The Disappointments, a darkly comic web series from creator Rich Burns, about three gay best friends in their 50s trying to figure out their lives, is now streaming on YouTube. The first three episodes of the series have premiered today.
Says writer, director, and series star Rich Burns, "A few of us were at dinner, reminiscing about a friend, a gay producer who, depressed and struggling with money and career setbacks, had recently and tragically taken his own life. We had other acquaintances who had done the same thing, all within the past few years. These were people in their late 40s and early 50s, all of them feeling hopeless about how their lives had turned out. At the same time, we had friends at whom we marveled. These were people who recognized that the paths they had chosen for themselves when they were just kids out of school were not going to pan out. They needed new dreams, new careers, new lives. And so, well into their 40s, they bravely shook things up and reinvented themselves, finding happiness and success as a result of the changes they made. Both of these are very different approaches to the same dilemma. And out of this, The Disappointments was born. It’s a darkly comic series about us, gay people in their 50s, who suddenly find themselves standing in a room, looking at their belongings, their careers, their unhappy personal lives, their reflection in the mirror and asking, 'How did this get to be my life?' Disillusioned. Disappointed. And the clock is ticking…"