Showtime's Queer as Folk had difficulty recruiting actors from major talent agencies for the gay-themed series, CBC Radio reported Sunday, indicating that agents feared that their clients might be typecast as gay.

The result was that almost the entire cast, with the exception of Hal Sparks, a former host of Talk Soup on the E! Channel, and Cagney and Lacey's Sharon Gless, are unknowns. Several fashion designers ("of all industries!" commented the CBC) refused to have products placed in the series, which is being filmed in Toronto.

Source: Studio Briefing