'The L Word' Goes to High School in 'Anyone But Me'

For those who have never seen The L Word (count me among them), Strike.TV’s Anyone But Me appears to replicate that same gestalt, though with the high school lesbian set rather than yuppies. (What better way to potentially tap into the txt msg ad mkt?)

Like the characters in its hotter, older predecessor, Vivian and Aster are lipstick lesbians. They’re also teenagers and deeply in love. And at the level of sophistication with which they carry themselves (these kids today…), you’re not inclined to cast aside their amorous inclinations as “experimentation” despite their young age.

Strike.TV is selling the series on writer/executive producer Susan Miller’s creds, which include Thirtysomething (as story editor) and The L Word (as a consulting producer/writer for the first season). She and co-writer/exec. producer Tina Cesa Ward have certainly tapped into the pulse of young, soft-core, lesbian seduction (with a little post-9/11 earnestness mixed in) that makes Anyone But Me undeniably appealing.

Vivian’s dad is a 9/11 firefighter victim with a respiratory sickness, so he and his 16-year-old daughter move to Westchester to live with his sister-in-law (technically ex

-sister-in-law) where he can breath (both literally and figuratively) easier. This means that Vivian (the sultry-voiced Rachael Hip-Flores) will be separated from her true love Aster (young seductress Nicole Pacent) by a good 30 to 40 miles.

As Aster’s threat to jump on the commuter train to visit Vivian on her first day of school is nixed, Vivian is escorted to her first class at a fancy private school by a studly fellow student who’s a fledgling comic artist. While the sparks may not yet be flying there, they sure might be with Vivian’s new neighbor, who’s dating the quarterback. Alas, a text tells us the former-NYC lovers will reunite at week’s end, so the plot thickening will have to wait.

This is the kind of short form web content you may well wish to screen in full were a seasonal box-set ever to be released. In the meantime check it out at Strike.TV.