Fellow Travelers (2023)

Watchseries; The "Lavender Scare" was a very real, despicable period in American political history that deserves to be widely-understood and known. "Fellow Travelers" is an engaging, informative vehicle for recounting the events; while the fictionalization entertains, the subject matter truth stays appropriately prominent throughout the show.

As a gay man & longtime DC-area resident, with a 30-year successful career in federal government defense contract work, the story is a close-hitting view of past discrimination faced by the LGBTQ community. Much progress has been made, with much more needed. "FT" tells the oft-ignored story of the time period, to remove the "blight" of homosexuals from our government - with great actors, beautiful period sets and costumes - and remind us that the fight is NOT over, especially for trans individuals in the present.

Federal government-employed LGBTQ people were hunted by McCarthy & his acolytes (he was the root of the "Red Scare") and when/if discovered, many had their lives utterly destroyed by the subsequent "outings" and criminal prosecutions. Many targeted individuals lost careers, families and hopes for the future, and too many lost lives to suicide. The fights to expunge criminal records and clear names continues TODAY by the families of their now-deceased loved ones who were targeted, persecuted AND prosecuted.

Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey are great in their roles. There is perhaps a little too-graphic representation of sex at times, but it's not un-real or overly-done. Supporting characters are faithful to their roles and vary in acting quality, though all are solidly good. I adore Alison Williams, and she is credible and generally wonderful as the wife of "Hawk." I like that actors of color, along with *actually queer* actors, are present throughout the plot lines. The inclusion of the AIDS crisis, which was largely ignored by political leaders in its early days, is another sad/tragic part of queer history deserving of the spotlight, too.

To me, the only drawback is the use of flashbacks to change the period of time being addressed. It happens very quickly in Ep1, without much setup, so it took me a beat or two to follow the context and characters through the transitions; once I understood what was occurring, it was not an issue. I saw negative reviews that focused on cigarette smoking (really??) and other minor elements, and while I respect differing views, to give a lowest rating for such things both diminishes the important overall message, AND misses the forest for the trees by a wide margin.

Overall, "Fellow Travelers" is a warmly engaging, well acted and accurately depicted account of an important facet of queer history in the United States. It deserves the attention and positive reviews it is receiving, and I recommend it to others, without reservations. -v/r, FEGIII.

The "Lavender Scare" was a very real, despicable period in American political history that deserves to be widely-understood and known. "Fellow Travelers" is an engaging, informative vehicle for recounting the events; while the fictionalization entertains, the subject matter truth stays appropriately prominent throughout the show.

As a gay man & longtime DC-area resident, with a 30-year successful career in federal government defense contract work, the story is a close-hitting view of past discrimination faced by the LGBTQ community. Much progress has been made, with much more needed. "FT" tells the oft-ignored story of the time period, to remove the "blight" of homosexuals from our government - with great actors, beautiful period sets and costumes - and remind us that the fight is NOT over, especially for trans individuals in the present.

Federal government-employed LGBTQ people were hunted by McCarthy & his acolytes (he was the root of the "Red Scare") and when/if discovered, many had their lives utterly destroyed by the subsequent "outings" and criminal prosecutions. Many targeted individuals lost careers, families and hopes for the future, and too many lost lives to suicide. The fights to expunge criminal records and clear names continues TODAY by the families of their now-deceased loved ones who were targeted, persecuted AND prosecuted.

Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey are great in their roles. There is perhaps a little too-graphic representation of sex at times, but it's not un-real or overly-done. Supporting characters are faithful to their roles and vary in acting quality, though all are solidly good. I adore Alison Williams, and she is credible and generally wonderful as the wife of "Hawk." I like that actors of color, along with *actually queer* actors, are present throughout the plot lines. The inclusion of the AIDS crisis, which was largely ignored by political leaders in its early days, is another sad/tragic part of queer history deserving of the spotlight, too.

To me, the only drawback is the use of flashbacks to change the period of time being addressed. It happens very quickly in Ep1, without much setup, so it took me a beat or two to follow the context and characters through the transitions; once I understood what was occurring, it was not an issue. I saw negative reviews that focused on cigarette smoking (really??) and other minor elements, and while I respect differing views, to give a lowest rating for such things both diminishes the important overall message, AND misses the forest for the trees by a wide margin.

Overall, "Fellow Travelers" is a warmly engaging, well acted and accurately depicted account of an important facet of queer history in the United States. It deserves the attention and positive reviews it is receiving, and I recommend it to others, without reservations. -v/r, FEGIII.

Fellow Travelers watchseries. A stunning show with masterful acting. It's a tough watch at times but also very necessary - these are struggles and trials that so many went through. The two leads Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey have great chemistry and the supporting cast is great - Jelani Alladin being a personal favourite - but also Erin and Noah. The political aspect gives it a sense of truthfulness and it rightfully (but unfortunately) connects to a lot of what we currently see happening around us. The romance and intimacy deserve praise too. I look forwards to seeing what the rest of the episodes will deliver. Fantastic work!

A classic and unbeatable formula: an ardent (to say the least) but forbidden romantic entanglement against the background of thirty years of dramatic social and political upheavals. A sort of The Way We Were but with Bomer and Bailey (both perfectly cast) instead of Streisand and Redford. The McCarthy era episodes are strikingly well done with the good period detail (one carping point: the '50s seem to be in vogue at the moment and every actor is dressed so perfectly in period style that no-one ever seems stepped out of an upmarket clothing store with nary a worn or patched garment to be seen).and fine performances from the troupe of Washington politicians and their cohorts. One glaringly obvious misstep where, because everything else is so well done I indulgently suspend my disbelief, is the almost total lack of effort taken to age the characters. After 30 years Hawk is supposed to have grandchildren yet he appears to have discovered the secret of eternal youth; the secret seems to have been shared with Marcus, who, apart from longer hair and a beard is similarly untouched by time.

Brilliant show on the war on gays and how sadly relevant today

What a brilliant and sad show on the biggest closet gays in American history, Senator McCarthy and Roy Cohn, his lawyer. Their hatred over their own sexual desires made made them spread homophobia all over the country. The invasive tactics of the FBI and the government into gay mens lives is portait here extremely powerfully one man dedicated to politics as much as the other, whom he falls in love with. Both experience the insane level of homphobic hatred from the very top in the most insane ways. The lead actors all are brilliant here in this must watch Showtime presentation.

Acting, set design and costume design are magnificent. I'm in awe of how good it gets on each episode.

I'm also surprised in the way they managed to adapt the book and make it so much better in every way, from the treatment of the delicate topics to the sex scenes that are explicit yet never feel exploitive or fetishizing like in many other shows/films "for" the LGBT community.

I can't wait to watch the next episode this week for many reasons but especially because of Jonathan Bailey's fantastic acting, he keeps raising his own bar with each episode and that makes this show a pleasure to watch.

I guess Matt Bomer has been waiting for his whole career for a role like this. And tbh, we all have been looking forward to a show like this but never thought it would actually happen. It's still early to decide whether the show is good. It's promising and I believe it marks the beginning of more mainstream series delving into LGBTQ+ storylines.

In the first episode, I can really see the tension between Bomer and Bailey. Even though they might have tried a little too hard, I can still feel their vibe and whole cast seemed decent. The storyline seemed to be a bit orthodox. Let's just take it as a good adaptation of a readable M/M romance with a touch on some serious topics. I'm sure it will do just fine.