QAF--RIP

[VaHawk]

RE: BONer

 

"Let's see: "JT", OneFinger, VaHawk, Conway...should i go on?"

 

Of course you should "GO ON", you boring assed poster!, as we would all LOVE to see you post anything that didn't put us all asleep! :-(

[ErikMcAlister]

>But that's not what

>Erik was saying. "I would NEVER watch that vile show" is the

>line, probably true, you'll hear from his set.

 

That's not what I said. I tried watching it a few times. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the original (UK) series.

 

>He's one of

>those pissy gays who

 

You really aren't qualified to explain who or what I am.

 

>Erik’s anti-QAF ilk kevetch not because QAF's shallowness

>actually offended them

 

You're wrong; it does offend me--deeply.

 

>They want everyone

 

You know nothing about me or what I want.

 

>how much nobler their life is than that of the club boys

 

Nobler? I never said that. I love some club boys, who happen to not be sad, pathetic caricatures of gayness.

[TRAVLINLOT]

SAD TO SEE IT GO..........

 

I recorded the final show and watched it last night. I'm not a critic or an expert on what a perfect story line should be, yet I must say I enjoyed each and every episode. I found it very reminiscent of my West Hollywood days; late 70's - early 80's prior to the epidemic and prior to time doing what it does best, age us all. I am able to connect most of the characters to someone who was close to my life at that time. In my busy world I always looked forward to a weekly "flashback" of my life was like as a younger man. There's going to be an empty spot in my timeslot, no question about that.

[Guest rohale]

It's amazing how one man from Swansea created a television programme that would affect the gay community in both positive and negative, both in America and it Britian. Without his creative genius QAf would never have existed on any storyboards and had the impact it did. It's just that simple. I salute this man cause what he tried to do was change the face of British television, in the process he stirred a lot emotion which almost cost him his career. Whether he was right or wrong, he will be forever synonymous with QAF and these days as producer of the now revived Doctor Who.

 

Around 1997, Mr Davies had been struggling writer, he was a contributing writer to a serial called Touching Evil with Robson Green in the lead role. He didn't feel that he was able to get his ideas across without having to compromise, he was part of a committee of writers and he felt that his ideas were being constantly shot down, especially for Touching Evil. So he switched production companies and decided that the only way he could survive as a writer was try and avoid the frustrations of committee decisons was to go out and make something of his own. He did just that, in 1998 he presented to Channel 4 in Great Britian his version of what was to be known as Queer As Folk. It was new, it was exciting and more importantly it was controversial. A perfect vehicle for Channel 4, as always has a reputation for stirring the pot.

 

When Serial 1 was finally commissioned, Russel as I understand was somewhat stunned to learn of the time slot, if I remember it was transmitted on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m, just when kids haven't quite gone to bed yet. There was a fire of fury in the press at stage in time. Mums and dads across the country could not believe that Channel 4 would allow a programme with nudity and gay storylines to be shown during family hour. Unfortunately Mr Davies took tremendous blame for it. QAF received critical acclaim and at the same time received a lot of comments, mostly from furious parents, but Channel 4 stood by Russel and allowed the show to be shown in it's original run. If I remember correctly there were a lot of unhappy parents when everybody's favourite canine from Doctor Who was used. The prop generally referred to as K9 from the old show was utilised without the voice over as provided in the Dr Who serial by the delightful Mr John Leeson. I dont think John wanted get involved with a show that was generating resentment and anger across the country.

 

After Serial 1 had ended, he was approached by Channel 4 to commission a second serial, but with one two objectives, eliminate the nudity and make it a bit more family oriented. He decided that Serial 2 would be his last throw in and felt it was time to move on. The original cast did come back intact and had a pretty good run. This marked the end of Mr Davies version of QAF. If anyhing this show definitely brought a lot of attention to Charlie Hunnam. He definitely enjoyed being in the spotlight, in fact when he first visited America to promote the Brit version of QAf, he was invited to meet Madonnna. Not bad at all for a relatively unknown British actor at that point in time

 

I think Showtime saw what a success the show had been in Britain and decided to have a go for an American audience, it had a good six season run. In the first season, Russel had been hired as series consultant and became disappointed that the new version was going astray from his original concept and decided that there was no room for him left for creative input. I know Russel has said many times that he didn't realise just how different the demads from an American television audience would be as opposed to a Brit audience. I personally loved the British version on Channl 4 as it was fairly straightforward as opposed to Showtimes version.

 

Still, when all is said and done Russel T. Davies made his mark and he deserves every accolade bestowed upon him. He took a risk and created something special that we all can enjoy regardless of how many versions there have been and may continue to be in the future in other countries

 

Rohale