'Please Like Me'
The creator and star of the ABC’s Please Like Me, Josh Thomas, has announced that the show’s most recent season was also its last.
In a statement posted to social media, Thomas said he and the producers had come to the decision because they felt satisfied with what they'd made, and that the show felt complete.
"I want to thank everyone who has watched the show and sent me a friendly note," said Thomas. "This show is so intensely personal, it recreates the most intimate moments of my life and lays them out for anyone to watch. Seeing how people have connected with this show has been tremendously confidence building for me and I’m really grateful for that. Thank you."
"I want to thank our cast and crew because… well because they make the show. I’m so fond of pretty much everyone who has worked on this show. It only takes one douchebag on set to ruin the day and we don’t have any. (Okay, we have one.) I especially want to thank Todd Abbott, producer. We built this show from the ground up together and he’s always just been a real good bloke.”
Please Like Me debuted on the ABC in 2013, with the first season going on to win the AACTA Award for Best Comedy and earn nominations for Best Comedy at the International Emmy Awards, Europe’s Rose d’Or Awards, America’s GLAAD Media Awards and Australia’s Logie Awards.
US cable channel Pivot subsequently came on board to ensure production of the show’s next three seasons.
The fourth season premiered on the ABC last November, after which it was fast-tracked to the UK and Ireland on Amazon Prime and premiered in the USA on Hulu in January. It is soon set to launch in other territories on Netflix.
Producers confirmed that the reaction to season four convinced them to "go out on a high".
“So many viewers have let us know that this recent season had a profound effect on them that we really don’t want to spoil that by going back to the well one too many times,” said Abbott.
“Across four seasons, Please Like Me has chronicled Josh’s entire twenties, but that period in his life has come to a conclusion. We’re storytellers, and we’re really happy that this particular story has been told.
“We’re proud to have made a show that connected so personally with so many people and told some stories that aren’t always told on television, and we’re grateful to the networks who took a chance on us, to the incomparable cast and crew, and mostly to the amazing fans who embraced Please Like Me.”
ABC head of comedy Rick Kalowski said it was with a “sad heart” that the ABC farewells Please Like Me, one of the broadcaster's “very finest and most acclaimed series ever”.
“Our thanks to Josh for his vision, to his creative partners Tom Ward, Liz Doran, Matt Saville and inimitable producers Kevin Whyte, Todd Abbott and Lisa Wang, to all the cast, to my ABC predecessor Debbie Lee who commissioned the show, to my ABC colleague Brett Sleigh, to all our former partners at Participant Media, especially Evan Shapiro, Holly Hines, Stephanie Swedlove, Chris Loveall, Belisa Balaban and Kelsey Balance… and above all to the fans, who kept this show alive through four magnificent seasons. Whatever is next for Josh in television, ABC will want to be there."