The one hundred and eighty-fifth TV show: #605 Bob & Rose
We gave up on this show after less than two episodes... It was off putting in so many places. While Russell T. Davies' previous Queer As Folk worked as a way of representation and to show the follies of the gay clubbing lifestyle of the late nineties, his attempt to write a straight romance fails on several levels. The characters are unlikeable - the women, from Rose to her mother to his best friend Holly - manipulative and looking to get their way (in the end Rose is a stalker), the men pushovers and all gay men promiscuous. Add to that a lot of rants about Bob not being gay the right way and it all started to feel a bit much. While I'm sure the story of a gay man ending up in a straight relationship and still feeling gay might be true, it feels like it skips over a lot of nuance and considering the timeframe it was written in, potentially dangerous because it's just about meeting the right woman. I might get why this may have been a safe option at the time, but it feels like a very clumsy attempt at writing a love story that I couldn't bear to continue, simply as a bizarre misstep.