“The critical narrative at the beginning was that nothing much happened in it,” Tovey told The Independent. “That it was too boring. But it was just real life!”
“They’d say, ‘You’re in Looking!… but I’ve not watched it, I’ve heard it’s boring’,” he recounted to the outlet. “They hadn’t even seen it! And it’s about you, in your city, filming outside your coffee shop, and you’re not even intrigued to watch it?”
Despite being heartbroken about the lackluster reception, Tovey believes it would fare much better with audiences if it were to be released in the current climate.
“It really, really frustrated me. It broke me, honestly,” he admitted. “If that show came out now, it’d have a completely different response.”
– Russell Tovey, on why he thinks Looking was done dirty!
[via queerty]
As someone who lived in SF for over a decade between the mid-80s and the late 90s and moved back again for a few years last decade, LOOKING was an unimaginative and pretty uninteresting view of queer life in SF. Tales of the City was far more interesting, albeit it was based on really good source material and also on a far more interesting time in SF. But that doesn’t excuse that Looking could have been a lot more interesting and just generally more watchable. It didn’t need to pander with fake nonsense, like Queer As Folks did (drug overdoses, sex work, etc.) but it needed something it didn’t manage.
Maybe if it had Asians in it. Cause there was absolutely none in it
People think being gay is being a cartoon character zzz
Nah, that shit was BORING.
Looking managed to make being gay living in SF seem bleak and depressing and washed out. Sorry Russell no one wants to see “real life” in our escapist entertainment. That’s why the show failed and it would fail again today.
I’m really sad the show didnt do well. I really loved it.
Boring is as boring does. It was a full show. And I suspect Russ knows it
^dull show