For me, HBO's "Looking" is a hit, mirroring some of my joys and struggles as a gay man living in San Francisco for two decades

"Looking" lacks the humor of "Sex in The City," HBO's previous look at single life in city, but makes up for it in warmth, intimacy, and, most importantly, humanity.  These characters are fleshy, believable, and interesting.  Thank you, HBO!

Andrew Sullivan falls in love with the the HBO Show "Looking", for many of the reasons I have

Andrew Sullivan: 

A confession. I have long had an aversion to gay-themed plays, TV shows, movies, etc. I wasn’t born with it. I learned it. I learned it through what can only be called a series of cringes. I cringed at Philadelphia‘s well-intentioned hagiography of the “AIDS victim”; I cringed through Tony Kushner’s view of the plague as a post-script to the heroism of American communists; I winced at the eunuch, the sassy girlfriend, and the witty queen in Will And Grace; I had to look away as Ellen initially over-played her hand (understandably and totally forgivably, but still …). The US version of Queer as Folk was something I could not get out of my recoiling head for weeks – and I barely got through fifteen minutes of it. And please don’t ask me about Jeffrey. Please. 

Maybe I should have sucked it up and celebrated each and every portrayal of gay people in any form – after so many decades and centuries of invisibility or minstrelsy. But, like many members of any minority group seeing themselves portrayed for the first time on screen, I felt betrayed when my own life wasn’t depicted, my worldview was ignored, my politics wasn’t acknowledged. In many ways this was utterly irrational. But it was emotionally real. When there are so few cultural expressions of your core identity, the few become weighted with far more cultural baggage than they can hope to uphold. In a fraught time – between liberation and mass extinction, between criminality and civil equality – it was hard to forgive anything that might be conceived as counter-productive or inaccurate or ideologized. 

The same dynamic operated the other way on me, as well. When I rather naively became a gay public figure by answering “yes” to the question, “Are you gay?” after I became the editor of The New Republic at the crazy age of 27, the shoe was on the other foot. 

Suddenly I was supposed to represent all “virtually normal” gay men, because I was one of very, very few out people in the mainstream media in 1991. And boy did I not represent them. I never claimed to, of course, and said so explicitly; but that really didn’t matter. I was out there and not representative of many others. So I had to be knocked off my perch in a period of great exhilaration but also great personal pain. Looking back, the necessary madness of that period, its extraordinary range of sheer emotion as we fought not just for our dignity but for our very lives, seems clearer and more understandable now. But no less painful. 

So when the opening scene of the new HBO series, Looking, shows a young gay man cruising for sex in a public park, I tensed up. But almost as quickly I realized that this was the most meta of the show’s moments (I’ve been able to watch all four of the first few episodes). As the dude starts to grope around, his cell phone goes off, the other guy’s hands are freezing on his cock, he tries to answer the phone, then drops it into a ditch. His friends – out for a lark to see if old gay culture still exists in San Francisco – were calling him; and they reunite to talk about the fun in exploring the old world of cruising. And so the circle is complete. Gay culture has evolved into a million-petaled flower, and the old petals are still in there, but ironized for many, if still urgent for others. Gay life in 2014 is … well, finally just life. 

I loved the show. It is the first non-cringe-inducing, mass market portrayal of gay life in America since the civil rights movement took off.

I was at the premiere of HBO gay drama "Looking" and it reminds of my life here in San Francisco, over the past 20 years

By the director of the movie "Weekend," this new TV series portrays the coming of age of three friends who are living and loving in San Francisco. After viewing the first two episodes, I can say the writing is top-notch, the casting and acting is strong, and the show is as beautifully shot as "Weekend" was.  This show is so much better than "Sex in the City," which seems more pretty, self-conscious, and contrived in the end.

Over the last 36 hours, having watched this the new TV series has made me reflect on my life immersed in nearly aspect of San Francisco.  It has made me reflect on the naivete, beauty and innocence of my 29-year-old self, who moved to this city long ago.  Reflecting back on "me" back then, I have so more appreciation for my struggles to fully accept my sexual orientation, to learn to date and be in a good relationship, and to make my way in the world with verve and authenticity.

This TV loves San Francisco, and shows it like city insider would do for a visiting guest.  The cinematography capture the colors and vibe of my city.

Watch this show on Sunday night.