Peacock’s ‘Queer as Folk’ Is a Raucous, Tonally Unsteady Ride: TV Review
variety.comDaniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThe very first thing one sees in each episode of the new reboot of “Queer as Folk” — before the action even starts — is the handwritten name of the streamer on which it appears, with an underline jauntily appearing beneath the last four letters of “Peacock.” It’s an elbow to the ribs, or to regions further south, that comes on strong from the earliest moments of the series; do you get it?
Do you?This show, about the lives of queer and trans people in New Orleans, centers that one syllable, and a few similar terms: Like the early-2000s Showtime series that preceded it (itself based on a British drama by Russell T.
Davies), “Queer as Folk” 2022 is relentless in its pursuit of pleasure. But that enjoyment, here, often exists for the characters more than for the viewer. “Queer as Folk” has an abrasive, punky insouciance that’s charming, and some nicely calibrated performances; it has a taste for excess that’s winningly brazen, when parcelled out. (This show would make for an overwhelming binge.) But aggressive tonal shifts and its whipsawing character motivations suggest a show that’s still finding its voice, at least when it comes to saying things longer than four letters.
The show, unlike recent reboots of similar gay-TV standards as “The L Word” and “Tales of the City,” features no characters from its predecessor series, and shifts the action away from Pittsburgh.
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