''Hunting Season'' is an American

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-themed comedy-drama

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

created by Jon Marcus. Following the romantic and sexual exploits of Alex (Ben Baur) and his small group of friends in New York City, the story was inspired by and largely based on the 2005–08

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

''The Great Cock Hunt'' and the 2008 novel of the same name published by

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. Season one premiered in September 2012 with eight short-format

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s. Season two, funded by a 2013

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campaign that raised $151,406, premiered in May 2015 and consisted of four longer episodes. The series's theme music was composed by Jake Monaco.

Premise

''Hunting Season'' follows Alex, a single, gay, 20-something

ger for

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who begins writing anonymously about his wild social life.

Characters

* Ben Baur as Alex * Marc Sinoway as Tommy * Jake Manabat as TJ * Tyler French as Reese * Brit-Charde Sellers as Shania * Pressly Coker as Hot Sales Guy * Joshua Warr as Harris

Season 1

* Walker Hare as Lenny * Jack Ferver as Nick * Kate Geller as Lizzie * David Lavine as Ben

Season 2

* Quinn Jackson as Jamie * Yuval Boim as Will * Ken Barnett as Josh King * Hunter Hoffman as Reagan * Nic Cory as Aron * David Garelik as Nico * Ryan Barry as Luke

Episodes

Season 1 (2012)

Season 2 (2015)

Development and production

Creator Jon Marcus was inspired to produce his own web series after watching '' The Guild'' (2007–2013) and later '' Web Therapy'' (2008–2014). He said in 2012: The story is inspired by and largely based on the 2005–08 blog ''The Great Cock Hunt'' and the 2008 novel of the same name published by

. A fan of the blog as it was being published, Marcus told '' Next Magazine'' in 2012, "My friends all passed it around. It was really hot, it was really fun and it reminded us all of being in New York, which I had been in my 20s and it was just addictive." During the period of the blog's run, three cable TV networks directed at

viewers had been launched: Q, Here! and

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. Noting the popularity of the racy gay drama series ''

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'' (2000–05) on

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, Marcus thought one of these networks would be interested in a show about single gay men in New York. He contacted the anonymous writer of the blog and optioned it for development as a series. Marcus said in a 2012

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interview: Marcus shelved the idea for a few years when he found that "no one in the business wanted to make the show I wanted to make". He revisited the project in 2010 as he noticed the increased popularity and accessibility of online programming. Marcus enlisted Adam Baran, and the two began adapting the blog into scripts, while also fleshing out certain characters and expanding the concept to both appeal to a wider audience and to avoid stereotypes. ''Hunting Season'' is set and filmed in New York City. Marcus financed the first season himself with "very, very little money", and a 2013

campaign to finance season 2 of the series raised $151,406.

Broadcast

The first three episodes of ''Hunting Season'' were released online on Wednesday, September 12, 2012. Five more episodes followed, one released every subsequent Wednesday until October 17, 2012. An uncensored edition of the series, containing nudity, was available for paid download at HuntingSeason.tv, while a censored edition was freely available LOGOtv.com. In August 2013, the uncensored version of season 1 became available for paid download from Vimeo On Demand, with the censored version free for viewing at HuntingSeason.tv. Season 2 premiered on Vimeo on May 5, 2015. Season 1 consists of eight short-format

s of between 9 and 12 minutes in duration, and the four episodes of season 2 are between 21 and 30 minutes long.

Reception

Emily Rome of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...

'' called the series a "gay ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United St ...

''", and noted its "full-frontal nudity". '' Next Magazine'' called ''Hunting Season'' "sexy" and "racy", noting that "the series has also gained attention for its large amount of nude scenes". In January 2016, ''

Out Out may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 * ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander * ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...

'' named Alex as one of its "30 Most Eligible Gay TV Characters", after previously naming Baur to its ''Out''100 list in 2015.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 2368518, Hunting Season 2012 web series debuts American comedy web series American drama web series American LGBT-related web series Gay-related television shows