Anyone But Me
Anyone But Me is a web original work that ran for three seasons from 2008 to 2011. It was co-created by playwrights Tina Cesa Ward and Susan Miller from Ward's original work.
Vivian McMillan is a 16-year-old lesbian from New York City. Unfortunately, her dad was a firefighter who got a respiratory infection due to 9/11, which means both of them have to move out into the suburbs with her maternal aunt, away from Vivian's girlfriend Aster. The move also drives Vivian back into the closet, with only new friend Archibald, a young African-American artist interested in comic books, aware that she is gay, and that only because he guessed. This causes tension with both Aster and Vivian's childhood friend Sophie, who doesn't like it that Viv's been hiding things from her...
- Author Avatar: In-universe, with Vivian and Archibald's comic strip featuring a Lesbian Reporter Chick and a black dude with super-drawing skills who seek out others' secrets.
- Bad Bad Acting: Vivian and Sophie as stand-ins for Elizabeth's dress rehearsal
- Black and Nerdy: Archibald, to a certain extent
- Butch Lesbian: There's one as a minor character.
- Cast Full of Gay: Vivian, Aster, the butch minor character, and Doctor Glass. Sophie may be bi, as well (her actress definitely seems to hope she is).
- Crowning Moment of Funny: The entirety of the video where actresses Rachael Hip-Flores (Vivian) and Jessy Hodges (Sophie) try to find out spoilers about what's going to happen in Season 2 by asking questions of a spy sitting on the other side of the door to Susan Miller's apartment. Special notice must be paid to when Hip-Flores says things might have to "go down" if a proposed Sophie/Aster relationship happens, and the reveal of who the spy actually is: Susan Miller's dog
- Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: The last episode of the first season, when Elizabeth kisses Archibald and when Vivian outs herself to Sophie by kissing Aster. Also the wedding fantasy from the first episode of the second season
- Deadpan Snarker: Everyone to some extent, but the king is probably Aster's therapist, Doctor Glass.
- Gayngst: Vivian, less that she's gay, and more that she has closeted herself. Lampshaded by actress Rachael Hip-Flores in the video where she and Jessy Hodges try to get spoilers about season 2, when she asks whether Viv gets to be happy this season, and is ecstatic when the answer is yes.
- Good People Have Good Sex: Aster and Vivian have a lot of it
- Incompatible Orientation: This exists between Jonathon's friend and Vivian. Learning that she's a lesbian only seems to spur him on.
- also between Viv and Sophie....or maybe not
- Lipstick Lesbian: Aster definitely, and Vivian possibly depending on your perspective
- Missing Mom: Vivian has one, which comes to a head in the series finale
- The Un-Reveal: we only get to hear the first paragraph of the letter from Vivian's mom
- UST: Vivian had a bit of a crush on Sophie when the two were younger, and it may be coming back with a vengeance especially after their kiss during the dress rehearsal
- There also appears to be some between Vivian's dad and Aunt Jodie, but it's never made explicit.
- The War on Terror: Terror Level Blue: the reason why Viv and her dad need to move away from NYC is because of a respiratory infection he got from working as a firefighter on 9/11, but aside from that it's not really brought up
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Archibald disappears after Season 2