Please Like Me - Review

Josh Thomas jokes he has the head of a baby on the body of an old man, but his first TV offering, ‘Please Like Me’, proves there’s a mature story head on his shoulders.

‘Please Like Me’ also does something that is years ahead of any other mainstream show on TV – it creates a lead character who is gay, without that character focusing on being gay.

There’s a wonderful early moment where Josh tells his friend, Tom, that a mole on his lip bled into the mouth of a boy he tried to make out with. Josh describes this as the third worst sexual experience of his life – which is the sort of cumulative, gentle comedy this show has in abundance. But Tom’s response is to ask if they are simply ignoring the new information that Josh made out with another guy? Josh issues a quick, ‘Ah-huh’ and continues the conversation, asking advice about what one should do if they bleed into the mouth of someone they’re trying to crack onto?

In this brief exchange, and sold by his best friend’s acceptance to simply move on, gender becomes inconsequential, at least to Josh.

This may shock the straight world – but that’s the reality of being gay. We don't really think about it that much. Straight people seem to care far more about who gay people make out with than gay people do. Making out is making out – boy or girl, straight or gay – it can be equally exciting or stressful to meet someone new, and we don’t think it’s weird or brave or anything other than normal to share that with who we're attracted to. All of that labeling and what it means is pretty boring compared to the sex of it.

The character at the center of ‘Please Like Me’ is many things, one of those is gay. Josh Thomas, the comedian behind the show is also gay and he’s savvy enough to understand that you need to be natural as a performer. Most actors are type cast because they can’t be anything on screen but who they are. Those performers who can change onscreen are few and far between. How much of onscreen Josh is real Josh? You’d need to know Josh to know that, but the bravest choice he made was not to hide behind a character that isn’t him.

What we end up with is Josh Thomas. He’s a little weird. He talks funny and walks oddly. He confesses to having woman’s hips and his voice sort of breaks when he talks about anything important. But oddly, you can’t help liking him – he just seems nice.

And it’s that character he’s brought to this, with a strange meld of real and fiction that delivers a young man who is 100% believable and real. He is gay, intellectual, awkward, funny, lost, young, struggling with family, trying to grow up, supported and supportive of his friends, looking to be loved by someone he can love and he knows he has a long way to go to find himself. In other words, he’s a typical young person trying to muddle through life to find a future he can be happy with. That’s a universal quest and that’s why, whoever you are, this is a relatable show.

‘Please Like Me’ is likely to be a sleeper with many downloads around the world from people who will watch every episode in one sitting when they discover it. It probably won’t be a big hit on air because of its refusal to treat the gay sexual content as anything but usual. This means Josh and whoever he’s enamored with kiss like real people. There’s no fade away or cut to’s here. They just snog like any other young people – they swap spit and feel each other up and they do it like they’re enjoying it – certainly not apologising for it.

I suspect the still largely conservative TV audience isn’t ready for that. It's still a niche market. But I am thrilled to see a gay character living a real life on screen that isn’t full of squeals and flapping arms or an obsession with shopping, gossip and décor – hallelujah!

‘Just Like Me’ is a dramedy in line with Girls and Louie. It screams of an understanding of how to tell a story with humour that is believable and still delivers great entertainment. These shows understand life is often funny, not always to the person involved – but to everyone else invited to watch from their ‘fly on the wall’ vantage point and in a skilled hand, these moments become even more enjoyable.

There is a great story mind at work here and Josh Thomas has set the bar very high for himself with an awful lot of time left to deliver more. It may well be he has some very good story heads to help him structure his stories, because they are well structured. They twist and turn with ease and show an innate understanding of how stories work and how to subvert what is set up and expected. 

When Aunt Peg is being her usual annoying self and trying to get Josh to go to church, Josh stands up to her and wins the battle of wits with honest, real, logical choices that leave it clear he will not be bullied into being a churchgoer – under any circumstances.

When Peg drives away, and Josh throws his tongue down Geoff’s throat, Peg’s unexpected return brings calamity! Now nosey, opinionated, meddling Peg knows the gay secret Josh’s been keeping from his family and she delivers her line perfectly – “See you at church” – touché Peg!

99 times out of 100 storytellers would play this out – and keep Josh trapped in this conundrum of being forced to keep his secret by attending a service he has little respect for.

But this show is better than that. Desperately wanting Josh to be ‘outed’ to further their relationship, Geoff tells Josh’s father he’s the boyfriend and not simply a friend. This is more like a real life unfolding – not neatly choreographed so the drama escalates and gives the best bang for your buck. It’s equally entertaining when it surprises and delivers real moments rather than loud, ever increasing crescendos.

There is complicated, nuanced storytelling at work here. Josh plays the martyr to his parent’s unraveling lives and still trying to guard his mother from any emotional stress, and now essentially out and no need to bend to Peg’s blackmail, he still attends church – but now takes his boyfriend. And it is Peg who redeems herself and places Josh ahead of her own religion because she loves her nephew more than she blindly accepts the church’s anti-gay point of view.

‘Please Like Me’ has the feel good formula measured to a tee. As quirky and insane as these friends and family are – there’s no denying, as proven by Peg, they all love each other.

Thomas Ward as Tom, Josh’s housemate and best friend, is wonderful because he too, like Josh, is clunky, not as a performer, but as a person. It is this clunky, slightly awkward but genuinely good natured type of friend, a person like Josh would have.  

Caitlen Stacey underplays her best friend/ex to perfection and Wade Briggs makes you believe Geoff, Josh’s desperate to be loved, twink boyfriend. If I have one criticism of the show it’s that Geoff seemed just a little too forward in picking up Josh – but for the sake of moving things along it’s a very small complaint.

Deborah Lawrence and David Roberts have been getting praise all over town for their portrayal of Josh’s parents and rightly so – but for me, it is Judy Farr who is the pick of the crop. She’s annoying, meddlesome and self righteous with little reason to be – and she makes my blood boil in almost every scene she’s in. 

That’s a quality performance. When she stood up in church and took on religion and the right wing in defense of her nephew's life, a life she doesn’t personally condone, it was yet another twist in the story that plays as both believable and unexpected.

If you can watch this without being distracted by the gay content, or by seeing a gay actor allowed to be his natural, awkward self, without any hint of the usual screamingly clichéd gay that makes most onscreen incarnations more acceptable to the mainstream, then enjoy it as a quality piece of television.

If you can’t get past the gay elements, then you’re missing out on a rich, nuanced show that is far bigger than  any one issue.

Whatever the case, with ‘Please Like Me’- Josh has stuck his baby’s head above the tall grass and announced, to anyone who is paying attention, that’s he’s going to be around for a long time.

Out of ten – this is an understated eight.

Scott Norton Taylor - Inner City - Ebook for Kindle, Epub Sony, Palm or online!

Reviews: From Amazon

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome read May 27, 2013

By Anna Brouillard

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book was so intriguing I hardly put it down. Wonderfully written it does not linger on any 

one event nor does it speed through scenes making it a poor read. The characters were well 

thought out and the inner turmoils they all face are far from dull.

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular April 5, 2013

By Jack

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book was simply amazing it had action romance and just enough drama to make me happy 

one of the best books I have ever read

From Barnes and Noble - Nook Books:

Posted December 1, 2012

 Great read.

A story filled with with love, hate, violence, peace and so much more. 538 pages of wondering what will happen 

next. A FULL story from start to finish. Thanks to the author for sharing a great work with the readers.

Posted July 8, 2012

 Couldn't put it down...

For this to have been a free book, it was wonderful. The author keeps you on the edge of your seat. I couldn't 

put this down. I think this would make a great movie!

Posted April 20, 2012

 Amazing

Perfectly written with great detail it was thought provoking and asked the fundemental question of would you 

stick up for what you believed was right even if you would be killed for doing so.

Posted April 5, 2012

 This book is AWESOME! it keeps you wanting to read the entire ti

This book is AWESOME! it keeps you wanting to read the entire time. It tells of 2 worlds, and both are 

extremely unique. One of the best books I've ever read!

READ IT YOURSELF - INNER CITY

Go on - and on an on. Review update

I'm now at episode six and while I'm still enjoying this new Mathew Perry sitcom - I'm starting to suspect it should have been a movie and not a series. The ending of the movie would have come at the end of the episode with the fountain in the back yard.

After that you get a very strong sense, that the unusual and extraordinary aspect of the series, that it's  about characters in hiatus trying to solve problems before moving on with their lives, may be the very reason why it suddenly and so quickly feels stale.

We're back in therapy and opening out the characters in therapy, exploring and introducing new aspects of their lives, and I can't help feeling disappointed. Not because these characters aren't interesting, but the direction breaks the promise set up at the beginning of the series. A promise that seemed hollow to me and yet worked so well through the first few episodes - that was the very reason I was excited by this show. How would the writers and producers deliver on the promise of entertaining, surprising and generating laughs out of nothing and keep me interested?

By episode 6 the episode focus is on Ryan's grief eating and the feel good warmth of the group feels empty because the subject is banal and trivial. This is a subplot at best. Ryan's wife died and he's eating too much - shoot me for being insensitive but eating doughnuts for a while, looking as FAT as Mathew Perry, just doesn't resonate as something to be overly concerned about, especially when it suddenly appears without ever being set up in earlier episodes. So he binged for a week - Meh!

Will Go On will go on? It would do well to look at Breaking Bad and take notes. Breaking Bad hit the end of its driving journey a number of times and rather than continuing to bash away and find new wrinkles in the same folds, it backed the truck out and took a new direction.And it did this brilliantly and believably.

First was the drugs for cancer plot - then Walter White and Jesse as pawns in the pocket of the big drug cartel - then they were forced to outplay the cartel and introduce the growing Heisenberg myth as the new druglord - the Kysa Suze of the City. Finally they left us with Walter's retirement, then the carrot to sell into an overseas market with what seemed like the perfect solution that is ruined when the DEA brother in law finds the clue to WW's identity. That's 4 separate concepts in 5 seasons. People will berate them for simply changing decks when things slowed, but to me it's been great prime time storytelling.

Go On needs to find a direction. The characters are great, the therapy group as an odd ensemble of characters are great - but we need a story that keeps us feeling, laughing and wanting more from them all. I'd be going for the sports DJ element. Great and unexpected success due to grief and while dealing with a crumbling personal life is interesting to everyone - and success being enjoyed at great personal expense seems to be tolerated far better than straight out success.

So go on Go On! Give us a kink, a twist, an unexpected turn. You know you want to!

The New Normal - Review

The New Normal, created by Ryan Murphy and Ali Adler, is a new sitcom about a gay couple using a surrogate to have a child. 

The couple, consisting of the stereotypically gay Bryan, played by Andrew Rannells and the less stereotypical David, Justin Bartha, are both young professionals with hedonistic lifestyles and lots of disposable income. As much fun as life is, they quickly come to feel something is missing from their family - a child.

They meet down on her luck Goldie, Georgia King, who has been mistreated, left with a young child to raise and running from her racist, sexist and just plain rude mother Jane, Ellen Barkin. Jane hunts her daughter down and discovers her plans to cash in by being the boys surrogate. Needless to say she's not on board with the rent-a-womb idea.

This is not Will and Grace. Mainstream has come a long way since then and are almost accepting of the idea that gay men and women have lives just like them. Not all, but enough to allow Bryan and Andrew to be understood as any family next door by the straight majority. 

That's not to say the gay card isn't played for laughs, but the boys and their chosen 'mum' are the ones portrayed sympathetically, with humour and heart. They're the ones we relate to as they negotiate the usual trials of being a family as well as their own unique hassles with the bigoted, conservative few who still believe their views and standards need to be pushed on others. 

The lead in this pack is Jane who steals the show with a trend in comedy that is becoming well known. Gervaise, Tosh and many others now cross the politically incorrect line often. They either use a character to deny responsibility for it or, in Tosh's case, point out the funny racial/sexist/other-ist comment would be totally unacceptable - but in doing so they still get to make it.

This is the case with Jane and it's no less funny than when we first cringed at this humour four decades ago with All In The Family and Archie Bunker.

This show has heart and very good intentions. They've tried very hard to justify and ease the moral niggle that many will feel about a surrogate being used to 'supply' a child. The question about whether it is fair or right to ask a woman to create a child and then hand it over is a difficult one, but the fact it is a donor egg and not Goldie's removes many legal and moral issues. This doesn't mean it won't be fascinating to see if the writers tackle this mine field when the time comes.

In my circle of gay friends I know of two families with kids now under 3 who have settled for the mother, one a biological mother, one a more complicated surrogate to her girlfriend's egg and one of the male couple's sperm, who have bought houses and created their own urban village within their four walls.

So the scope for this show is endless. If the humour, heart and gentle navigation of life that is painted in the first few episodes continues this could easily work itself into most people's favourites column. 

As a sitcom it may be more of a warm hot chocolate on a cold night than a big night out - but sometimes that's just what you feel like.

Out of five sequins - this gets a sparkly three and half.  

Go On - The best new sitcom in ages!

Go on is the story of a high profile sports journalist with his own radio show who is trying to get over the sudden death of his wife.

He's forced into therapy with a loss group who gather to share their pain and work through their grief.

Who was the executive who saw through that pitch and let this one get to second base, let alone all the way home? Whoever you are - we thank you.

The thing I like most about GO ON is that I don't know what to expect. There's a thing called inevitable forseeablility that most shows, especially comedies, trade on. It's where the audience can see where a story is headed, or an outcome that is promised by a setup and they watch with delight for what they expected to be paid off. If it's not paid off it needs to be topped or an audience will actually turn away and feel let down.

Go On has no inevitable forseeability because it has placed brackets around a moment in a man's life and told us - "We're staying here until this problem gets fixed and we don't know how long that's going to be."

This is unusual and fresh - especially for a sitcom. What's the arc in these characters lives that we settle down to enjoy - who knows? Until they successfully complete therapy they have no life. Life is being run as a subplot and is on autopilot until this priority issue is solved. These characters have grief to work through and if they can they'll resume a life we're not really focussing on at the moment. Wow! Talk about leaving yourself room to move.

But here's what I find most interesting. Go On works because of the writing and the characters. It is a similar in set up to Seinfield except, instead of the central characters being hardened by life and oblivious to the double standards they're leading, these people are broken by life and seem to be on a journey to relearn what it means to feel hope, joy and contentment with what they have. It's a feel good sitcom. It's Modern Family without the cynical dig at the modern middle class.

Go On bucks the trend of the harsh misanthrope who has their friends and their life but won't open themselves to life any further - Larry David, Ron Swanson and many others. Ryan King could so easily be another, instead he's full of life, charm, heart and hope as he tries to overcome the loss of the one person he loved in his life - his wife.

This is a bold concept that plays out in clear and simple lines. I have to mention Mathew Perry who is wonderful and amplifies what we all already knew - that he is a great comedic actor. He played a young lawyer in The West Wing in the later seasons and while he was good, there was always a cheeky intelligence about him. He has something in him that makes you search every line he delivers to make sure his very dry humour and delivery hasn't woven in an unnoticed zinger.

In Go On he made me laugh out loud more than once. This was the first time in a long time a show had done this and each time it came from a Ryan King/Mathew Perry reaction. That's not to say the writing isn't funny in itself - it is, but the subtleties of Go On delivered by an odd assortment of broken characters is what will give this multiple seasons.

If you like great characters and you like shows that just make you feel good, then join the Go On fan base. I suspect it's going to be a big one.

Out of 5 - Go On gets a solid 4.5 and joins my 'not to be missed list.