Doh! HBO Cancels Gay Drama Looking After 2 Seasons

I just watched the finale of Season 2 of Looking with the Other Half last night and both of us were quite impressed. It was probably the best episode of the show in its 18-episode history.

Sadly, today comes word that HBO has cancelled the show and decided that there will be no more episodes of Looking, although there will be a final movie:

Looking was never a strong ratings performer. Last year, HBO executives proceeded with a second season renewal encouraged by the attention the show was getting in the cultural conversation and by its week-to-week ratings growth. Unfortunately, the second season couldn’t build on that, falling from the Season 1 highs and drawing 300,000 viewers for its last episode.

Hat/tip to Joe Jervis

WATCH: Trailer for Season 2 of HBO's Looking

The first season of HBO's gay dramedy series Looking was uneven but I was generally pleased to hear it was renewed for a second season. The show is set in San Francisco and revolves around the lives and loves of four gay men, with the central character being played by openly gay actor Jonathan Groff. The trailer for the second season is now available.

Most of the actors playing the characters in Looking are gay (with the notable exception of  Raul Castillo's Richie, who is probably my favorite character). The acting is fine, my issues are with some of the writing, and primarily with the presence of one of the characters I think is just useless (Frankie J. Alvarez's Agustin).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to watching Looking until the 5th season of Game of Thrones begins to air!

Season 1 Finale of HBO's Looking Tonight

The first season of HBO's gay "dramedy" series Looking ends tonight when the 8th episode airs. The show has already been renewed for a second season and revolves around the loves and lives of three openly gay guys living in the San Francisco Bay Area. The lead character is played by openly gay actor Jonathan Groff and the central tension of the show is about whether his somewhat neurotic videogame programmer Patrick will choose Richie (Raul Castillo, who is straight in real life), a cute and very decent working class Latino barber with apparently little ambition, or Kevin (played by openly gay Russell Tovey), his handsome, British boss who has a longtime boyfriend and some palpable physical attraction towards Patrick. The series is co-created by Andrew Haigh (who directed Tovey in the sleeper gay hit film Weekend).

The other storylines involve the "co-lead" characters Dom (openly gay Australian actor Murray Bartlett), a just-turned-40 waiter who is starting to realize he needs to do something with his life before he can no longer get by on his good looks to hook up with twinks) and Augustin (Frankie J. Alvarez), an unlikable artistic type who is Patrick's college buddy and used to be his roommate until he moved out to Oakland to live with his very attractive (and Black) boyfriend early in the season.

The show is only 30 minutes long so I would prefer to see more of the Richie-Patrick-Kevin triangle as well as the potential courtship between Dom and older man Lynn (played by Scott Bakula).

Also ending its first season tonight is HBO's True Detective which stars newly minted Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as two detectives in a very atmospheric show about child murders and police misconduct in the Louisiana countryside and bayous. Apparently, neither Harrelson or McConaughey will appear in Season 2, so this may be the last time to see these two great actors facing off each other on "the little screen."

HBO Renews "Looking" For 2nd Season

The most high-profile gay series on television, HBO's Looking, has been renewed by the cable network for a second season despite relatively low viewership. The show is currently approaching the end of its first 8-episode season (didn't we used to call seasons this short miniseries?), with episode 6 (probably the best episode to date) airing last Sunday.

I like the show but it has some significant problems. It's what used to be called a "dramedy" (comedy-drama) in the vein of HBO's Girls but the characters in Looking are not as well-drawn as on Lena Dunham's show.

The show is set in San Francisco's predominantly gay scene.

WATCH: Trailer for HBO's new gay series "Looking"

The 8-episode first season  of HBO's new drama about the life and loves of modern gay men set in San Francisco called Looking stars openly gay Jonathan Groff (Glee) and Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap, Men of a Certain Age) premieres on January 19, 2014.

The trailer doesn't look like the series is going to be featuring diverse characters, but since there is so little original gay content from major media sources I will probably watch it. It basically looks like a gay version of Lena Dunham's Girls.

Celebrity Friday: Jonathan Groff and Zachary Quinto Break Up?

Apparently one of Hollywood's power gay male couples has broken up. Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the latest Star Trek movies, and Jonathan Groff, who starred in Glee and Boss, had apparently been a well-known couple, known in the gossip rags as "Grinto"! Quinto, 36, and Groff, 28, were not able to spend much time together due to conflicting filming schedules.

US Magazine reports:

Quinto, 36, who is best known for his turn as Mr. Spock in two Star Trek films and terrifying turns in seasons one and two of American Horror Story, is currently preparing to make his Broadway debut in The Glass Menagerie this fall. As it happens, Groff has put aside any of his own heartache to console his close friend Lea Michele -- now grieving the death of her boyfriend, Cory Monteith. "He flew to be with her as soon as he heard," another pal says. "His heart is broken for her." 

He and Glee actor Groff, 28, first confirmed their relationship in September 2012, nearly a year after Quinto officially came out as a gay man in October 2011.

It's good to see that Hollywood is gossiping about the love lives of gay and lesbian celebrities just like they do with straight ones. That's what we mean by LGBT equality!