My top five picks for a Bear to ‘round out’ the cast of HBO’s new gay series Looking.
By: Shannon Jones
So I recently binge-watched all of HBO’s Looking. If you haven’t watched, first, go pick up a copy of writer/director Andrew Haigh’s gay indie hit Weekend. The film will give you a clear picture of what to expect from the series. I didn’t love everything about the series, but I did find it to be refreshingly honest. However, it is still a show about 3 hot, fit, gay dudes, who are mostly white. In San Francisco? Variety is the spice of life, isn’t it, HBO? I was very disappointed by the complete absence of bears, and I’m sure the leather community is not super happy with the only depiction of Folsom as a distraction for gawkers. I know, I know, what was I expecting, right? But if HBO wants to continue to hold this viewer’s interest, I have a few casting suggestions for season 2. Here’s some of my favorite Hollywood “bears” that I think should be in the running for season 2:
1) Tyler Labine
Tyler is hands down my favorite Hollywood bear. I first fell in love with Tyler Labine as Sock on the too-short-lived series Reaper. Since then, you may have seen him in the horror comedy Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, or (my favorite—even though I haven’t actually seen it) A Good Old Fashioned Orgy. I wanna cuddle him so hard. Grrr. Apparently, he’s starring in a new Hulu exclusive series called Deadbeat, in which he can communicate with the dead, but I’m betting this Hollywood heavyweight could pull double-duty. If only HBO would ask…
2) Adam Pally
Have you seen Happy Endings? Another series that ended way too soon! Adam played the sitcom’s token gay character—but not your typical token gay. There was no lisp. There was no prancing. Adam played a dirty, lazy, loud, bearish charmer. His interests and personality were complex, almost like a real person! And just look at those dreamy eyes and that dorky smile and tell me that you wouldn’t fall in love with this guy. You can watch him now on The Mindy Project, I guess, but it’s not the same. Sigh…
3) Seth Rogen
Obvi, right? Many in the GLBT community find some of his bro-coms to be (unintentionally?) homophobic. Maybe it’s time for Seth to challenge that view by taking on a serious gay role. Did you hear me Seth? Stretch those acting chops. It’s time.
4) Jim Beaver
Bobby!!! All right, so Supernatural is a total guilty pleasure. And one of my absolute favorite parts of the show is the cuddly curmudgeon character, Bobby, played by adorable ginger bear Jim Beaver. I must admit, I checked out his IMDB page, and I wasn’t familiar with much of his other work. And I think that’s a shame! Come on, HBO, now that you’re pairing Dom with more age-equivalent love interests, why not add Jim to the list! Or perhaps as a love-triangle with Dom and Scott Bakula’s character.
5) Jon Favreau
Let’s face it, Jon Favreau is the king of tough but loveable. And who wouldn’t love to see him take that next step and act on those bromantic impulses that so many of his characters have had? Remember the love unspoken betwixt Jon and Vince Vaughn in Swingers and just about every movie they’ve done together since then? Or what about the slightly too close relationship he has with Tony Stark in the Iron Man films? Come on.
So would Jon take that leap from film to TV to play out my bear fantasies on HBO? Would any of them? Who knows? But a bear can dream.