Review of I Kissed a Girl – funny gay comic show that shouldn’t be canceled | Television

Men March, it was announced that the second series of the friendship show I Kissed a Girl would be the last. The brothers’ film I Kissed a Boy has also been axed, with the BBC citing “difficult decisions due to our funding challenges”. This would have been unnecessary if the two shows had not been so inspiring – the first UK shows to feature same-sex acts.

In addition to the unprecedented, these shows have become tools for important discussions that do not happen anywhere else on our screen, which is inside the national radio. Plus, they’re ridiculously fun. Watching the second series of I Kissed a Girl knowing that this is the last one is exciting, but very painful.

Dannii Minogue lives in Love Island’s Maya Jama’s lane, occasionally throwing in some interesting twists, while TikToker Charley Marlowe plays the main role of the contestants. Just a few minutes later, Marlowe has the name of travel queen Jane McDonald and the LGBTQ+ music festival Mighty Hoopla. Always queer cultural references can feel a little cynical and rather middle of the road, but where else can you make these references if not on the UK’s first gay dating show? Sure, Lady Gaga’s needle drop isn’t for everyone, but I Kissed a Girl Bigger isn’t for everyone – that’s her USP.

Mothers are amazing – and I’m not just saying this because I’ve been watching various versions of toxic masculinity being played out on ITV2 this summer. Faye – a self-proclaimed “messy”, “feral” femme – is a big softie who wants “someone who’s obsessed with me”. Renee is bold and loud, but there’s a gooey spot in there, too. And who could fail to be charmed by Ebony, the geordie chauffeur with a twinkle in her eye who can slip your Vinted package into your bin and still smile?

That’s not to say we’re in too much danger here – there are plenty of red flags, and one contestant in particular whose childish behavior feels right is the boys from the Love Island villa. One problem is the idea that gay women can “U-Haul”, moving together at the policy level. But overall, things feel better here than in other dating shows. I appreciate the separate beds, too – not that everyone stays alone for long.

As mentioned above, it is the best place for important discussions for the 10 contestants in the Italian masseria where they live (contractual actions, it seems, prevent anyone from speaking the word “villa”) and for the audience at home. Elisha, a gay woman, talks about how exhausting it has been to prove that they are gay, while women often wonder if their relationship is just platonic – governed by their common sense of honor – or if they can be lovers, too. Elsewhere, Renee talks about how being a man means that she sometimes feels like she’s not treated like an emotional woman. Spoiler warnings prevent me from going into detail, but one of the participants talks candidly about a time when she has been single and is desperate to find a like-minded partner in a relationship. All in all, this leads to a conversation that is important to these women, plus, it’s very important for young women – especially, but not young people – to watch at home.

I Kissed a Girl is also very entertaining. Three episodes were released to review the fizz and joy of young love and passion (the women are between the ages of 21 and 25 this time) and the music of Sapphic pop stars, among them House of Japan and Nimmo, who does not feel like Gaga. It’s a four-star series but – and I’m breaking the fourth wall here – it seems important enough to be five-star, and more important to the world’s younger viewers than the BBC may know. The student has had 20 series, Dragons’ Den has 23 – and the UK’s first gay dating franchise has managed four.