Development

Cast of Noah's Arc

Cast of seasons 1 and (2005-2006), from left: Gregory Keith, Christian Vincent, Jonathan Julian, Darryl Stephens, show creator Patrik-Ian Polk, Doug Spearman, Rodney Chester, Jensen Atwood

The idea for Noah's Arc originated in 2003 when Patrik-Ian Polk attended a Los Angeles Black gay pride club event. The experience inspired Ian-Polk to write the series that was centered around the lives of Black gay men. The original one-hour pilot was produced independently and released as a web series in 2004, and to assist in funding each episode, the show was originally envisioned as a DVD subscription series.^[2] After the web series was well received, the series was picked up by Logo TV as a half-hour series.^[2][3] During production of the pilot episode, Rodney Chester – who portrays Alex in the show – used his own truck as a makeshift hair, make-up and dressing room. After the pilot episode was well received at film festivals and independent screenings, the series was picked up by MTV-affiliated cable network Logo as a half-hour series. The pilot, "My One Temptation", was re-written and re-shot as a two-part premiere episode,^[2] and Noah's Arc became LOGO's first scripted series.^[3]

Executive producer Dave Mace served as the series' showrunner, with Patrik-Ian Polk and Carol Ann Shine as series' co-executive producers. Pamela Post, Noreen Halpern, Eileen Opatut, and John Morayniss also served as executive producers for the second season.

Casting

Casting for the lead characters of Noah's Arc occurred in early 2003. Pamela Azmi-Andrew was the casting director as Polk sat in on the auditions. For the title lead role, Noah Nicholson, actors Darryl Stephens and Christian Vincent were being considered. Stephens, who originally auditioned for the role of Ricky Davis, was cast as Noah Nicholson. Vincent was later recast as Noah's best friend Ricky Davis.

Rodney Chester was cast as Alex Kirby. Chester maintained a friendship with Polk when he appeared in Polk's independent film Punks, which adapts several elements into the television series. Doug Spearman and Jensen Atwood would later be cast for their respective roles. By mid-2003, a cast was put together for the filming of the pilot episode. Shortly after the release of the pilot episode, Polk wrote and directed another in-depth episode for the characters. Shaun T. Fitness, who was originally cast as Trey Iverson in the pilot episode, was replaced by Gregory Keith in the series. Carlos Tineco, who was originally cast as a random guy whom Ricky has sex with, was cast for the recurring role Junito. The character of Junito was originally a go-go dancer before being rewritten as a doctor and later recast with Wilson Cruz assuming the role in the series. Jurnee Crapps, who played the role of Kenya McEntire, was replaced by Sahara Davis in season two.

Filming

Season one was filmed in Los Angeles, while season two was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Broadcast

Noah's Arc aired on Logo in the United States. The show became Logo's highest-rated show during its run. Despite the positive feedback from viewership, the show was not renewed for a third season and was later canceled. In the summer of 2008, BET's spin-off cable television channel BET J briefly broadcast the entire series in rotation. In October 2008, the movie Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom was released which picks up after series' cliffhanger finale.

Streaming

In March 2019, Logo TV began streaming the entire series on their YouTube channel.^[5] The episodes were removed from their YouTube channel in September 2019. The series streams on Apple TV (with a subscription).^[6] Outside of Logo platform, the series can be found on electronic sell-through platforms such as iTunes^[7][8] and Amazon Prime Video.^[9]