‘Please Like Me’ (Photo: ABC)
Josh Thomas is cashing in on the success of Please Like Me as the creator, writer and star of a 10-part comedy commissioned by Disney’s young-adult US cable network Freeform.
Entitled Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, the half-hour show will follow Thomas as Nicholas, a neurotic 25-year-old Aussie who still lives at home with his single dad and two teenage half-sisters, one of whom has autism. When their dad becomes terminally ill, he realises the responsibility of keeping the family together falls on him.
There is no Australian deal yet for the series which co-stars Kayla Cromer, Maeve Press and Adam Faison, produced by US-based Avalon Television. Thomas will serve as the showrunner. Kevin Whyte, who produced Please Like Me with Pigeon Fancier and John & Josh International, is among the executive producers.
Freeform ordered a pilot in May. Network president Tom Ascheim said: “Both on and off screen, Josh is a master of creativity and bringing unique stories about underrepresented topics to television. At Freeform, we are committed to elevating narratives that resonate with today’s youth culture and this series is the perfect vehicle for that.”.
Thomas said: “The absolute bestest thing about having a brand new TV show is getting to create new characters. I love the characters in this show and I love how our cast depicts them—they are funny and kind and fascinating. I feel very grateful to Freeform for giving me the opportunity to introduce them to you.”
Thomas decided to bring down the curtain on Please Like Me after four seasons on the ABC. The now-defunct US cable channel Pivot came on board for the following series.
The fourth season screened on Amazon Prime in the UK and Ireland, on Hulu in the US and on Netflix in other territories.