To be fair, of great concern to HBO (not to mention other veteran cable channels like Showtime) is the rapid disaggregation of audiences and distributors it goes without saying that the network is not intentionally dismissing queer stories and voices. Only recently, as a more established brand, has the network gotten pointed criticism for the increasingly male, white, and straight faces behind and in front of its cameras. The groundbreaking platform that HBO once gave to LGBTQ voices reflected a desire to really stand out, to truly redefine the aesthetics and cultural value of television. This speaks in part to profit motive, but complacency too is an undeniable factor. And the cancellation of Looking-which, again, was never the most broadly appealing series-wouldn’t sting as much if it were not the only one of its kind.
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Looking was not an ordinary queer show its languid pacing, graphic but sensitive sex scenes, and nuanced approaches to theme and character development hardly screamed “commercial.” But the fact that HBO’s sole LGBTQ programming was a niche show-one that was never going to be broadly watched in the first place-makes its cancellation speak all the more directly to the network’s crisis of representation.īut on the series side, HBO has started to corner its gay-centric shows into the “niche” category, a regressive move compared to the days when the network pushed LGBTQ issues and characters into the mainstream.
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(In addition, no HBO showrunner is LGBTQ.) For a network that made a name for itself with films like And the Band Played On, series like Six Feet Under, and miniseries like Angels in America, this is a sad and surprising turn. The only programs to feature a prominent gay character on its current slate are Veep, in which first daughter Catherine Meyer began dating her mother’s (former) bodywoman, and Girls, in which Elijah finally received his own storyline in Season 5 after four years of playing sidekick. With the imminent end of Looking, the recent death of Game of Thrones’ most notable gay character, and shows like Enlightened and Getting On-both of which were created by gay men-pushed off the air in recent years due to low ratings, HBO is as hetero-centric as it’s been in a generation.