QAF, pro and con.

Thank you so much for your cover story on Queer as Folk ["Queer as Folk: The Ultimate Episode Guide," July 6]. I enjoyed your recap of the last four seasons and found myself agreeing and laughing with your trip down memory lane with this show. I must comment on actor Randy Harrison's rather bitter comments about Justin. I loved Justin, season 1. And then the writers seemed to want to lobotomize Justin into a kid who sank to his knees every time Brian got within 50 feet of him. How sad they couldn't persuade the lovely violin player Ethan, acted by the impressive Fabrizio Filippo, to stick around and have that romance play out instead of the one Mr. Harrison so aptly described as "abusive." I might add "boring and lackluster, void of anything remotely romantic." As any fan with half an eye and a brain already knows, Brian is deeply and undeniably in love with Michael. Watch out, Ben, in season 5.

Catherine Grayson, Novi, Mich.

An edition devoted to Queer as Folk? I thought you were a newsmagazine, not Access Hollywood. What is with the gay media fawning over this program? It's not camp. It's not a guilty pleasure. It's a soap opera--and a second-rate one at best. Redefined the standard for portrayals of gay characters? Hardly. Where's GLAAD when you need them? And for God's sake, get Scott Lowell to some acting classes.

Jim McCormack, Lincolnshire, Ill.

You know, a cover and 17 pages is a lot of space to waste on a crappy television show. Seventeen pages, and not one whole sentence about the truly brilliant original U.K. version upon which this American embarrassment is based. Shame on you.

Alan L. Light, Iowa City, Iowa 

Let's see: We're in the middle of a nationwide firestorm over the most important gay rights debate in American history, and we're four months away from a presidential election in which the incumbent has proposed using the U.S. Constitution as an instrument of legalized homophobia. And the response of "The National Gay & Lesbian Newsmagazine" is to devote its cover and a full 30% of the editorial space to a CliffsNotes version of Queer as Folk, calling it an "irreverent guide to all 65 episodes." (Sample irreverent guidance: "The weenie lineup [in episode 306] is breathtaking.") Oh, duh! I forgot: Your editorial judgments are made in California. And is everyone on your editorial board blond?

Thomas Grant, New York, N.Y.

I picked up a recent copy of your magazine to read about a TV show I really enjoy: Queer as Folk. I was quite surprised at how poorly written file article was. It's as though it started off with a concept, changed writers in the middle, and ended on a different note altogether. Lack of consistency, wrong facts, and errata abound:

1. For episode 205 it reads, "The humiliation at the Big Q gets out of hand, and Brian is forced to quit." This should read "Michael," not "Brian."

2. For 206 it reads, "Brian sets up his new store when his next beautiful boyfriend ..." This should read "Michael," not "Brian."

3. "Brian's Score This Episode," which wan maintained in the first few episodes, was wrong and then simply abandoned in season 2. And the score was wrong in number and description on several counts. For example: For episode 209 it reads, "I Viagra-enhanced roundelay with a brace of sturdy young men." This is wrong. It should read, "Viagra-enhanced roundelay with Justin." He is only with Justin in that situation.

I don't normally care about mistakes in a magazine, but I really enjoy this program and hope that next time, more effort will be made in getting things right--especially when it comes to Queer as Folk.

Nicholas McAllister, San Francisco, Calif.