Michael, I never date attractive men, that's why I choose you. I'm sorry, I'm confused. I really like you, you're fun, but you know you're a 6 at best, don't you?"

r284 = David Burtka.

I like the titty cancer guy.

R290 I’ve never heard of him until that Newman/Woodward documentary where he overacted Gore Vidal lines.

I want the promiscuous, narcissistic black friend quite deeply inside me.

Isn’t this show basically Looking, but for 50+ eldergays?

I don't think so, hence the Prep explanation and a few other things that straights might not know.

R294 Looking had a whole episode about PrEP.

I enjoyed it and I never watch comedy. I hope there's a season 2.

All the cunty fucking hate toward NPH is revolting. They eat their own.

R296 🙄🤡

R296 People who never watch comedies does seem like a key audience fir this show.

Watched it. So light weight as to not merit serious thought. But the reactions in this thread are more consequential than the show. So keep it coming.

PrEP was much newer when Looking was being made, R295. The explanation here jarred, at least for gay viewers.

I, for one, was happy to see Wendy Williams' first foray into acting, as a high-powered real estate maven!

The black/mixed-race friend was incredibly annoying. I don't know why anyone would want to be around so toxic a person.

Brooks Oshkoshbgosh was as close to a DLer as we're ever likely to see on-screen.

Brooks Ashmaskas was the best part of this.

Tragic that Hollywood picked James Corden over him for The Prom film.

What is their desired demo? The writers are even older than NPH so the humor tends to be for people 60+.

Brooks whateverhisnameis barely registered until the end of the season in the last two episodes when he finally got a couple of good readings of okay lines in. Otherwise he was forgettable.

Its a popular show, so I doubt it's just Elder Gays. Probably frauen too, cause they like those saucy gays and seeing some skin.

I too watched it for the fun campfest it would be, thought it was 'okay' and I'll watch season 2. NPH, to me, isn't unattractive, I am not personally attracted to him but I like him enough. He absolutely needs to start putting on some weight. It's great that he is determined to stay in shape as he gets older but he doesn't look healthy being That thin at his age. Not much of a fan of Tuc. He's okay and I'm not attracted to him either. I think he finally got rid of Andrew Rannells, good for him. . Brooks Ashmaskas was fun but I thought how typical to have a slightly overweight guy who is not having luck with finding someone to pair up with be the sad best friend on the side who gets nothing but joked about. And then Breast Cancer !? What really made me laugh is how good-looking almost everyone was, how wealthy almost everyone was, how almost everyone lived in gorgeous 5th Avenue-Park Avenue apartments. Yeah, very realistic.

It’s fine. It’s whatever I’m its target audience and can recognize its limitations.

Two takeaways from me: Neil Patrick Harris (or producer or director) thinks he’s way hotter than he is. I have NEVER asked for a shirtless NPH scene and yet we get one every episode. Does anyone want this?

And two, they have a specific idea of what a hot gay man it, and it’s clearly not mine. They are perpetuating the idea a hot gay man is thin, white, medium build, medium brown hair, medium height. Middle of the road everything.

We haven't watched this yet but my fundamentalist Christian in-laws called this evening to rave about it. We're living in strange times if NPH's crossover appeal is that broad.

They were ok with all the cock and fucking talk?

The way they keep talking about how hot NPH is on this show reminds me of a Columbo episode from the 90s with Faye Dunaway as the guest star. In every other scene someone would gush over her beauty, saying "She sure is a looker" etc. It went on and on. It must have been in her contract. Granted, she was still beautiful, unlike the average looking NPH.

When I was a teenager in the sixties, I longed for a TV show with gay characters. I see now how wrong I was.

That's the DL spirit, R310.

I agree, all the friend/coworker/client characters could benefit from a re-think.

R306, maybe the show isn't for you.

[quote]They were ok with all the cock and fucking talk?

If it's in every episode, yes, apparently so. They still have a couple left.

NPH kills it in his new series. I hate you use the word "revelation", but that really does describe him. He proves that a man can be hot and sexy after 35. The show itself is well-crafted, with well-drawn characters, and is so wonderfully smart and witty. It's been a huge, huge hit for Netflix, so a second season is practically in the cards. Way to go, NPH!

My husband and I binged this and were howling. It was funny and touching. I was losing it when the art dealer was with himbo Burtka and kept shuddering at the hideous art. lol

“Telepromptress” - straight outta DL.

Also had some heartwarming scenes. It was nice to see a streaming comedy that didn’t go full woke and could just be an unapologetically gay male show for gay men.

[quote]He proves that a man can be hot and sexy after 35.

Does that point really need proving? And if it did, might it not have been better to find a 35+ actor who was hot and/or could play sexy?

There are two weights sinking this thing: bad writing and NPH who once again acts as though he smells something unpleasant. A fit body doesn't make up for the sour face and the parched skin that looks sandpaper rough. He has no dimensionality at all, just a character reacting to whatever is happening around him in every scene, with a smug, too good for this and better than you face - that might be played to advantage in a gay comedy but isn't.

The friends and supporting characters are all wretched, ridiculous mincing stereotypes or their overcompensating foils. No one at ease with himself or herself, no confidence that ought to come with middle age and a measure of success, no elevated self-awareness that might come from NYC life, just people you wouldn't want to know.

The plots are fairly miserable but who would care if the story and it's development through its characters had any depth, any poignance, any tart reflection, any insight, any electrical charge of life. But no.

I dislike one note NPH and his one note sourness masquerading as a quick wit. Instead he reminds me of Ellen deGeneres who shares a similar "tart" defensiveness that no matter how much either of them drones on, they never reveal anything other than a fully deployed defense shield wrapped in superiority.

I had hoped it that with Darren Starr it might break through the limits of its star or succeed in some small way, but no; there's not much evidence that someone of talent is behind this and that's the real surprise of the series.

Eight episodes and no depth, no delight, no laughs, no insight, just dumb cliches and one note characters going nowhere. Did no one in a position of responsibility not read or watch this thing and say: what is the point of this plot? What is it meant to advance? Why does this character even exist? Is that all, really?

Pompous, pretentious r317 lost me at "it's development." Oh, dear!

Jesus, R316, you're undemanding. Howling?? There was nothing that funny in any single episode of this show. Thank God you and your husband found each other.

OP's title was grossly premature--it's been doing quite decently for a Netflix show. Lots of people are watching it, probably in large part because NPH is pretty popular as a comedy actor. This is basically a sitcom with adult themes and an ongoing story arc, much like "Sex and the City."

I would be more likely to watch more than the two episodes I watched if someone more attractive like Jonathan Groff were the lead, because I just do not find NPH appealing, and the constant (and by now much lampooned) reiteration of how hot his hookups find his character to be is the 2020s equivalent of 'Oh, Blossom, you're so beautiful." But for some reason middle America really likes him.

Trans are complaining that the show is centered around "cis white gay males" and not them, they're pissed because it has a "sassy black woman" character in it. The last thing this show needs is another obnoxious trans/nonbinary story tagged onto it. Even if it's cliché, at least it's more entertaining than that embarrassing minstrel mess "Queer as Folk" and Fire Island.

[quote]I dislike one note NPH and his one note sourness masquerading as a quick wit.

You know, before that stupid How I Met Your Mother show, he was actually a good actor and did some good roles. But ever since that show, he seems to think he’s a comedian and he’s just not funny IMO. He needs to go back to non-comedic roles.

[quote]Trans are complaining that the show is centered around "cis white gay males" and not them, they're pissed because it has a "sassy black woman" character in it.

Nobody gives a fuck what they think.

He was fantastic in INTO THE WOODS just a couple of months ago, so I blame the writing. I mean, the character is annoyingly negative almost all the time.

That's why I enjoyed the show, R321. Marcia Gay Harden also took a few cracks at her (off-screen) Enby daughter.

It's a gay show for gay men. And yes, my (non-white) husband and I enjoyed it you *sophisticate* R319. I had no expectation and laughed a lot. The cast felt organic instead of a paint-by-diversity-committee blehfest like most of today's "sitcoms."

R224, I pretty much did the same thing after 11 years. Sometimes it’s the best way. Why protract the pain and drama?

No idea why people are hating on this so much. For me it was enjoyable. It’s not meant to be Masterpiece Theater. I hope it does get another season. As far as the cliché goes…maybe, but it’s still who we are.

Well I liked this. The "How can they afford these lifestyles" was dealt with well and yes it was very Sex And The City but in a good way.

And we all know people like them, even if they aren't as rich.

Yes, R327, it was basically okay. Would I watch a second season? Yes, because there isn't much new gay content that's any good.

There was no crossover from AJLT with the comedy stylings of Che. For that alone, it deserves an Emmy.

R317 nailed it.

Having spent years in NYC, the universe of characters has no resemblance to reality. And I would be fine with them creating fun, interesting characters unlike those I’ve known… but these characters were not fun, interesting, dimensional or real.

Not sure what the fac t that your husband is "non white" has to do with anything

^^ because of the comment saying transbos criticize the show for being all white cis gays. My not white husband enjoyed it a lot

I want Tuc inside me deeply, despite his aging. I've desired him the moment I first saw him on the soap.

R333 some diversity would be nice though. But not without authenticity. It sounds like the show lacks both. I enjoyed the second season of Looking, they tried a little harder the second season but still would like to see the lives of black and Asian gays included a little more.

Who the hell wants to see the lives of Asian gays? They were unwatchable on that execrable Fire Island movie.

R336 Lol, I’ve only read about it here, but I get it. That being said, watching shows and movies about all white, upper middle class gays gets boring. Please, something a little less sterile. “Gay” is suppose to cross all races and ethnicities but we don’t see much of that diversity in our entertainment. I think it’s a missed opportunity.

Like Rent Biktarvy?

Literally one black supporting main on the show, one memorable black side character, and a Latino side character (Jai).

Yes, Virginia. Well-to-do gay Manhattanites tend to be white. What do you want? A homosexual cookout in the ghettos of Atlanta? "We don't see much of that diversity in our entertainment..." please. Zzzzz.

prep is not on the radar of a lot of long term couples. Of course they know what it is (as does the character) but have not taken to it yet. A number of guys, particularly middle aged who even survived pre anti retrovirals prefer condoms and perhaps are not as active as younger guys who take it for granted. So…

I liked it but the kept saying NPH was hot...he isn't

[quote]Trans are complaining that the show is centered around "cis white gay males" and not them, they're pissed because it has a "sassy black woman" character in it

Next show about TWOC, all gay men should cause a stir for not including GAY MEN and LESBIANS!!!

And WTF? NPH's two best friends are both Black! Billy and Suzanne are literally the 2nd and 3rd lead characters after NPH.

The Jonathan's are Hispanic and Jewish (but those don't count as "diverse" do they?)

Fuck these assholes.

As one who hated the show, I will saw that I thought the diversity balance felt right… not forced.

The main problem is the ghost of Sex and the City looms large over the whole show - right down to the friend getting male breast cancer. That would've been the perfect opportunity to introduce testicular or prostate cancer into the storyline, but those things are likely too male and "icky" for the frau market. NPH is okay, but not really as charming or as attractive as the script keeps saying he is.

Also, they keep doing this "we're best friends" thing that no midde-aged men do. The one nice thing about it is that characters are actually open about seeking relationships. I'm really sick of seeing characters in other shows recoiling at the thought have having relationship or actually falling in love., because, you know, they have a big career ahead of them and love to travel!

And why, like SITC and AJLT, why so much real estate porn?

Is it worth even starting? I saw the preview snippet from Netflix and it doesn't look awful, but doesn't look great. And I'm "meh" toward NPH anyway.

Agreed, R343, and I'm another who had nothing otherwise good to say about it. It was good to see a cast with diversity presented without explanation or congratulation.

To continue in my vein of kindness:

I like that NPH's apartment and the exterior of his building and common spaces feature prominently. That's something where there is usually no effort to match details of the interior with the exterior, but here someone made an effort and a good one.

The only romantic interest of NPH I didn't hate was the farter. Yes, he was short only a moving van to complete the cliche, but nothing was made of his fast moving familiarity until he was headed out the door. He was the only one who wasn't overplayed.

ALL the characters are cliches. And one-dimensional. Fat guy who's a dork and can't get laid. Black guy who's a slut and a cad. The sassy black female colleague. The rich divorced horny matron. The totally innocuous married couple. And so on. Even SITC had more nuance. I'd give it more respect if it didn't insult my intelligence.

What didn't you like about the hot, nice, doctor with a huge cock R347?

Is a sphincter relaxing injection a real thing by the way?

NPH is a very attractive men. You guys who saying he isn't hot must be eldergays with cataracts. He's very handsome, got a beautifully toned body, and by all accounts is hung huge. Plus he's successful, a great dad, and an all-around nice normal guy. The level of vitriol on this board directed toward successful out and proud gay men is remarkable.

Maybe Mr. Harris goes to Paris in the next season to find love, with Emily.

Part of the problem with these short 8-10 episode series is there really isn't time to create multi-layered characters. Or give someone other than the lead any kind of time to reveal much.

I started it. It's very "Netflix. We need content." It's not horrible but seems like they threw it together in three weeks, NPH seems very aware of himself

[quote] Isn’t this show basically Looking, but for 50+ eldergays?

Nailed it. They even copied the storyline about the main character and his slutty best friend who loves twinks having sexual history. The slutty friend is a copy of the Dom character and NPH is a copy of the Patrick character, just old.

I wonder how Jonathan Groff feels about his show failing when this one is doing well, but then again, he got to beat the shit out of NPH in The Matrix Resurrections so he wins.

I want to see his former HIMYM costars guest star next season with NPH becoming a chubby chaser and falling in love with Josh Segal and having very explicit on screen sex.

Looking was WAY better.

I'm the real star! It's me, the Prospect Park Boat House

It was cute enough. I watched the whole thing. It's not too bad, It's definitely sub SATC. Plenty of gay cliches, a little shlocky . It has a poor mans Nathan Lane.

"V-shaped torso that leads down into a narrow waste."

I don't remember the part where they talked about his character's poop hole or it's width.

The Brooklyn Boat House seems to be in more movies and series than some stars these days. It was where the assistant went to buy drugs in Halston and the fancy restaurant in Passing.

Did Tuc and Rannells definitely split up?

R362 in one of the interviews for this show he said he was single and talked briefly about ending long term relationships after a question about how he relates to the show so I'd imagine yes.

It would have been better with Shelley Hack.

Shelley Hack, r364? LOL, that's such a random name from TV past. Who would you like to have seen her play? NPH's mother? The Marcia Gay Harden character? Personally, I never liked Shelley in anything I've seen her in, though she was quite pretty in her Charlie's Angels days. I don't see her fitting in with Uncoupled, but stranger casting choices have happened on many shows throughout the years, so you never know.

I think this show needs a guest starring Ben Platt as a young paramour who doesn’t know Gay history.

R366 He already played that role on the Will & Grace reboot as a Gen Z gay who tried to fuck Will.

Exactly R367

Platt could play the hot guy that everyone gay in Manhattan is desperate to sleep with.

I think Platt is one of the most unattractive young people in showbusiness.

[quote]What didn't you like about the hot, nice, doctor with a huge cock

R349: The doctor was attractive, and I do like a huge, girthy cock more than you'll know, but the character was just an elaborate set-up for the another silly gag, another awkward situation for our C̶a̶r̶r̶i̶e̶ Michael, the shocker of the "sphincter relaxing injection" at the ready in the bedside table.

Michael tries not to be as prudish as Carrie, but he is.

I liked Harold & Kumar.

It was SATC right down to the jazz music. I will say His fat friend was moving in the last episode. He’s a better dramatic actor than comedy. In fact all of them would be better at drama than NPH and the hag bestie.

Marcia Gay was….ok….but weird in this. Kim Cattrall would have been great and she’s still friends with Darren Star. I was surprised she wasn’t cast I’m this role,

If you're going to criticize someone else's misuse of a word, you should make sure you're not doing the same yourself, R360.

I'm LOVING this show! Season 2 can't come fast enough for me!

I never knew NPH was such a forced actor. Two episodes in. It's okay.

Someone said in the next season, if there actually is one, they're going to have Luke Evans and Billy Porter as a couple.

Someone was wrong, I think, R377. I suspect they meant this instead.

Bad as Uncoupled is, I can't imagine it would dip so low as a Billy Porter, 'Hey, it's Che Diaz!' subplot.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Don Roos turn up as the writer of 1 episode. Why haven't we gotten more movies from this gifted man?

You answered your own question, R379.

I like Stanley. Is Tuc Watkins always this much of a dud? I think I remember him more dynamic in other productions.

I found NPH quite appealing on this. Almost scarily composed with the hot sauce, but he's much more attractive here than on the Netflix show.

When will they announce whether there is a season 2?

The show is doing great. They'll be a season 2.

After reading R371, I asked my wife if her homophobic fundie parents had gotten to the "sphincter relaxing injection" gag yet. She said "Yes, they watched all the episodes." I remain confused (maybe they're Netflix shills), but we plan on watching now.

Bottom line, NPH is hot hot hot, and any one of us would drop to our knees in a heartbeat if he wanted us sexually.

I'm not saying this to be contrarian, but I just disagree. If you're type is generally twinks, I guess. He is NOT bad looking, but hot, hot, hot? He's entirely too thin and fine-featured for me and the semi-baby face just doesn't do it for me.

"Your type," not "you're type."

[quote]Bottom line, NPH is hot hot hot, and any one of us would drop to our knees in a heartbeat if he wanted us sexually.

R385 I absolutely would, he is just my type. But I do recognise that he isnt everybody's type, and that some guys just wont see any attraction, like guys that are into bears for instance

Variety, its the spice of life. Or something

Another in disagreement, R385. I like lean, wiry men, but Harris' weird old rooster skin and the delicacy of his impressive from a distance muscles doesn't come together. I would rather see a man look his age than put all his hard work on display. Naturally lean and wiry with muscles is hot; sinewy, stringy, worked to the bone in the gym lean and wiry is not sexy because it betrays all the hard work and vanity behind it.

Harris's body may look younger than his 49 years, but his face looks older. He looks like he has come out of some very grave illness and us slowly regaining his --now prematurely aged-- body. The face paired with the body sets up an odd tension - the same disparity of an older woman who 8s all wrinkles everywhere except the drum-taut face with everything pulled back and glassy smooth: in the end she doesn't look younger, and would draw less negative attention if parts of her appearance were not do at odds.

I get it. Harris is supposed to be a male Marian the Librarian. Instead of taking his glasses off and undoing his hair bun, he transforms by taking a shirt off and showing off the sexiness that lurks beneath Nestor the Nerd. But it doesn't work for me. The terminal illness face and the scientifically correct muscles without a hint of sexiness don't come together for me. Everything looks tense as fuck, face and body. Not a sexy look for me.

Then there's the fact that he has a youthful look...but now aged. Very short man have this curse in that they can be sexy when young, but middle age often steaks their appeal. Harris might have the body of a 35 or a 25 year old, but he has the face of a 49 year old who worries a lot. It's an uneasy pairing. He's always traded on a youthful look and gay men who look younger than they are don't appeal to everybody, not even on DL.

Different people like different things, and I don't pretend that my looks are anything near universally appealing, but no, I wouldn't drop to my knees for a dry husk with an old baby face and delicately featured abdominal muscles. All the more for you to enjoy.

His skin - body and face - looks like a rich gay 60 something's skin. He's only 49?

Gilles Marini is 46 and looks fabulous. As he always has and always will.

NPH hopping in the sack with genuinely handsome men isn't doing NPH any favors in the looks department.

I actually thought it was okay. Certainly better than the ridiculous Emily in Paris.

Not saying a lot, r391.

Is this required viewing?

Sure, for the easily amused.

IMO NPH is walking sex. The body, the dick, the sexual energy. I really don't understand how some of you can't see that.

Don't forget the septugenarian's face, R395.

R395, because as has been previously stated, we all have different taste.

Losing all the weight for Hedwig aged NPH. And that husband is one lousy actor.

I just rolled my eyes when the ugly face of nepotism showed up on that episode. Can't act, wasn't funny.

Sorry what? Who was a nepotism choice?

Lola was in this series?

Nepotism means relative or friend.

I know what nepotism is. I'm not a dummy.

There’s a reason Burtka never had a real acting career and instead was forced to become a stay at home wife.

Completely incapable of reading even one line with any modicum of believability.

I really enjoyed this, it was light and charming and funny enough to maintain my interest throughout - I hope it gets another season.

R403 yeah he was terrible

Not sure if it would be possible R373 but wouldn't it be cool if Kim Cattrall were to reprise her role as Samantha but on THIS show? If there is a rights issue over the character, just call her Amanda but have her be exactly the same. I can't see it happening though as Kim said she's done with the character, it's not just about the SJP feud for her.

Which character was he R405?

They wouldn’t have the rights to Samantha. While Star created her, I’m pretty sure there is a company that owns the rights.

Oh, by nepotism, you mean Burtka.

I actually thought he wasn't too bad. He only had a couple scenes.

Burtka was the guy that blew the chubby art dealer.

If I were the chubby art dealer, I would have received the blowjob first, turning around so I don't face the offensive art, and THEN stormed out as a protest about the horrific art.

At least get the sloppy blowjob.

Are you guys kidding? Burtka is super hot and I thought he was really effective in his guest stint. He and NPH make a super-handsome couple. They're the couple we all want to be, so I'm guessing that most, if not all, of the hate directed at them by you gay losers is fueled by rabid, seething jealousy.

David Burtka is the Gay Pheobe Cates!

The ultra-woke TV reviewer at the Bay Area Reporter (SF gay rag) hated “Uncoupled” because it’s about a rich white gay man.

Now watch DL change its collective mind.

R412 us “gay losers”? Fuck off frau. Nobody is buying what you’re selling here.

Oh I tried but after two episodes I just couldn't be bothered, especially with that B-Level "Nathan Lane" character...

[quote]Are you guys kidding? Burtka is super hot and I thought he was really effective in his guest stint. He and NPH make a super-handsome couple. They're the couple we all want to be, so I'm guessing that most, if not all, of the hate directed at them by you gay losers is fueled by rabid, seething jealousy.

That bee-stung face only a mother who loves musicals could love, poor man's Andrew Rannells wannabe dream big!)? Who isn't jealous of that?

Do NPH and Burtka have an open relationship? Anyone had either of them?

R412 is David or NPH

I'm not jealous of either one, especially the talentless David Burka- gay Martha Stewart wannabe.

R413 He is not. Phoebe Cates had talent.

The producer of the show is Jeffrey Richman the appropriately named financer/boyfriend of DL non-favorite John Benjamin Hickey.

Ah, so part of the SJP crowd. The shoe reference makes sense and wasn't a diss.

It must be heaven to be part of the NYC clique of NPH/Burtka, Cohen, Cooper, Ripa, Consuelos, DTM, SJP and Broderick.

I wouldn't mind the group, minus Andy.

R414 Lets be real if NPH was a poc this show would be getting rave reviews instead of being called what it really is a turd.

A hit turd is still a hit.

If the Harris/Burtkas go on vacations with Elton, who are the porn twinks for, all of them?

Go fuck yourself, r428. NPH and DB are monogamous. Sure they hob nob with other A-list gays, as they should, but that's the extent of it. At the end of the day, NPH and DB still only have eyes for each other to this day.

I think NPH and DB take turns getting fucked by Matthew Broderick while SJP is out buying shoes.

You have a filthy mind, r430. NPH/DB and SJP/MB are happily married monogamous couples. Stop speculating based on your fantasy lives.

Only watched first episode so far. Is there nudity? If not I won’t bother

Yes, there's nudity - mostly NPH.

Full frontal?

Yum, r433. I would never turn down the opportunity to look at that body in all its glorious masculine beauty. NPH is masculine beauty personified IMO. Perfection.

You don't see 🍆

Lame

Just a dick pic they stole from online as a stand in for NPH

It's too bad all the hot tricks he hooked up with were covered by blankets and pants.

I think that was his dick in that pic. It was gorgeous.

I just finished binge watching it. I wouldn't call it a flop but it's not very good. He is just so over the top and Broadway like.

R440 - doubt it. Otherwise, just do a frontal shot in RT.

I don't believe they've been together 18 years, and at least don't do 3 ways. In one of the interviews for this show (not worth posting), NPH says they both like to flirt and he enjoys guys checking out his husband.

NPH is into being a Cuck and watching big muscular men fuck his husband while he watches and whimpers in a corner.

[quote]n one of the interviews for this show (not worth posting), NPH says they both like to flirt and he enjoys guys checking out his husband.

No one checks out Burtka anymore. (great big fat person, too gay)

Well, he didn't specify age. Maybe 70 year olds.

In Palm Springs these guys are young and beautiful.

Unfortunately, they don't live in Palm Springs.

You fellas really hate any gay man who's out, proud, good looking and successful, don't you? We're talking rabid hate. It's really sick how you eat your own.

[quote]You fellas really hate any gay man who's out, proud, good looking and successful, don't you? We're talking rabid hate. It's really sick how you eat your own

Not especially, but we're not above serving a small plate of comeuppance to ubiquitous, smirky, superior sorts who want to be the only gay in the village -- in the same way that a Sarah Jessica Parker attracts scorn for working so hard that smoke comes out of her ears when she pretends to be a naive, easy going, butter-wouldn-melt nice girl.

NPH and DB are lovely people. Highly philanthropic. They're living their best life. Lots of seething jealousy here, it appears.

We heard you the first time. And the second. Now go back to sucking NPHs dick, R449, you're a broken record. We don't have to love everyone just because they are out and gay.

These over the top defense posts have to be David. What does he do all day? Get the kids ready and off to school, and how long does it take to plan dinner?

David seems high-strung and on drugs. I suppose the drugs are needed.

David is like those high strung moms in the 60s stuck at home with the kids all the time and in desperate need of Valium.

Except they have a nanny and house cleaner. I'm sure Mrs. NPH hasn't scrubbed a toilet in 20 years.

[quote]We don't have to love everyone just because they are out and gay.

Whom do you think you're fooling? DL doesn't want to love anyone who's out and gay, especially if they're successful.

R456 So did many of those 60s housewives, and their husbands did absolutely nothing!

Gossip

Are we getting a season 2?

Why wouldn't we? It's a big hit, and other than NPH it's not like the other actors have people beating down their doors for work.

The newly out gays are just all giddy about it. Two thumbs way up.

Neil's in his white undies on the cover of OUT (I think it's OUT) and I'm like Peter Griffin turning down Helen Hunt: "No. Nooo. Nooooooooooo."

It’s a RomCom?

Watch it you dumb cunt, unless you still are using a TV antenna.

Considering it's neither romantic nor funny, I'd say no, R464.

R466 Right, that’s what I was thinking! It more like a dragedy.

Unfavorable reviews:

Neil Patrick Harris's joyless look at starting over. A miscast lead is only the first of many woes plaguing Darren Star's​ ​Netflix drama​. “Uncoupled” is flat, joyless and surprisingly cold-looking. (Washington Post)​

‘Uncoupled’ Is a Surprisingly Sour Neil Patrick Harris Breakup Story...Harris’ performance whittles down audience sympathy over time. (Variety)

In Uncoupled, every character has the texture of Italian Carrara marble (ie, none whatsoever). Like its protagonist, the show is afraid to be truly vulnerable, preferring instead to scoff and sniff lest we glimpse anything truly human underneath. (i.news.co.uk)

Uncoupled: The jokes feel like stabs at relevance that have already started going stale (The Independent)

Who Is Netflix’s Uncoupled Even for? A conversation about Darren Star's tone-deaf new gay comedy…There’s a similar emptiness to all of the show's relationships, with everyone manipulating each other for status or sex or the most odious forms of personal growth. It’s passed off as a larky good time, but it reads to me like yet another depiction of gay men and their sassy female friends as preening, materialistic caricatures…I straight-up loathed this show, and I ended up spending a good portion of my time watching it trying to unpack why exactly it hit such a sour spot with me. A lot of it is obvious: I've always found Neil Patrick Harris to have a sincerity problem, and while he's aguably at his most unguarded in Uncoupled, I still struggle to jibe with his performance. And…that was actually a highlight! (primetimer.com)

Overall, Uncoupled feels flat and lifeless. (The Guardian)

It’s a shame... that a release [that] should be seen as a sign of progress is so dated and uninspired in other ways. (Financial Times)

A rigid romcom in desperate need of some jokes. (Sunday Independent - Ireland)

Uncoupled goes down easy — unlike its judgy protagonist — and makes for a frictionless weekend binge.​ (NPR)

It’s a faster-paced, more entertaining show than King’s inert SATC sequel, but one marked by many of the same distracting defects, from overly stylized dialogue to underdeveloped characters to a bad case of affluenza. (TIME Magazine)

The bad reviews above are interesting. They are all accurate, and yet the show is very watchable.

I find it refreshingly boring, if that makes any sense. I feel like I'm a fly on the wall of what's happening, and the characters are relatable enough to enjoy. It is truly not at all funny, and not cringey or emotion inducing. They don't go for cheap laughs or slapstick like SATC, they just coast through the events involved, and nobody starring in this is very physically attractive. Even Tuc is clearly aging in the torso, and that's great to see. It's reality.

It's somehow just a comforting and banal look at what really happens. The emotions of the characters involved are restrained, passive-aggressive, and riddled with denial and attempts at laughing things off. That's exactly how I experienced big breakups. On its surface, it's certainly not very interesting, but as you watch, you are drawn in by the quiet charm of characters who care about each other finding a way to make sense of mid life crises all around....without a 'hey girl hey' moment anywhere.

I think the true star is the chubby art dealer. He is the voice of reason throughout, and the one you want over at your party. Even his quips aren't finger snaps, they are just elegantly jaded and a clear evidence as to why he's always been single - but that is exactly how many gay men are.

I'll look forward to a Season Two. The reviews above are coming from a perspective where they clearly want a flashy RomCom with intrigue, sex, snappy dialogue and Wow factor. This ain't it. It's a binge watch with a bottle of Cabernet.

I'm not going to look up all the reviews at R468 to see who wrote them but I'd wager that most are from a) straight people and lesbians who don't understand gay male culture and b) gay men who are angry at the show for not being radical enough.

R470 and who don’t have a sense of humor either. It’s a rom com, and clearly quite successful and NOH is a role model to thousands of boys and young gay men. Good for him. He makes a lot of guys on this thread look really small.

[quote] Kim Cattrall would have been great and she’s still friends with Darren Star. I was surprised she wasn’t cast I’m this role,

Even if he offered it to her (and he may have), she would have turned it down. Had she done this role, the comparisons to Samantha would be endless, and it would have seemed like she was doing the role just to thumb her nose at SJP and keep their feud going in the media.

My sense is that Cattrall is just done with SJP and SATC. She just wants to move on with her life.

[quote] I find it refreshingly boring, if that makes any sense. I feel like I'm a fly on the wall of what's happening, and the characters are relatable enough to enjoy.

One reviewer said much the same thing when she said it's the sort of show you can watch while you do your ironing on the weekend.

This show is review proof. People are desperate to escape reality.

Wish we got another season of Looking instead

I wish we got anyhting but this.

Forced? At gunpoint?

I’m confused about this being labeled a romantic comedy, isn’t the whole point of this show about his breakup, it’s there right in the title? This is a drama/tragedy, sure it uses humor, but Gays like Jews have always used humor to deflect tragedy. This is a very sad story about a Gay man who is past his peak living in NYC and his rejection by the Gay community, that spells drama to me. I mean by the end you thought he’d hurl himself out of the window of that well appointed CPW apartment. He’s sad and pathetic, that doesn’t say comedy or romance to me?

I don’t know, I also enjoyed that HBO show called insecure because it was a drama and then when awards season came around and they were labeling it as a comedy I stopped watching because I didn’t find it funny. It too was about a relationship imploding and the aftermath of “uncoupling.” I am the only one who doesn’t see that as a topic for comedy?

Past his peak, R478? NPH IS THE SEXIEST THING ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH!!!

I agree, R478. Nothing comedic about UnCoupled at all. That's fine by me, but they shouldn't call it that. I think maybe because of the tone/music of some of the proceedings 'seems lighthearted', some mouth breather at Netflix just decided to label it that and move on.

I have friends who swear it’s funny. I couldn’t get past the first episode but, aside from a few amusing moments when Marcia Gay Harden was on screen (and I actually think she landed uncomfortably between camp and something more straightforward), I didn’t find anything that made me smile.

Oh wait. I smiled when the credits came up. It was over.

^ I watched the first and last episode just to see if they get back together. Won’t spoil it for you

I don't know. "UnCoupled" sounds like a lot of lifestyle porn. We've seen all this before.

The bit where he vomits into a hot tub was presumably meant to be funny… but EW.

I was turned off by the lifestyle porn component.

The interesting people in NYC are NOT those living In those soulless glass and steel towers or those who deal with them.

R444 hot!!!

I'm on episode two and I'm surprisingly enjoying this experience. I'd fuck the art guy.

I met NPH at the Magic Castle 20- ish years ago, at a fundraiser wirh my parents. I immediately knew he was gay, and he was a sweetie. I'm guessing, but do not know that Mrs. NPH is the prissy cunt.

According to someone I know who has work with him, he’s not such a sweetie in work situations.

Alyson Hannigan has entered the chat.

[quote]According to someone I know who has work with him, he’s not such a sweetie in work situations.

Harris has a certain old-fashioned gay priggishness about him that might almost fit his character -- had his character were developed as anything. The center of this universe is just a thoroughly unremarkable, marginally nice enough guy who was dealt a bad hand with a relationship he took for granted. He has no core, only reacts to circumstances and it's that absence of substance -- of something, of anything-- that does the whole mess in for me.

I dislike Harris but could imagine him being good in this role if the role were something instead of this developed by committee and consensus cipher.

If Carrie Bradshaw hadn't been at least in part a shitty person who ditched her fabulous friends at the drop of a hat, would anyone have watched more than a couple episodes? Main characters need strengths and weaknesses, and this one is just a sad door knob of a man.

Since he’s completely Uncoupled now, what will they call the 2nd season? Maybe “And Just Like This…?”

Most child actors turn out to be assholes as adult actors with a sense of entitlement

The clingy farting teacher is my favorite and best looking.

[quote] what will they call the 2nd season?

Uninterested.

In Burtka's eyes I'm young, I'm beautiful!

How are Tuc Watkins and Andrew Rannells doing? Are they still together?

I checked Tuc’s instagram and his last photo with Rannells was from fall 2020.

Mark my words, some day some gay MFA in playwrighting will compose as his thesis a two hander about Tuc and Andrew in lockdown during Covid and their relationship disintegrating that will make George and Martha’s dalliance seem as if it were a mere spat.

He dated Rannells because it was the year of the virus.

I am really enjoying the series. Some very hot men on the show. NPH should gain a little weight; he IS too thin and his face is suffering for it, but I think he's pulling off the role. Tuc looks divine as always.

I love MGH and the friends. Really an enjoyable watch.

Not sure Tuc was at his hottest on the show. At least he got to play 50. He's 55.

Great! Another show with RICH vapid NYC queens. SOOOOOO Relatable. 🤮🤮🤮

[quote]The series stars Neil Patrick Harris as a newly single gay man navigating the dating scene for the first time in 17 years after getting abruptly dumped by his long-term partner.

Well of course it's a flop. Who in their right mind would dump Neil Patrick Harris?

If you're gonna have a TV show it ought to have some sense of believability

Well of course it's a flop. Who in their right mind would date Neil Patrick Harris?

There, fixed it for ya.

I'll take that bet about Sean Hayes. Don't think he has a chance.

r505

Jealous, NPH singlehandedly made being gay respectable. Even Putin said he was one of the few gays that he would let in Russia.

LMFAO Look Boris, NPH did NOT make being gay respectable. It happened long before him. What's wrong with your reception, do you only get one state channel that allows American shows over there? News Flash, most Americans also are not named The Beaver, a mother that sits around all day drinking coffee and have white picket fences around their front yards.

Chelsea-Handler on TikTok gave it an A+ and loved it, which makes me question her comedic chops, but I guess it’s possible NPH was holding a gun on her off camera.

[quote] Not sure Tuc was at his hottest on the show. At least he got to play 50. He's 55.

And he looked every millimeter of that.

I enjoyed the show. It's never laugh-out-loud funny--more just pleasant.

I really like Darren Starr's work, apart from Emily in Paris and Younger. I especially loved Central Park West. This one just didn't work for me, because NPH is too much of a gay Carrie Bradshaw, who at least was still in her 30s when all the hot men were (unrealistically) falling all over her. NPH is whiny, narcissistic, highly strung, and totally lacking in sex appeal. Tisha Campbell...the obese sassy black friend with the most over the top wardrobe and hair I've ever seen, Billy and Jack (can't remember the actors' names) were both boring and annoying. I really liked the art dealer friend, though. His hookup with the teleprompter guy was hilarious. Don't sell out your professional integrity for a blowjob!

Glad to have a show about middle aged gay men no matter how flawed. A lot of the issues they raise are interesting and relevant and rarely discussed - including the reality of gay divorce /breakup after LTR. The long lives and long partnerships we have now are worth examining. Middle aged gay dating is a nightmare worth examining - as detailed in the “can I start fresh at 50?” thread. Unrealistic he had so much sex and hookups - good looking but not the ultimate hot hung daddy that would have gotten Grindr attention.

One of the biggest disappointments-Marcia Gay Harden was horrible. Makes me wonder if she just gave up or is a one role actress. NPH works hard - I give him credit. And as an out gay actor, I have much respect. Hope the shows keeps going. There are lots of topics to discuss that we discuss here on DL. The challenge is making them funny in a comedy - instead of dark and vicious like on DL.

Jennifer Coolidge "Stifler's Mom" would have rocked the role of Claire. Or Bette Midler when she was in her 50s.

I didn’t expect to, but I kinda liked this show. It was a brain-in-neutral diversion and even though I’m a bit younger than the main characters I’m nevertheless single, gay and getting towards that age and…I can kinda relate.

I dont find NPH attractive. Even so, he's in better shape then 90% of men his age. It's a little hard to buy the story line because in reality, the average gay men at that point would probably be a bear with a shaved head to hide his receding hairline who rarely finds a hookup. Or the opposite, a desperate queen trying to hard with jet black hair, makeup, and lots of bad plastic surgery dripping in trashy labels like LV luggage, Gucci shoes and and oversized Hermes logo belt.

I got bored and didn't finish the last few episodes. How does the series end?

R513 Harden wasn't so great but I wonder if some of the problem is that her character type has been done a million times before.

I don't remember, R517.

R519 if it was that unmemorable I guess I didn't miss out on much

It ended with NPH ex appearing to want to get back together.

I thoughthe moved to Miami in the end?

He was just vacationing there with someone NPH thought was his BF (cuz some other queen said so) but it turns out it wasn't anything serious.

It ended with a cliffhanger for season 2.

Ya got time.

[quote] would probably be a bear with a shaved head to hide his receding hairline who rarely finds a hookup.

Not into daddies, but in my experience middle aged gay bears, despite losing some hair or carrying extra weight, have some of the hottest bodies - way more desirable than NPH's character, even with the allegedly beautiful cock. Plus he's so fucking whiney.

Agree, being really thing looks good when you are young, but at middle age, it has the opposite effect. NPH look older than he really is on that show. To get to the point where you have muscle definition at that age, the face looks emaciated like an AIDS patient. Muscle dont look good either because no fat under the skin so you see all the veins.

Sorry Neil.

NPH does not look older. He's almost 50. Great body, and not Botoxed and filled to death. I'd like to see a picture of YOU. And your bank statement.

You know who would have been insane as Claire - the horrendous little troll Alex Borstein.

[quote] NPH does not look older.

Right, it's really more of a glowing and youthful facial wasting.

it ends with the audience supposed to think one thing but anyone who has ever watched a television show knows its a total bait and switch, R517.

[quote] it's a total bait and switch,

Like I said, CLIFFHANGER!

R530 I know it's a nice apartment in Manhattan but would he be that emotional over it?

NPH response could be that it's too late to fix things. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a show.

Why’s is there so much activity here, did it get renewed?

Has this been canceled yet?

No, it was one of Netflix highest rated shows.

No one asked you, Mr. Burtka.

Yes, R532, because these characters are JUST THAT DEEP.

The farting guy was a clingy mess, babe.

The farting guy was sweet, kind and handsome. Who the fuck in a relationship holds it in all the time until they can make it to the balcony?

Farting guy hanging all over NPH at the poker game was clingy.

R540 True, but wasn't he preparing a meal when letting it rip - that could just be done a little more discretely.

OMG, if I was single at 50 and I found anyone close to the guy you call "clingy" I would not complain about such tiny things. It's hard enough to find someone you truly like, find attractive, decent person, same age, down to earth, thoughtful as the character was even when you are 20. At 50 you are lucking if you get some big hairy bear with tons of baggage. No wonder so many of you picky bitches are perpetually single.

This was just posted on deux moi - wonder if it’s NPH? Don’t they live in the hamptons now?

R543, it's just a TV show- calm your tits. The NPH character just got out of a 17 year relationship. I don't care if the guy was Shawn Mendes presenting hole, anyone bringing over household items (the frother) the first week of dating is a boner killer for me. I'm not a lesbian.

r544 How many times now have we heard that something shocking will "come out soon" about those two? I do believe they have a very turbulent and rocky relationship (considering how long the rumors have gone on), but I'm not getting my hopes up about anything being exposed soon.

“He hits me because he loves me!”

Agreed r546 and deux moi is bullshit but it caught my eye 👀

[quote]The NPH character just got out of a 17 year relationship. I don't care if the guy was Shawn Mendes presenting hole, anyone bringing over household items (the frother) the first week of dating is a boner killer for me.

You are upset about a frother? That's a bone killer for you? Dude you have issues.

I have to admit I can't watch it because I have always found him smug and off putting, and also, I am really weirded out by the Netflix 'poster' images of him shirtless. Both the title card/cover and the preview image seem to be emphasizing his naked torso like he's some kind of pinup and I find it very creepy because 1) he was Doogie Howser; 2) he's as sexy as Niles Crane to me; and 3) he's 50 years old and he does magic tricks. Creepy, creepy, creepy.

Niles Crane had more sex appeal than NPH. Dude was not hot when he was young, not hot now at 50. I fill like we are all supposed to pretend he was or still is but it's a sham, like the emperor has no clothes.

Anyone who deliberately breaks wind in my kitchen without so much as an apology is not getting a second invitation.

I am 'farting friends' with one other being on this planet - my cat - and that is strictly one-way.

I'm weirded out that whomever filmed this thought it was swoonworthy.

He was very well cast in Gone Girl, where he played a psycho stalker who held another psycho captive like a parakeet he was intent on forcing to love him.

He should change his career persona and take all the roles that would have been given to Kevin Spacey. He'd be very good in those roles.

So…WAS this shoe actually a flop? Or do you think it’ll get a second season? One of the problems with Netflix is they take so long to recommission things, it can be a huge gap between seasons.

^ *SHOW, not shoe!! Fuck you, autocorrect!

It has a better chance of getting picked up then Sandman.

[quote] It can be a huge gap between seasons.

still waiting on the 2nd season of Perry Mason with Matthew Rhys.

I guess in its favour it can’t be that expensive to produce in comparison with things like Sandman.

🤔 Whatever made NPH think we even cared ?

R559 his straight fans.

R557 Possible exception, White Lotus 2 premieres 10/15.

Whomever, r553?

You have to suspend disbelief and pretend Neil Patrick Harris is actually attractive for this show to work.

News Flash, it doesn't.

He looks like Beavis

He he he.

Beavis at 50 you mean.

Ugh, that hideous “magic” tattoo.

Wow, that is pretty lame. But still no Affleck monstrosity.

Watching Uncoupled on Netflix. The HD camera is not his friend. He looks brutal. Every line and imperfection is on full display.

But the man candy is pretty decent.

It is weird as a gay man in Hollywood he hasn’t had better work. Given how he looks you’d think he’d be in an aesthetician’s chair every time before he appears on camera. I know I would if I had that beat of a face.

I blame the children, they have ruined him. Save your face by not having children.

[quote]Save your face by not having children.

Shallow DL advice at its finest!

[quote] Save your face by not having children.

A coworker once asked me how many kids I had. I replied none, why? He said he figured I had a gaggle because I was always so super calm, the way people with hoards of kids are.

Maybe he was just being polite.

OK, this is quite delightful!

R574 the neglected houseplant is a nice touch.

At least his Halloween shenanigans seem a little more tasteful these days….

One of the screenwriters says the show will most likely be canceled.

Wings Saga X on Netflix was just canceled.