This is a phrase we hear so much that it’s lost some of it’s meaning, but believe me when I say that Pivot’s Please Like Me is the best show you aren’t watching. Starring the hilarious Josh Thomas, the show is a funny, bittersweet, and oftentimes sad coming-of-age story of Josh and his friends as well as the ongoings of his parents–his mother Rose in particular.
It was my personal number one television show of 2014, with season two bringing more laughs and more joy, as well as more quiet introspection. The episode “Scroggin” is a particular highlight and goes down as one of the finest installments of television of 2014, focusing entirely on Josh and Rose (the excellent Debra Lawrance) as they deal with a friend’s suicide. It’s honest, it’s shot beautifully, and it allows for some powerful and dynamic performances by Thomas and Lawrance. It is everything that’s great about the show wrapped up in one episode.
The show’s humor is direct and awkward, with an acute knowledge of how friends interact, especially in their mid twenties, with dialogue refreshingly unaffected. While it never feels too improv heavy, it also doesn’t have the overtly written feel that so many coming of age films and series do where it sounds more like a screenwriter talking than a person.
Please Like Me is a delightful little show with music and dancing, tears and laughter, and a group of friends I’d like to call my own. It also may possibly be my most anticipated series of the fall. Check out the trailer for season three below; the series returns for ten new episodes October 16th, 2015 on Pivot.
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