Looking

Billed as a "gay 'Sex and the City' " (as if 'Sex and the City' weren't already pretty gay), the new HBO half-hour comedy-drama "Looking" would be better compared to "Girls." The tone of the series is more similar to the downbeat, off-kilter humor of the Lena Dunham series than the bubbly Darren Star-overseen show that continued for six seasons before spawning two theatrical releases.

Like "Girls," this series about a trio of gay men in San Francisco hoping to find love (or make it last) has a semi-improvised feel about it, and sometimes possesses a cruel edge. That's not to say that "Looking" echoes the sardonic, and sometimes dippy, comic stylings of Dunham's New York City-centric 20-something female foursome. This series, created by Michael Lannan, immediately stakes out its own distinctive turf that acknowledges gay (and gay by proxy) shows of the past while clearly signaling a will to move past them.

Though "Looking" doesn't go for slapstick, it does angle for funny in a wry, come-up-from-behind manner that fits well with its unapologetic content. A typical episode shows these pals casually chatting about subjects that it took "Sex and the City" years to broach -- butt-licking, the cut vs. uncut partner, threesomes. You know, the usual topics of conversation with your closest gay bros.

That casual tone is key to the series. Like Carrie Bradshaw and her gal-pals, the guys of "Looking" are... and the title will have given you a clue here... on the search for meaningful relationships. But all is not unicorns and glitter; these guys would like a little romance, but they don't get too treacley about it. If anything, they keep their expectations in check. Their chatter may have an offhand tenor (and often take place over food or brewskies), but underneath those easy demeanors are three men coming to terms with all sorts of deeply rooted anxieties and dearly held hopes.

Patrick (Jonathan Groff) is the anchor here. He and Agust�n (Frankie J. Alvarez) are transplants from square states (Patrick lets slip that he's from Colorado) who found their way to San Francisco eight years ago, just after college. (Forget 20-somethings: These guys are hitting their thirties and forties.) The joke is that even in San Francisco, Patrick has a tough time getting any action; when we first meet him, he's so hard up that he resorts to cruising in the park, an activity he regards as not even belonging to men of his generation. When his assignation in the bushes is derailed, he almost seems relieved. (A subsequent near-hookup in Episode 2 at least provokes some dismay and a comic moment of comfort food indulgence.)

Agust�n, by contrast, has a steady boyfriend, Frank (O.T. Fagbenle) -- so steady, in fact, that Agust�n commits to moving in, which means leaving the apartment he shares with Patrick and relocating to Oakland. But while Patrick flounders in a veritable sea of men, Agust�n battles a sense of tedium.

Older, 40-ish friend Dom (Murray Bartlett) has been there and done that, and not come away feeling especially happy with anything. He still yearns for the ex-lover whose meth habit broke them up eight years previously; he still works at the same restaurant where he's been waiting tables for so long that a new friend, in his mid-50s or so -- a survivor of the bad old days of the plague (played by Scott Bakula) -- dubs him an "institution." For Dom, the very idea of being an institution is liable to drive him into an institution; he's still hot, but he's reached the age where men are no longer falling at his feet, and it's only making his grumpy mood worse. (Think "Queer As Folk's" Brian Kinney at the threshold of middle age.)

If all the tropes of gay fiction seem front and center here, with issues of aging, fear of commitment and / or boredom, the ravages of drug abuse, and the ever-present specter of loneliness... well, just wait. A rent boy makes a timely appearance when one of the friends loses his job ("Maybe you should consider a career change," the well-paid hunk advises); a fag hag shares Dom's apartment; Patrick's gaydar pings on new boss Kevin (Russell Tovey, an alum of the British series "Being Human"), a handsome Brit, but... of course... Kevin, a recent transplant from Seattle, has a boyfriend back in the Emerald City. Will that stop the two from inching closer to a workplace fling? And what about Richie (Ra�l Castillo), a Latino guy who's been interested in Patrick ever since a chance meeting on the subway?

That's not to say this series feels like a clich�. It may trade in, tussle with, and toss clich�s around, but in style and feel it's very much of the moment (and not just because Patrick's ex, now a billionaire thanks to a hit video game, is getting legally married to his new beau). This is not San Francisco by way of "Tales of the City," but rather a series about a modern family of choice in the post-dot-com environs of America's greatest gay oasis. The review DVD contained four episodes, but really -- they had me at "Want to see my new tattoo? I designed it myself. It's Dolly Parton's signature."

The eight-episode first season of "Looking" debuts on HBO Sunday, January 19, at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.