orlannamegan I only recently discovered this TV show and I got hooked on the characters. To me, they felt like real people, real lives. I became emotionally invested in their lives, in their world. The show explores many challenges that gay communities have to face while still upholding fun humour where it fits, this is what made it seem so real to me. This is why I give it 10 stars and my grief for its finish. I went through a variety of emotions throughout the seasons, evoking laughter and tears. As a dabbler in writing and a student of photography/film I know it is difficult to engage the reader/audience but, on this level, Queer as Folk never failed. I was, however, disappointed in the grand finale. My favourite characters throughout were Justin and Brian and I was sad to see they didn't end up together. I guess you can call me a sucker for romance.

Vivian Zhu Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom."If love is true it will stand against all tests of time and adversity, no manner of insignificant details such as the person's beauty fading could alter or dissolve 'the marriage of two minds'"The creators of the then groundbreaking (in my opinion still groundbreaking) TV show Queer as Folk, Daniel Lipman and Ron Cowan referenced Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 when talking about their show in 2010, five years after the final episode aired. They said that the purpose of their show was to show the world that love transcended many things, even time. To tell the world that love would go on despite the characters, the creators and the audience all changing and growing up. I can't confirm that all love will be timeless, but I can definitely say that the show's appeal hasn't faded in 16 years. When it comes to movies and TV shows I'm always the one to be intensely critical, even judgemental, and I never expected I would fall so deeply in love with a show to binge 83 of those 50 minute episodes in a little more than a week. I never expected the tears, the laughter and the excitement a show about the LGBT* community in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania set around the time I was born would bring me. I also never expected how much something that some people would (incorrectly! in my opinion) describe as 'gay soap opera' would teach me. As a cisgender and heterosexual person I would never understand the struggles and pain experienced by the characters in TV shows such as QAF, nor the sometimes much greater struggles and pain experienced by those in the LBGT* community around me. However, this show not only taught me a lot about the issues relevant to the community then and now, it also taught me a great deal about love and how it is the universal language between people no matter who they are. QAF is about the growth and evolution of both the individual and society, about boys becoming men, girls becoming women, people becoming mature and the society becoming better. I can see that our society in certain ways is already better than that society from 16 years ago, and in many ways it shocked me to see that our society hasn't changed a bit since 2000. Not only did the show give me one of my best any-kind-of-fiction binging experiences (I legitimately laughed my head off and cried bucket loads about three times in the same day), it also reaffirmed my stance as a person who wants to hear about many more, real stories from LGBT* people and not be any of the two kinds of 'straight' people Brian hates. I don't want to hate anybody in their faces or behind their backs. To me QAF was not only a worthwhile way to spend my time instead of studying or doing some other productive thing, it was a f*cking brilliant show that I am sure I will revisit sometime soon. Meanwhile, I'm sure Melanie, Lindsay, Gus and JR are safe and happy in Toronto, Michael, Ben and HNB are still listening to Debbie's rants, Ted and Blake are finally making the most of the right time, and Emmett is still holding out for his true love. As for Brian and Justin? Whether they see each other next week, next month, never again, it doesn't matter. It's only time. And I'm sure one day they would find their happiness, and their love, no excuses, no apologies, no regrets.

smokeymoochoo I loved this series but have so many questions about their futures. Did Justin make it in New York? Did Justin return to Brian? Did Michael and Ben adopt Hunter? Did Mel and Lindsey get married? Does Emmet find love? Does Theodore find love with Blake? Did Prop 14 get stopped? Do Debbie and Carl get married? Why wasn't Gale Harrold and Randy Harrison at the reunion??So wishing for just ONE more series to answer all these questions Loved all the actors for bringing sexuality out of the dark and making it REAL and enabling others to feel more comfortable for being who they are and not having to hide. BI AND PROUD thank you Q.A.F

Suradit Michael: "This is where it all began..."Brian: "...and ended." Have to admit I was sad when I reached the last episode in this great series. I've never been a fan of soap operas, although these days the distinction between "soap opera" and the more standard "TV drama series" is minimal. But this definitely had a hold on me. I was conflicted by wanting to do a marathon viewing of episodes on the one hand and wanting to pace them out to put off reaching the final episode too soon. During the first three seasons there were quite a few cliff hangers and that really drew you into the next episode to see how the characters would manage to extricate themselves from the dilemmas they faced at the end of the current show. And even though you could easily see almost every disaster looming on the horizon, and you felt pretty certain it would be resolved, it was still compelling to see that Brian or Justin or whoever managed to "survive" whatever mess (generally of their own making)they found themselves in. Having watched the short-lived British version of QAF, I was initially put off by the actors who played Brian and Justin when compared to the British Stuart and Nathan, but Gale Harold/Brian Kinney quickly won me over and I suppose much of the suspense for me throughout the series was concerning whether Brian and Justin would ever settle together. All the characters, just like real people often do, alternatively caused annoyance or redeemed themselves in my estimation. For the most part their behavior was fairly consistent, but again like real people they seemed sometimes to act out of character. At times their behavior seemed excessively cloddish and insensitive, helping to provoke the next inter-relational crisis, but that is the stuff of life and soap operas. There were times, however, when their oafishness seemed a bit difficult to accept. Justin, for example, seemed a pretty intelligent, insightful person, but sometimes came across as being incredibly gullible, naïve or plain dull-witted. I guess Brian remained the most true-to-character throughout.I would sometimes fast forward through the more intimate lesbian scenes, just as I assume some viewers may have replayed those and skipped some of the male soft porn, but the lesbian inclusion added greater breadth to the story and to the sense of community. My main complaint in this area was that they seemed to become too much of the story line in the fourth season and most of that was the central lesbian couple having hissy fits with one another almost continuously. Just about everyone in the show managed to have fallings out with others, but usually the issues were resolved fairly quickly. Not so with these two.Throughout the series, Michael's mother, Sharon Glass/Debbie Novotny was a supporting character, as were Justin's mother, Sherry Miller/Jennifer Taylor and some others of the straight persuasion. But by the fourth season Sharon really became an intrusive, often obnoxious, presence in virtually every story development. Not sure if her increased role was in response to some expressed viewer interest after the first three years, but for awhile it seemed that the production had evolved into the Debbie Knows Best Show with Sharon dispensing her hetero wisdom to the gay community whether or not it was solicited. My favorite line came in the fifth season when Michael's partner Ben tells her, "This isn't about you. Now sit down." If only the show's producers had thought similarly sooner, there might have been a sixth season.Anyway, I hope this was "where it all began" in terms of meaningful gay drama, as opposed to gays being used to provide comic relief in supporting roles or dying of AIDS or worse.