At dinner several years ago, Rich Burns was reminiscing with a friend about another colleague who, after numerous challenges and setbacks, had decided to end his own life. As they talked, Burns realized that so many of his peers – gay men in their 50s – were facing similar challenges. He decided to channel that energy into a web series.
“The Disappointments,” which is about a trio of gay best friends looking back at their professional and personal lives and deciding how to move forward, premiered back in 2021 and became an immediate success. Five years later, a second season is finally available.
Between writing, co-directing, and serving as one of the show’s executive producers, Burns also stars as Ray Russo, while Gedde Watanabe and James Matthew Campbell star as Ray’s best friends, Gary Chen and James Caldwell.
Seeing gay characters on television in their 50s or older is rare, which was one of the reasons the idea for “The Disappointments” appealed to Burns.
“What’s great about having these characters – and this is not a criticism in any way – but so much of the representation of LGBTQ characters tends to be of a certain age group,” Burns said. “Our age is not necessarily a draw. It doesn’t seem like it’s what’s on screen. I don’t see myself as a 64-year-old man on screen that often. When I do see someone in my age group, they tend to be like the friend or the sad character who’s lonely, who’s lost people.”
The first season of “The Disappointments” ended on a cliffhanger, with Ray and his love interest, Dwight (Trevor LaPaglia), calling it quits. James was developing his real estate career while Gary was considering hosting a daytime talk show. It didn’t take Burns long to want to make another round of episodes.
“Pretty much when we saw what the reception of the first season was, we decided to go right into another crowdsource fundraiser, because it was very well received,” Burns said. “People were enthusiastic about it, and I had ideas. I was almost going to say that the show writes itself. There are so many situations, disappointments and embarrassing things that happen to me or people around me that just make great source material.”
Making the first season was almost like film school for Burns as he learned how to make a TV show and how to direct actors.
“It was all a big whole bunch of firsts for me, except for the writing,” he said. “I’ve been a writer my whole adult life. Having gone through that and having worked with the editor, I feel like it gave me the confidence to go bigger, and I wanted to go bigger.”
Season one cost $30,000 to make, and season two has a budget of more than $100,000. That jump in cost gave Burns some creative liberty.
“I wrote things that were just bigger in scope, and then we had to figure out, how are we going to do this? Like, how are we going to do a Broadway musical number?” he said. “I had the confidence in myself, but I also had the confidence in that I had developed a great relationship with our crew.”
Actor Chuck Saculla played Ignacio, a real estate agent, mentor, and love interest to James, in the first season. That character’s presence has been beefed up in season two. Saculla has been friends with many of the cast members for a while.
“Rich and I have known each other for 20 years, and James and I had done musical theater,” he said. “James and I have very good chemistry together. What I love about this cast, even the guest stars, is that you just got to play for the fun of it.”
Being about men of a certain age, the show dives into different health issues that come with aging. Watanabe, who originally shot to fame as Long Duk Dong in the John Hughes classic “Sixteen Candles,” wanted to show Gary’s struggles this season as well as his optimism.
“I think [Gary] has had a lot of health problems,” Watanabe said. “In spite of everything he is living with, he is a bit Pollyanna-ish. He goes and flows through it and does what he can.”
On the show, Gary is recovering from rectal cancer. Now 70, Watanabe is having to navigate new health-related challenges himself, such as the world of Medicare. He feels that people his age could be left out of society if they do not speak up.
“I don’t know anything about it, and so it’s complicated,” Watanabe said.
Saculla, who is 58, said he also understands the health issues these characters are dealing with.
“I had a few knee surgeries over last year,” he said. “Life happens and all of a sudden your savings [are] gone, and you’re almost 60 years old, and you can’t get a job – even bartending or waiting tables, because they want someone younger. Those are the struggles.”
New episodes of “The Disappointments” drop every Sunday on YouTube. A director’s cut of season one is also available with longer episodes and deleted scenes.
Correction: an earlier version of this article referred to Gedde Watanabe having recovered from rectal cancer. It has been corrected to reflect that it is his character on the show, Gary, who had cancer, not Watanabe.
