Folk Heroes: The Queer Pioneers Who Made TV a Safe Space… Back in 1985

In 1985, NBC broadcast a drama about Michael Pierson, an aspiring young attorney who comes home to tell his parents a double-pronged secret — Michael is gay. And he has AIDS. An Early Frost was the medium’s first film about a still confounding and deadly virus that stumped the medical field and slammed the gay community, which was often portrayed in those early days of the plague as pariahs and deserving victims. Four years after this “rare cancer” was first reported in The New York Times, the public still feared far more than it knew. An Early Frost attempted the nearly impossible: Transform hysteria into empathy.

By 2000, gay life in America had transformed. The global rollout of the anti-HIV “cocktail” not only saved millions of lives, it jump-started the community’s original quest for sybaritic joy. Showtime launched a series to celebrate its return. And how did Queer as Folk do that? By shocking the crap out of everyone who watched it.

It’s now the 50th anniversary of An Early Frost and the 25th anniversary of Queer as Folk‘s launch. But despite their divergent spotlights, these projects share a commonality: They were created by the same co-writers and life partners, Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman. The trailblazing duo recalled for THR how each made it to air.

How many arms did you twist to get An Early Frost produced?

RON COWEN None, surprisingly. We were very lucky Perry Lafferty (NBC’s senior vp West Coast programming), who was in charge, championed our script. Still, we were up against a lot.

DANIEL LIPMAN This was the early ’80s. People were scared. So many men getting sick and dying, and no one knew why. There was no effective treatment. The diagnosis was a death sentence. And fear and ignorance rendered gay men toxic.

But Larry Kramer had gained attention with The Normal Heart at the Public Theater, and William Hoffman’s play As Is was on Broadway.

LIPMAN Their exposure was limited to a knowing theater audience. We weren’t writing for New York or L.A.

COWEN We were writing for Kansas. Because An Early Frost was designed for a mass audience, we couldn’t be as explicit. We also didn’t want to make this about sex, nor pass judgment.

LIPMAN That’s why we chose to make it about family. By not showing AIDS in a gay vacuum, we were able to explore its devastation to our entire society.

So, there wasn’t any pushback on how you wanted to tell the story?

COWEN Not exactly. Because our vantage point was more relatable, every exec who had to sign off on the script — which seemed like all of them — had notes. We did 11 versions of the script.

LIPMAN I used to carry them onto the lot in two Bloomingdale’s bags. Thankfully, when John Erman came in as director, he asked to see all the versions. So, we handed over the bags. The next day, Erman handed us back our original script and said, “We’re going with this one.”

Well, at least you had another strong ally.

COWEN Still, it was tricky. There is a scene where Michael [Aidan Quinn] convulses and his father [Ben Gazzara] calls for an ambulance, but when the paramedics are told his status, they quickly leave without taking him. Some execs balked: “Aw, come on. These things don’t really happen.” Well, of course they did, all the time.

Though Aidan Quinn and D.W. Moffett readily conveyed their bond as lovers, their behavior bordered on chaste?

LIPMAN We were told Aidan and D.W. couldn’t kiss. The closest we got was D.W. moving a stray hair off Aidan’s forehead. There’s a moment where Michael gives his grandmother a kiss. There was pressure to cut it. However, his grandma was screen legend Sylvia Sidney, who was 75 at the time. She went to the top brass and in her trademark gravelly voice said, “You’re not cutting the kiss. No way. Cut it and I walk.” The kiss stayed. But that’s how skittish everyone was.

Nevertheless, you made one choice about the ending that for me, who just a few months before the film’s broadcast had been diagnosed as HIV positive and given just four months to live, really made a difference. You didn’t show the character die.

COWEN When we first handed the script into NBC, we had one unnegotiable caveat, and it was that Michael was not going to die at the end. His car rides away into the darkness, but we don’t see his demise. We felt we all needed hope.

We must have, because 34 million people watched An Early Frost. You beat Monday Night Football, won the coveted Peabody Award, were nominated for 14 Emmys and won for best teleplay. You must have gotten showered with offers.

COWEN We couldn’t get a job for five years. We were told “You’re real good at gay guy stuff. But you probably can’t write for women.” Five years later, we wrote the show Sisters for six years.

So how did Queer as Folk wind up in your lap?

LIPMAN Showtime always trailed HBO. With their motto of “No Limits,” they were hot for passion projects, another way of saying, “Here’s freedom, but we won’t be paying much.” Ron was working on a show called Leap Years that wasn’t going to make it. So, while commiserating at the Beverly Wilshire, we read about Showtime buying this controversial, very sexy British hit called Queer as Folk. And in walks Jerry Offsay [Showtime’s president of programming], who tells Ron, “Sorry about Leap Years,” then asks if we’ve got any new projects.

COWEN Feeling brazen, we replied, “How about giving us Queer as Folk?” and Jerry goes, “OK, you want to give it a shot?”

Were you big fans of the show?

COWEN We’d never seen it! Showtime sent us the tapes.

And your reaction was?

LIPMAN We were shocked, like everyone else. We’d never seen a series so completely about gays. Gays on TV were usually best friends or silly uncles behaving either like clowns or eunuchs.

And the avalanche of sex scenes?

LIPMAN On the tapes they sent us, it looked discreet and cool because it was so grainy. Then we found out that it looked that way because our tapes were the 20th copy of the original. Seeing it clean and clear, yeah, they were challenging, but it was real and we were hooked.

COWEN Russell Davies, who created the original U.K. show, turned out to be a big brother to us. He helped us shape the show as a celebration of gay life. No one committing suicide because they’re gay. Having lots of sex because that’s what gays do. A story about men and women forming chosen families based on love and support, with interactions that were relatable, humorous, supportive, petty, selfish and forgivable.

How did you wind up in Pittsburgh, which is depicted as having a friskier gay nightlife than Santa Monica Boulevard. I mean, Babylon is packed on a Tuesday.

LIPMAN We wanted a second-tier city similar to the British version’s setting in Manchester. We liked Pittsburgh. It even had an appropriately named Liberty Avenue. And we were encouraged to see how far we could go in terms of sex scenes, lust, envy, language, relationships.

COWEN The nude scenes were frequent, but given the trajectory and appetites of Brian [Gale Harold], Justin [Randy Harrison] and Michael [Hal Sparks], it made no sense fading to black. And Showtime was fine with it.

So were a lot of us. The British version ran only one season with eight episodes [a special ran a few years later]. But not only did you run five seasons, there were 22 episodes in the first one, 83 in all. So, you weren’t riffing much on the original.

COWEN Even our characters are different. We had an amazing cast with Sharon Gless as our grounding earth mother.

LIPMAN At his audition, I remember giving Gale Harold Brian’s speech about not believing in love and only believing in fucking, and he instantly gave a reading that was both chilling and irresistibly sexy.

But it’s really Michael’s story.

LIPMAN Well, he undergoes the most growth, from being Brian’s doormat to finding nurturing love and becoming a parent. Michael is our everyman. The good guy with a big heart and low self-esteem. Given the complexity and tumult of gay life, we had each character often act on impulse, not always in their best interest.

COWEN Yes, there’s lots of sex, but at its core, it’s a story about gay men and women creating their own supportive families. And under that umbrella, we covered recreational healthy relationships, unhealthy and open ones, online dating, conversion therapy, crystal meth addiction, sexual politics …

LIPMAN … same sex parenting and adoption, S&M, barebacking, homophobia, the eerily prescient bombing of Babylon and the search for love, which is universal.

I’ve yet to see anything on Netflix, HBO or anywhere as defiantly and guiltlessly provocative. Do you think Queer as Folk holds up?

COWEN We still get letters from people everywhere saying “I wish these guys were my friends.” We live in constant gratitude that we were able to do this show when we did because you could never do it today. Not in this climate.

LIPMAN And we love that at Christmas, Showtime runs a Queer as Folk marathon. We binge-watch it, and somehow it feels appropriate because if you’re lucky to live long enough, what you’re left with are friends who, despite all your flaws, will still always love you.

COWEN And that’s what this show was all about.

This story appeared in the June 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.