[a hundred things] #007 - Please Like Me
Okay, so Please Like Me. I was going to make this post when series 1 finishes in 2 weeks time, but I HAVE TOO MANY FEELS TO WAIT.
100 SHOWS I LOVE, OR HAVE LOVED BUT LOVE NO LONGER
#007 - Please Like Me
Okay, we have a lot to cover here, and I'm not sure I'll be able to talk about this rationally because I love this show so fucking much, and I know I will just resort to gifs (it's a highly gif-able show), but I will try.
PREMISE
Please Like Me is an Australian sitcom/dramedy that airs on ABC2 in Australia. It's written by and stars gay comedian Josh Thomas (who I already loved from Good News Week and Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation). Like Grandma's House, Josh is playing a fictional version of himself when he first realised he was gay. Unlike Grandma's House, the show is largely fictional, although some aspects are from Josh's real life, mostly bits of dialogue taken from his stand-up career, and his relationship with his best friend Tom, played by his real-life best friend Tom. It's also THE GAYEST SITCOM EVER, and I've seen both The New Normal and Beautiful People. Also, it's like critically acclaimed and shit.
CHARACTERS
JOSH (Josh Thomas)
Josh is playing a fictional version of himself when he was 20 years old. The show begins with him getting dumped by his ex-girlfriend, because she realises he's gay before he does. The same night, he meets a guy, they make out, and then his mother attempts suicide. He looks like a 50 year old baby, is very awkward, and is just great, really.
TOM (Tom Ward)
Josh's best friend. He lives with Josh (until the suicide attempt), works in an office with Josh's new boyfriend Geoffrey, has a thing for Josh's ex Claire, and has the worst girlfriend ever. He's a bit of a doormat, but he's also the king of deadpan.
GEOFFREY (Wade Briggs)
Josh's boyfriend. My emotions regarding Geoffrey are insane. He is so intense and strange (and really fucking hot). His dad's an alcoholic in prison, he thinks Dance of the Knights by Prokofiev is good sex music, he is too well-meaning for his own good, and when he falls for someone, he falls hard. He spends the majority of his screentime shirtless, so much so that it became a plot point.
CLAIRE (Caitlin Stacy)
Josh's ex-girlfriend, and the only person in the cast who is relatively normal. She has a cute thing going on with Tom, complicated by Tom's psycho girlfriend.
ROSE (Debra Lawrence)
Josh's depressed mother, who attempts suicide in the first episode. Despite this, she is shown having lots of fun, making her breakdowns all the more heartbreaking.
AUNTY PEG (Judith Farr)
Loosely based on real!Josh's awesome Grandma Mona, Peg is a bit of a battleaxe, a boozer and a terrible driver. She's a religious woman but loves Josh all the same and defends him against homophobes. She hates the pop band Steps. (The gifs used here are part of an awesome speech that originally came from the mouth of Grandma Mona, but I didn't post the whole thing because I don't want to spoil it.)
NIAMH (Nikita Leigh-Pritchard)
(I can't find any gifs or pictures of Niamh at all, which is annoying. But on the picture at the top of the page, she's between Josh and Tom.)
Tom's crazy girlfriend. She is fucking insane.
ALAN (David Roberts)
Josh's dad. He's going through a major midlife crisis, buying a porsche and getting a much younger girlfriend, but is still obsessed with his ex-wife Rose.
MAE (Renee Lim)
Alan's Thai girlfriend. She insults him at every turn, but seems to genuinely love him.
JOHN THE DOG (John the Dog)
ALL THE AWARDS FOR JOHN THE DOG.
JOSH/GEOFFREY
These guys really shouldn't work. They're both vulnerable (Josh's mum is severely depressed, Geoffrey's dad's in prison), Josh is aloof and sarcastic while Geoffrey's intense and caring, Geoffrey is pretty much in love with Josh while (so far) Josh is only interested in Geoffrey physically, when they're not kissing they don't have much in common, etc etc. But after one episode you will be screaming "OTP! OTP!!!!!" at them. If you're like me, anyway. It helps that Josh Thomas and Wade Briggs have really great chemistry. They work really well together in the kissing scenes, and are only awkward when it's intentional (it frequently is. Their first proper date is the most beautifully awkward thing I have ever seen.)
Also, there's the kissing. SO MUCH KISSING. I've not seen so much gay kissing in one show since Queer as Folk.
DIALOGUE
The rest of this post will now descend into gifs. Some of the things they say is pretty un-PC, but that's lampshaded.
Unfortunately, because of the nature of tumblr, most of the gifs are Josh/Geoffrey (with some Tom and Aunty Peg), so people like Claire and Niamh don't get much of a look in. But they get some good dialogue too.
VIDEOS
TRAILER (there are a whole bunch of other character specific trailers on that channel too.)
WATCH THE SHOW (if you're in Australia)
Watch Episode 1 & 2 (outside Australia)
Watch Episode 3 (outside Australia)
Watch Episode 4 (outside Australia - not sure how long this link will stay up since it's on youtube, but if it gets taken down let me know and I'll look for another. Same with the other episodes.)
Episode 5
Episode 6
Also, I wanted to find a clip of Josh and Geoffrey's first kiss, because the lighting and the music in it was really awesome and beautiful and I nerded out a bit. Alas, no. Meanwhile, the music in Josh and Geoffrey's BIG make-out scene in episode 2 is fucking hilarious.
PREVIOUS ENTRIES IN THE 100 THINGS BLOGGING CHALLENGE
#001 - Life on Mars | #002 - Glee | #003 - Grandma's House | #004 - Jon Richardson: A Little Bit OCD | #005 - Threesome | #006 - The Last Leg
100 SHOWS I LOVE, OR HAVE LOVED BUT LOVE NO LONGER
#007 - Please Like Me
Okay, we have a lot to cover here, and I'm not sure I'll be able to talk about this rationally because I love this show so fucking much, and I know I will just resort to gifs (it's a highly gif-able show), but I will try.
PREMISE
Please Like Me is an Australian sitcom/dramedy that airs on ABC2 in Australia. It's written by and stars gay comedian Josh Thomas (who I already loved from Good News Week and Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation). Like Grandma's House, Josh is playing a fictional version of himself when he first realised he was gay. Unlike Grandma's House, the show is largely fictional, although some aspects are from Josh's real life, mostly bits of dialogue taken from his stand-up career, and his relationship with his best friend Tom, played by his real-life best friend Tom. It's also THE GAYEST SITCOM EVER, and I've seen both The New Normal and Beautiful People. Also, it's like critically acclaimed and shit.
CHARACTERS
JOSH (Josh Thomas)
Josh is playing a fictional version of himself when he was 20 years old. The show begins with him getting dumped by his ex-girlfriend, because she realises he's gay before he does. The same night, he meets a guy, they make out, and then his mother attempts suicide. He looks like a 50 year old baby, is very awkward, and is just great, really.
TOM (Tom Ward)
Josh's best friend. He lives with Josh (until the suicide attempt), works in an office with Josh's new boyfriend Geoffrey, has a thing for Josh's ex Claire, and has the worst girlfriend ever. He's a bit of a doormat, but he's also the king of deadpan.
GEOFFREY (Wade Briggs)
Josh's boyfriend. My emotions regarding Geoffrey are insane. He is so intense and strange (and really fucking hot). His dad's an alcoholic in prison, he thinks Dance of the Knights by Prokofiev is good sex music, he is too well-meaning for his own good, and when he falls for someone, he falls hard. He spends the majority of his screentime shirtless, so much so that it became a plot point.
CLAIRE (Caitlin Stacy)
Josh's ex-girlfriend, and the only person in the cast who is relatively normal. She has a cute thing going on with Tom, complicated by Tom's psycho girlfriend.
ROSE (Debra Lawrence)
Josh's depressed mother, who attempts suicide in the first episode. Despite this, she is shown having lots of fun, making her breakdowns all the more heartbreaking.
AUNTY PEG (Judith Farr)
Loosely based on real!Josh's awesome Grandma Mona, Peg is a bit of a battleaxe, a boozer and a terrible driver. She's a religious woman but loves Josh all the same and defends him against homophobes. She hates the pop band Steps. (The gifs used here are part of an awesome speech that originally came from the mouth of Grandma Mona, but I didn't post the whole thing because I don't want to spoil it.)
NIAMH (Nikita Leigh-Pritchard)
(I can't find any gifs or pictures of Niamh at all, which is annoying. But on the picture at the top of the page, she's between Josh and Tom.)
Tom's crazy girlfriend. She is fucking insane.
ALAN (David Roberts)
Josh's dad. He's going through a major midlife crisis, buying a porsche and getting a much younger girlfriend, but is still obsessed with his ex-wife Rose.
MAE (Renee Lim)
Alan's Thai girlfriend. She insults him at every turn, but seems to genuinely love him.
JOHN THE DOG (John the Dog)
ALL THE AWARDS FOR JOHN THE DOG.
JOSH/GEOFFREY
These guys really shouldn't work. They're both vulnerable (Josh's mum is severely depressed, Geoffrey's dad's in prison), Josh is aloof and sarcastic while Geoffrey's intense and caring, Geoffrey is pretty much in love with Josh while (so far) Josh is only interested in Geoffrey physically, when they're not kissing they don't have much in common, etc etc. But after one episode you will be screaming "OTP! OTP!!!!!" at them. If you're like me, anyway. It helps that Josh Thomas and Wade Briggs have really great chemistry. They work really well together in the kissing scenes, and are only awkward when it's intentional (it frequently is. Their first proper date is the most beautifully awkward thing I have ever seen.)
Also, there's the kissing. SO MUCH KISSING. I've not seen so much gay kissing in one show since Queer as Folk.
DIALOGUE
The rest of this post will now descend into gifs. Some of the things they say is pretty un-PC, but that's lampshaded.
Unfortunately, because of the nature of tumblr, most of the gifs are Josh/Geoffrey (with some Tom and Aunty Peg), so people like Claire and Niamh don't get much of a look in. But they get some good dialogue too.
VIDEOS
TRAILER (there are a whole bunch of other character specific trailers on that channel too.)
WATCH THE SHOW (if you're in Australia)
Watch Episode 1 & 2 (outside Australia)
Watch Episode 3 (outside Australia)
Watch Episode 4 (outside Australia - not sure how long this link will stay up since it's on youtube, but if it gets taken down let me know and I'll look for another. Same with the other episodes.)
Episode 5
Episode 6
Also, I wanted to find a clip of Josh and Geoffrey's first kiss, because the lighting and the music in it was really awesome and beautiful and I nerded out a bit. Alas, no. Meanwhile, the music in Josh and Geoffrey's BIG make-out scene in episode 2 is fucking hilarious.
PREVIOUS ENTRIES IN THE 100 THINGS BLOGGING CHALLENGE
#001 - Life on Mars | #002 - Glee | #003 - Grandma's House | #004 - Jon Richardson: A Little Bit OCD | #005 - Threesome | #006 - The Last Leg