''Anyone But Me'' is an American web series created by Tina Cesa Ward. The series first aired on

Strike.TV Strike.TV was created during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, 2007-08 Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike as consortium of more than 40 internet television, online shows by Hollywood guild members, and later uploaded to YouTube. ...

in 2008,The Cubicle Queue: Escape on Hulu, Learn to Cook a Turkey, and More
, ''

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'', November 25, 2009. and has since been offered on its own website and on other online streaming platforms such as

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, Binge Networks, and

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. The series focuses on

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themes and is presented in serial short-format webisodes, each lasting between six and fifteen minutes, following the lives of a group of teenagers in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

Background

The series was developed by Tina Cesa Ward and playwright Susan Miller from Ward's original work.

Plot overview

The series centers around the experiences of Vivian McMillan ( Rachael Hip-Flores), a sixteen-year-old

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

whose father's illness prompts the two of them to move from

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

to the home of Vivian's maternal aunt in Westchester, about 30 minutes away. Vivian attempts to maintain her relationship with her girlfriend Aster Gaston ( Nicole Pacent) while enrolling in a new school, negotiating old childhood connections, and establishing a new social circle in what she perceives to be a substantially different environment from her previous home in the city.

Cast and characters

* Rachael Hip-Flores as Vivian McMillan * Nicole Pacent as Aster Gaston * Johnny Yoder as Breck (Manhattan School Friend) * Barbara Pitts as Jodie Nevan * Dan Via as Gabe McMillan *

Jessy Hodges Jessy Hodges (born August 8, 1986) is an American actress. She played Sophie Parker in the web series ''Anyone But Me''. She is the daughter of '' The Evil Dead'' star Ellen Sandweiss. Biography Hodges lives in Los Angeles and is originally from ...

as Sophie Parker * Joshua Holland as Archibald Bishop * Alexis Slade as Elisabeth Matthews * Mitchell S. Adams as Jonathan Kerwin * Garett Ross as Sterns * Amy Jackson Lewis as Jamie * Liza Weil as Dr. Glass * Russell Jordan as Principal Dennis * Helene Taylor as Mrs. Winters (Homeroom) * Marissa Skell as Carey (Architect Student)

Themes

The closet

As the series begins, Vivian has been living as an openly gay high-school student whose romance with Aster appears well known to those around her. When she arrives at her new suburban home and school, she declines to reveal her sexuality or relationship to her aunt, to a local schoolmate she has known since childhood, or to most of her peers. In public, she also frequently minimizes Aster's role in her life to avoid exposure of the sexual nature of their relationship. This sets up a number of conflicts as well as a dialogue in episode 8 of season 1 on whether or not gay pride is an essential element of an intimate gay relationship.

Changing social attitudes in suburban America

Vivian's anxiety about publicizing her sexuality in Westchester is driven by her belief that her family and friends living there would not be as tolerant or accepting as she found them to be in Manhattan. The one person who quickly discovers Vivian's secret is Archibald (Joshua Holland), an African-American student at her school. In episode 3 of season 1, Vivian and Archibald discuss their common feeling that a largely white, traditional community would never fully embrace them because of their minority status. This perception is challenged by other characters, including Vivian's childhood friend Sophie (

), who upon learning the truth is less upset that Vivian is gay and more offended that Vivian assumed she would be intolerant.

Lingering effects of 9/11

The show's creators bill the story as a search "for love and belonging in the post-9/11 age". Vivian's father Gabe (Dan Via) is a former New York City firefighter who suffers from respiratory problems appearing to arise from his work at Ground Zero, prompting his move with his daughter out of the city center. In episode 3 of season 1, Vivian's father describes the move away from New York City as intended to allow Vivian to experience her adolescence without having to constantly deal with the consequences the attacks have had on their lives.

Reception

Interest in the series has been heaviest amongst LGBT media, with generally positive reviews from outlets such as ''

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'' and '' GO'' magazines. The mainstream audience ''

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's'' Gillian Reagan described ''Anyone But Me'' as a show that "succeeds in showing us the potential of the eb-originalmedium." In 2014 Anyone But Me was listed on ''

New Media Rockstars ''NewMediaRockstars'' (''NMR'') is an online magazine which was launched in December 2011 and primarily covers YouTube performers, entrepreneurs, and artists with videos and interviews. In 2013, ''NewMediaRockstars'' closed because of lack of fund ...

'' Top 100 YouTube Channels, ranked at #33.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1385817
Official Show Site

Anyone But Me on Blip

Strike.tv show site
2008 web series debuts 2000s American LGBT-related drama television series American drama web series Internet soap operas Lesbian-related television shows American LGBT-related web series