请喜欢我第一季

The reluctant activist stands up for himself

Giles Hardie
Apr 13, 2013

Josh Thomas has become an accidental icon for the gay community.



Josh Thomas is back doing stand-up. It's a relaxing change for the comedian, as he has finally stepped off the promotional circuit for Please Like Me, his first foray into writing and acting for television, and a show that has helped him become an accidental icon for the gay community.

On Monday he will appear in the Sydney Comedy Festival gala after a month-long run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
"If I do the whole month [of comedy] then no one can take me to a different city," he says with relief.

"I get a whole month at home and I can just hang out with my dog and my chickens."


But it wasn't quite a perfect escape. On April Fool's Day he was flown to Sydney to appear on the ABC's Q&A on a panel that otherwise sounds like the perfect set-up for a joke: an archbishop, an imam, a Buddhist nun and a Jewish atheist. He soon found himself the presumed spokesman for homosexuality and atheism on topics ranging from gay marriage to creationism.

"It was such a divisive show, where you've got religious leaders that dedicate their life to the conversation we had, but to me it's a hobby," Thomas said.

He was also the default target for the religious leaders' comments on homosexuality.

"They were offensive," he said. "Like: gays are sinners. An imam compared gays to alcoholics. [The archbishop said] I was a warp in God's plan.

"It was just a bamboozling hour really, because I'm an atheist. So my response to everything everybody says is 'oh that's nonsense, that has no basis in reality'."

Thomas had agreed to appear on the show as an artist, hoping to provide an "everyman" opinion, but found himself berated on social media for not going on the attack.

"A lot of atheists were like, 'You represented us badly.' And I was like, 'Oh no, I don't represent atheists. I didn't represent you in the way I didn't represent people who don't do ballet. We're not a team.'"
It's not the only community now embracing Thomas. Though not quite biographical, Please Like Me, the show he wrote and starred in on ABC2, featured a central character, Josh, who came out at the start of the first episode.

"Since that show happened, gays have sort of realised that I'm gay," Thomas said.

"I don't get invited to do things during Mardi Gras or to talk at rallies. They always get Ruby Rose. They don't realise I'm a homo. Which is good. I often think with gayness, it's enough I have to deal with homophobia - do I really have to spend my weekends going on about it?"

His position is possibly best expressed through his approach to the development of the show.

"We had these meetings with the ABC where they'd talk about how we're dealing with homosexuality. I was like, 'That's just my life. I haven't thought about how my life plays out as a political statement.'"

The show had no gay themes to begin with, for one very simple reason. "Well, we started writing it when I was straight," Thomas said.

Once Thomas came out, so did his character Josh, and it was the ABC that pushed for the script to deal with the issue. "It became one of the over-arching themes, which I didn't really want, to be honest …

''I had such a dull coming out experience. I didn't know how interesting it was to straight people."

While the show didn't set ratings records, ranking 215th in its first week, it was critically well received. Thomas was happy with the numbers. "It tripled the ABC2 time slot," he said. "It's really popular overseas. My Tumblrs and my Twitter now has a lot of Spanish."
Having pitched a second series, Thomas is relying on DVD sales "so we can give the ABC some money back - and then hopefully they will make it again."


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/comedy/the-reluctant-activist-stands-up-for-himself-20130420-2i6u1.html#ixzz2RBqGCmIH

作为一部同性恋题材的片子，它少了对社会的反思，多的是人与人之间情感的交流。亲情友情爱情，虽然个性不同，但是在相遇的过程中，每个人都因为他人有了些许变化。
这剧的风格一个字概括：萌。从画面的质感，情节的设置，再到演员的表现，无不给人一种可爱的感觉。它的故事很亲切，叙事很真诚，你感受的到这个剧集在张开怀抱接纳你，希望你能喜欢。主人公会把自己的感受用一种自然的方式表达出来，既说给当事人，又说给观众听，带观众去经历——从交友到向家里人坦白到犹豫到覆水难收，主人公的心情是可知可感的，而生活的旅途是不可预测的。而在面对困难的时候，主人公自己就不那么萌了，他总是很纠结的样子。相反是给他出主意的人有各种有趣的建议，他也会给别人一些有趣的建议。于是在大部分时间里，大家就是这么有趣来有趣去。所以就是一副萌的状态。
可别被萌的表象迷惑咯。结尾略虐，不过也算情理之中吧。
第二季也看了，少了萌萌哒，多了对生活困苦的反思，所以并没有第一季来的讨喜。蛮多情节都是为了把第一季的故事圆完整，倒也没有必要。还是喜欢第一季。

Is Josh Thomas's show too gay for ABC1?

Colin Vickery & Darren Devlyn From: National Features February 27, 2013 8:18AM

IS Please Like Me too gay? That is what Josh Thomas is asking as he prepares for the debut of his new TV comedy.



Please Like Me was originally set to screen on ABC1 last year but has been shunted into digital channel ABC2.

Thomas plays twentysomething Josh who lives with best mate Thomas (Thomas Ward) and, at first, is in a steady relationship with girlfriend Claire (Caitlin Stasey).

Claire splits with Josh, telling him that he is obviously gay. His despair is short-lived when young hunk Geoffrey (Wade Briggs) enters the scene.

Geoffrey wants to get physical with Josh. Cue lots of man-on-man kissing, bed scenes, and jokes about sex.

Later, Josh is forced to move back into the family home after his divorced mum Rose (Debra Lawrence) overdoses.

Please Like Me has a sweetness that sets it apart from other boundary-pushing comedies such as Chris Lilley's Angry Boys and Summer Heights High which happily found a home on ABC1.

The ABC insists the gay content isn't the reason Please Like Me was shunted to ABC2, where it is sure to attract a smaller audience.

"The tone of Please Like Me and the issues discussed are principally aimed at an audience in their early 20s," an ABC spokesperson says.

"Since ABC1 is largely a channel of mass appeal that tends to attract an audience with an average age the other side of 35, we decided the best home for Please Like Me was ABC2."

Thomas isn't convinced.

"They told me it (the switch to ABC2) was a compliment. I don't believe them," Thomas says. "I don't know if what they were really saying was, 'Josh the show is a bit s---' or, 'Josh the show has too much suicide and gay sex in it'.

"People have suggested to me that (too gay) is why they did it (put it on ABC2). I would be shocked if that's why but I also wouldn't be."

If Thomas is right, this wouldn't be the first time networks have become squeamish about gay content.

In 2009, Aussie Melissa George played bisexual intern Dr Sadie Harris on Grey's Anatomy.

There was speculation her character would have a full-blown screen romance with Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez). The show's creator, Shonda Rhimes, changed tack after George started filming. George initially signed for between eight and 11 episodes, but finished early.

Her exit followed that of Brooke Smith, who played lesbian Dr Erica Hahn in the medical drama. Smith was dropped after her character consummated her relationship with Callie.

Gay lobby group, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, expressed its concern about the short-lived nature of the Callie-Erica storyline, which initially had been hailed as a breakthrough for mainstream American television.

That same year, Channel 7 censored a lesbian kiss between policewoman Charlie Buckton (Esther Anderson) and deckhand Joey Collins (Katie Bell) in Home and Away.

Seven's decision came after complaints about the lesbian storyline from conservative lobby groups.

"The plot lines that young kids and teenagers should be presented with should be about really authentic relationships that are not just sexualised," Pro-Family Perspectives director Angela Conway said.

Anderson had said she had no problem with the scene.

"I don't think it's like I'm lifting the lid on something they don't already know about," Anderson said. "To me, there's no difference love's love."

US producers have used the controversy surrounding lesbian kissing scenes to boost ratings in TV shows. First there was Amanda Donohoe and Michele Green in LA Law, then Jennifer Aniston's Rachel kissing Winona Ryder's Melissa on Friends and Mischa Barton going girl-on-girl in The O.C.

In the late '70s, Billy Crystal played gay son Jodie Dallas on Soap, but he later admitted to early misgivings about taking the role.

In 1997, comedian Ellen DeGeneres went public with her homosexuality on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

There was an early backlash but DeGeneres is now one of the most successful and admired women on American television.

Number 96's gay lawyer Don Finlayson (Joe Hasham) was a groundbreaking character on Australian TV. Water Rats featured another notable gay character, Sgt Helen Blakemore (Toni Scanlan).

Neighbours introduced gay character Chris Pappas (James Mason) in 2011. To its credit, the Ten soapie didn't use Chris's sexuality to shock.

This was no cynical ratings grab. Instead, the soapie dug deeper to show that Chris's sexuality was only one aspect of his personality.

"The good thing about Chris is that he is an ordinary person who is a mechanic and happens to be gay," Mason has said.


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/tv-radio/is-joshs-show-too-gay-for-abc1/story-e6frf9ho-1226586521979