Queer as Folk cleared by Canadian censors as its cast gets a raise

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled Wednesday that the U.S. version of Queer as Folk contains "sexually explicit" content without being exploitative, says The Hollywood Reporter. The panel ruled in response to a viewer complaint about the show, noting that broadcaster Showcase Television had not aired sufficient viewer advisories about the program's content. The complaining viewer wrote the council that she was "appalled to see blatant, explicit sexual acts playing on [her] television screen," but the censors concluded that the show's content did not breach the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' sex-role portrayal code and that it was "not exploitative of either males or females." In other Queer as Folk news, Variety reports that six members of the show's cast (Peter Paige, Gale Harold, Thea Gill, Scott Lowell, Michelle Clunie, and Randy Harrison) entered into collective bargaining, empowering lawyers Peter Nelson and Bruce Gellman to negotiate for them. Nelson recently successfully negotiated raises for The West Wing's supporting cast, and he triumphed again, getting fourfold raises for the sextet from Showtime. The actors will now make salaries per episode in the mid five-figure range for the show's third season.