Cowlip's intentions about Brian and Justin

[nightvision55.livejournal.com]

Hi, this is the first time I've posted here so please forgive any mistakes ...

I was just wondering; in the UK original, the focus of the series was the Brian/Michael relationship, and they were the ones who ended up together. So, did Cowlip originally intend that in the US version, and did they just go with the Brian/Justin pairing because they realised how hot the chemistry between Gale and Randy was?

Does anybody know?

Comments

[ryosato.livejournal.com]

It's never been stated, but it makes sense that from season 2 and on it's far more Brian/Justin, because the writers in the original season were the same as the UK version. But due to Canada's laws on employing a certain percentage of Canadian people if you're working up there (or something, I don't know the details lol) they had to fire most of them and get a totally new writing group from Canada. From there, they decided to continue to change things and move on in a new direction.

Although, I'd say they knew there were people that liked both, because they never COMPLETELY deny the Brian/Michael thing. I mean, even in the last season, which IMO was weird all around. XD

[highd.livejournal.com]

The Brian Michael thing was dealt with in season 2 episode 12. Anyone that thinks there was more after that are reaching at best. Even when Brian was dragging Michael around during the first part of season 3 it was obvious that Michael wanted to be home with Ben and not be out watching Brian at underwear parties.

[ryosato.livejournal.com]

I'm not gonna get into a big fandom argument about how to read the show. ;) All I'm saying is, they left in plenty of moments for Brian/Michael fans to keep them watching. And hey, reaching? Brian calls him "the love of his life" and no matter how you feel about that or if you think he was joking or whatever, when lines like that are in a show it gives fans the opportunity to decide what they think it meant for the character. That's what makes fandom fun; we can all read the same moments in completely different ways. :)

"the love of his life"

[bilby10.livejournal.com]

I thought that line was so strange. Was Brian joking ? (maybe) The line doesn't make sense in the context of "you're my best and oldest friend" / "you're the family my real family could never be". If Brian meant it seriously, then he meant that Michael was the romantic love of his life.

In the end I just came to the conclusion that ClowLip were "feeding" those fans that yearned for Brian/Michael romance, but it doesn't fit with anything else !

I hear (from Shawn Postoff and actors' comments) that CowLip had a strong vision of what they wanted. Hmm ... from where I'm sitting it seemed a little wishy-washy at times. If they wanted a Brian/Michael relationship to develop as per UK QAF they should have stuck to their guns. Otherwise they should not have included those little clues thrown here and there to Brian/Michael fans, as they were distracting and made the general storylines more incoherent.

Re: "the love of his life"

[ryosato.livejournal.com]

But the fact is, what's in the show is what's in the show, motivations and opinions about quality aside. Canon is canon, and what happens in the show is what happened. The reason fanfic is fun is that you can take any moment and extrapolate it into a fic; this applies to b/j and b/m and t/e and every couple out there.

Re: "the love of his life"

[bilby10.livejournal.com]

Sure - I agree with regards to fanfiction (it always helps if there's at least a little backup in canon).

But in terms of judging whether the QAF creators present a consistent, coherent, strong storyline - it's pathetic!

I love S1 - S3, where I don't think there are great inconsistencies, but by S4/5 there are, and I can't help thinking that it is because CowLip kept tabs on the fans via the Showtime forums. They realised that there were at least two camps among the most ardent fans, so they tried to keep both interested to some extent. Just idiotic! They should have had greater personal integrity. Either go the UK QAF path (though I think Stuart and Vince were more "Thelma and Louise" rather than romantically intertwined" - nevertheless CowLip could have taken that approach), or throw out the occasional Brian/Michael subtext altogether.

[highd.livejournal.com]

I think that cowlip threw Brian and Michael fans a bone as much as possible to keep them watching. Also the line is so out of character for Brian that I don't think even Michael believed him.

I am sorry but I have no clue how anyone can watch 5 seasons of QAF and still want a Brian and Michael. Brian openly rejected Michael's want for a romantic relationship for 14 years. Why would any Michael fan want Brian for Michael? Why would they want to take away the only family Brian has, just so Brian would stick his dick in Michael's ass? I don't get that at all. I watched a show about 2 brothers trying to work out their family dynamic and to read more into it than that seems sort of crazy.

[ryosato.livejournal.com]

The REAL question is, why does other peoples interpretations of a television show bother you so much? Brian/Justin fans are the most active people in the QaF community, they're the loudest, and they create the most content. I really don't get why this vast majority feels so threatened by a much quieter group's opinion on a show. Especially when Brian/Michael fans don't go to any other communities to discuss the pairing. So why do Brian/Justin fans need to?

[highd.livejournal.com]

I am not a Brian and Justin fan, not really. I think that more than anything I am a Brian fan. A Brian fan that wanted the world for him, and Michael wasn't it.

I get peeved at Brian and Michael fans because they don't care about the Brian part of the equation. They think of Brian as some prize that Michael deserves after all the years of waiting. Hardly do you hear a Brian Michael fan say why Michael was good for Brian, how Michael would have made Brian's life better, or how Michael was a good match for Brian because... It's always about Michael and what he deserves and how it would be better for him. Which is quite strange. I have been in a lot of Brian and Michael forums and communities over the years, and this is a very, very common sentiment in those comms.

With Brian and Justin fans you read endless comments about how they balanced each other out and how Brian contributed to Justin's life and how Justin contributed to Brian's life. It wasn't about who deserved what for how much time. It was about looking at the two characters and seeing they were in love and how they both gave to the relationship.

I don't think the vast majority of fans are threaten over Brian/ Michael. I think we are just blown away that anyone thought that those two could or would or should be anything more then brothers and friends.

[gaedhal.livejournal.com]

The writers in Season 1 were NOT the same as the British
version. Russell Davies wrote all of the eps for both
British series and nothing of the US version, although
he gave the template to CowLip and their writing team,
which included Jonathan Tolins, Richard Kramer, Jason
Schafer, Doug Guinan, and others, all of whom were
replaced for Season 2. Tolins was especially vocal on
why he was fired -- he famously fought with CowLip over
the direction of the show. But those writers were also
responsible for the fact that Season 1 is the most coherent
and consistent of the series.

[ryosato.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhhhhhhh okay! I was totally misinformed, then. XD I do think season 1 was the best written all around. (And hey, the longest, so that rocks! XD)

[gaedhal.livejournal.com]

Tolins, Schafer, and company were all award-winning
and openly gay playwrights (Tolins was a recent mentor
at the Young Playwrights Festival Gale and Scott recently
participated in). CowLip fired them and replaced them
with what were basically yes-men -- and it shows.

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

Wow, didn't know that at all! But yeah, S1 on a whole was the most cohesivve season. S2 was good, but that's also where all the continuity went bye-bye. I've always wondered how two control freaks such as C/L could mess up on details such as Justin's and Ted's birthday (having Em say it was August, then having them at a SKI LODGE, FFS, for Ted's 40!!).

[bilby10.livejournal.com]

Aha! That makes perfect sense. S1 was the best season. I wonder what Tolins argued with CowLip about specifically.