BIFF: Terror Nullius (2018)
Terror Nullius satirises white Australia, but good satire is more than plastering messages on a screen for an audience of converts.
How ‘Please Like Me’ Embraced The Sadness Of The Sitcom And Became The Best Show On TV
Over at Junkee, I explained how Please Like Me has established itself as the best television show of 2015 by exploiting the inherent sadness of sitcom stasis. Read the piece here.
Please Like Me – “Horrible Sandwiches” (Season 1, Episode 6)
Aunty Peg’s death was a surprising development at the end of last week’s episode of Please Like Me, but it served as a springboard for the strongest episode of the show yet (and, sadly, the finale of this short season). “Horrible Sandwiches” largely eschewed comedy to focus on the characters’ reactions to Peg’s death at…
Please Like Me – “Spanish Eggs” (Season 1, Episode 5)
The first two episodes of Please Like Me underwhelmed me – the characters were too likeable. Significantly, there was too little conflict. How things have changed. “Spanish Eggs” is wall-to-wall conflict. There were enough quarrelsome conversations in the half-hour that it might have well been an episode of Justified. Tom’s pregnancy scare turns out to…
Please Like Me – “All You Can Eat” (Season 1, Episode 4)
Tonight’s episode of Please Like Me was the best so far. The earlier exposition issues have evaporated to leave a solid core of characters, each getting some good moments tonight. Any scene involving Josh was great. The endearing enthusiasm that characterises his live shows came across in the episode tonight; he had been a little…
Please Like Me – “Portugese Custard Tarts” (Season 1, Episode 3)
The premiere of Please Like Me had funny bits, awkward bits, but the rarely the two at once, and suffered from a lack of conflict. “Portugese Custard Tarts” makes an improvement on pretty much all of these issues, with a throughline of Josh’s ambivalence of whether to come out serving as a conflict of sorts…
Please Like Me (Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2)
I do like you, Josh Thomas. I like your endearingly awkward enthusiasm, your bitterly clever, sincere stand-up. I really did want to like your new show. But, I’m sorry Josh, I really didn’t like it all that much. Oh, it was funny in parts. I definitely laughed a few times over the first two episodes.…
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