I will admit immediately: I have only known one homosexual in my lifetime that I considered a friend- A co-worker who is now a professional downhill mountain biker. I have lost touch with her since I moved to Canada, but I think about her often thanks to the Canadian-produced show "Queer As Folk". My friend often spoke of clubbing with her gay/lesbian friends, and the shenanigans that followed. However, never in as much detail as is given on QAF.

Filmed in Toronto, but (laughably) set in Pittsburgh (gay people, in PITTSBURGH??), QAF is centered around a group of closely-knit friends (no pun intended) and their daily drama/antics that ensue due to their lifestyles. I will also say, at this point, that in my opinion being gay or not is biological more than a "choice". Keep that in mind when you read the rest of this review.

Our main characters are Michael, softspoken, baby-faced boy next door type (and former host of Cable's "Talk Soup"), Brian, Michael's friend from childhood, Emmett, the self-proclaimed flamer/Nellie of the group, Ted, the cautious anti-social accountant nerd, and Justin, Brian's boy-toy. There are two lesbian characters as well, to round out the mix. They plan on getting married, and one of them has a test-tube baby via Brian's sperm. Michael's supportive mother (imagine a cross between Flo of "Alice" and "Roseanne") and her AIDS-stricken brother, round out the cast.

QAF touches on most of the gay issues one would expect. Justin, the youngest of the group, is a senior in a conservative high school. Aside from the expected bullying, he is beaten by a classmate for bringing Brian to his prom. This is all the more intriguing, as there is currently a lawsuit here in Ontario; a student is suing his school for not allowing him to bring his date to the prom. Previously, he also had to deal with coming out to his parents. Nothing groundbreaking here, other than the fact that you don't see this issue on television enough. Take one look at the teen suicide rate, and you'll see there are a lot of teens out there with the same dilemma.

The core plot is how the group of friends manages to get through every day life with the least amount of pain possible. It seems that episode 1 could be called their "birth", in that we see each character unfold in different ways toward the inevitability of being "found out". Brian simply doesn't care. He's got the world by it's tail (pun I guess intended); he's an independently wealthy advertising executive. He's not only good-looking, he's also got the confidence to think that he can have whatever and whoever he wants. His childhood friend Michael, who is the only one that it's obvious that Brian cares for, is much more timid. He's got a lousy job at a discount department store; he's afraid of losing his job, so he lives the lie. As time goes on, it drains him to the point of almost giving up. Justin has taken the most physical of the pain, but he's one of the more simple characters. He simply wants Brian, despite being 13 years his junior. It's a sometimes annoying hero-worship type of lust, that gets old fast. Season two is less irritating with that relationship, but Justin's character is still my least favorite. A close second, however, would be Emmett, the most "gay" of the group. He talks the talk, and prances the prance. He lives more care-free than all of the others; he seems to have no interest in anything other than his next partner. And finally there's Ted, the accountant who pleasures himself at work. He is locked into the straight world to the extent that his boring job has become a safety net from the world he desperately wants to explore.

A review of QAF can't be written without mention of all of the sex. Everyone, aside from Michael's mother and her brother, are having sex. All of the time. With different people, names of which they never know. The guys hang out at a gay club in which guys dance naked in cages from the ceiling, and guys have sex in the basement. It's a meat market that they can't resist, despite any current so-called relationships. This would be the problem I have with QAF. Trust me, I'd love this show to be aired on prime-time cable in Georgia or anywhere else in the Bible Belt. Enough straight gratuitous sex is shown on network television, but absolutely no homosexual sex, to the point where most people are desensitized to it. However, QAF makes it appear that it's perfectly fine to have casual sex with whomever you want. In other words, sex to the guys of QAF is purely physical. It's not until Season Two that any sort of standard relationship is even hinted at. Even still, the grass is always greener to them.

QAF is still highly entertaining. It's got more than it's share of humor, no matter how gay-neandrathal it may appear (I have to turn my head at least twice per show). I see it as sort of a gay rebellion against the straight television establishment. It's their turn to play, and boy, do they ever play hard (again, pun sort of intended).

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age