Meanwhile, one of QAF's main characters, Michael Novotny (Hal Sparks) was partially defined by his lifelong love of comics and comic book heroes. The first X-Men movie had debuted the previous summer, and the creation of the MCU was still eight years away. When the show hit the small screen, the comic book movie industry was still in its infancy. But while the original show wraps in a tight 10 episodes, the American-Canadian Queer as Folk (QAF) ran for five seasons and 83 episodes, busting TV taboos, cultivating a passionate fanbase of all genders and orientations, and generating a lot - a lot - of conversation. The ensemble dramedy about a group of gay and lesbian friends living, loving, and having sex in Pittsburgh adapted the British series, which had aired in the U.K. Premiering on Showtime in December of 2000, Queer as Folk was a big swing, even for a premium channel.
