Popular and Critical Response
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy debuted on July 15, 2003 and the series quickly attained high ratings, peaking in September of that year with 3.34 million viewers per episode. The popularity of the show established the Fab Five as media celebrities, with high-profile appearances at the Emmys and a "make-better" of Jay Leno and his The Tonight Show set in August of that year. Fab Five members parlayed their celebrity into endorsement deals, notably Thom Filicia's becoming the spokesperson for Pier 1 Imports.
The American gay press almost universally hailed the show and the Fab Five as cultural icons. Out magazine listed the Fab Five in its "OUT 100", the "greatest gay success stories" of 2003. Instinct magazine declared Kressley one of the "Leading Men" of 2004.
The series attracted criticism for making generalizations about sexual identity, namely that gay men are inherently more fashionable and stylish than heterosexuals. Among those making this critique were Tom Shales in the Washington Post ("stereotypes on parade"), Richard Goldstein in Village Voice ("Haven't fags always been consigned to the role of body servant?") and United States Congressman Barney Frank speaking to the New York Post ("The notion that gay men have a superior fashion sense is not true and it's damaging. It's perfectly possible to enjoy that show and say, look at those clever homosexuals. What they do with hair! And not support gays at all."). Anthropologist Lionel Tiger described the program as typical of a widespread acceptance of insulting heterosexual men: "Heteromales are the last group it is acceptable to bash as a class. The homosexual fellows on Queer Eye seem to provide riveting hilarity to especially female viewers. What if there were 5 Swedes telling Kenyans how to live elegantly and fashionably? What if 5 Catholics told Jews how to dress, decorate, and court? The program is degraded and degrading, Cheap Shots for A Humiliated Guy."
With the success of the first season, original "culture guy" Blair Boone sued the show for breach of contract, claiming he should be paid not just for two episodes but for the season that he had been contracted to film.
The popularity of the series inspired a number of parodies. Comedy Central hosted a satirical television series called Straight Plan for the Gay Man, which featured four heterosexual men teaching gay men how to be more (stereotypically) straight, redecorating their homes with neon beer signs and teaching them about sports. South Park spoofed the show and its hosts in the episode "South Park Is Gay!", in which the protagonists learn that the Fab Five are actually evil Crab People trying to take over the world by turning all straight men into metrosexuals.
Queer Eye won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program in 2004 and was nominated for another Emmy in the same category in 2005. The series also received GLAAD Media Awards for Outstanding Reality Program in 2004 and 2005, and was nominated for a third in 2006.
In the second season, ratings dropped sharply, averaging around 1.8 million viewers per episode with an average 804,000 viewers in the important 18-40 demographic. New episodes continued to air for two more seasons. Bravo confirmed in early 2007 that Queer Eye had been cancelled. The remaining fifth season episodes were billed as Queer Eye: The Final Season and aired twice weekly beginning October 2, 2007.
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