The Last Man On Earth (Forte/Lord/Miller)

Did anybody watch this premiere of this last night? It’s Will Forte’s new project, also being produced / directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller of Lego Movie / Jump Street / Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs fame. It stars Will Forte as the likely the last man alive after an unspecified virus kills everybody. Also with Kristin Schaal as (spoilers) the last woman alive. They kind of hate each other, and hilarity ensues.

The 2-episode premiere was pretty weird stuff. Meditations on suicide, what it means to be human, and also a lot of pooping and masturbation jokes.

I guess that Lord and Miller’s previous success guarantees them one season (the Cop Rock principle), but I don’t know that I see wide appeal for this. I love Forte, and it’s a great showcase for his talent, but the tonal whiplash and reliance on just 2 characters seems like it’s going to be a tough sell to the TV-watching public. Then again, maybe it’s just weird and different enough (and it looks like it might be a limited-season, so it might feel event-y) to get an audience.

I watched both episodes today and it was not good.

I almost posted a thread on this the other night. I really liked it, it captured the bleakness and humor of (probably) being the only person left on earth. Plus I love Will Forte and Kristin Schaal, doesn’t hurt having them around. No idea how they make an actual series out of this, but I’m on board to find out.

I wasn’t expecting to be into this, but was surprised at how well existential horror works as a framing device for comedy. I’m along for the ride as well.

I really enjoyed it, as did the wife and kid. Could have used fewer masturbation jokes with the 12-year-old watching, but we all thought it was a riot.

And very, very original, at least.

Only had time to watch the first episode last night, but I liked it so far.

How do you come to know that you are the last man alive?

Not sure if you watched the show, but he did a pretty extensive trip across the U.S. looking for other survivors and came up empty. Which of course doesn’t mean he’s actually the LAST man alive but did lead him to think he was. Incorrectly, as we find out pretty quickly.

Uh, no. Still correctly so far.

-Tom

This is looking like a sure bet for a renewal right out of the gate, btw.

What, seriously? It’s doing well? It’s so odd (and I like it so much) I just assumed there was no way it would last more than a season.

Wo-man.
Whoa-man.
She stole my heart, and my cat.

Pedant.

Overnights were fantastic, and they just got adjusted upwards today. Probably won’t stay sky high, but it’d take a tumble like we haven’t seen since Commander In Chief for it to not get picked up.

Ha, says the guy nitpicking at the title. You’re just jealous I out-pedanted you!

-Tom

Stop being pedantophiles, you two.

I missed the first 10 minutes but saw the remainder of the two episodes and thought it was pretty good. Though I also hope the go-to joke doesn’t end up being masturbation.

As for this being a show with only 2 people, my understanding is that IMDB lists more than 2 people in the cast (I haven’t looked, nor am I going to). Now who knows, maybe they’re all in flashbacks. But maybe not.

It would be pretty ballsy (ha ha) to keep it down to two actors for the run, and I don’t see it happening. But that’s totally speculation on my part too, I haven’t checked out any casting info.

I wasn’t impressed by the promos for this show, but on the basis of this thread’s reviews, I just streamed it and was pleasantly surprised. It’s now on my DVR queue.

Just watched the premiere episode(s). I like the premise, and I like the actors, but I honestly only laughed a couple of times, and that not going to be enough to keep me interested.

Man, watching the new episode, I think it doesn’t really work with commercial breaks. The tone shift is just too extreme. I think the first 2 episodes had limited commercial breaks? Or maybe I just imagined it. Anyways, it seems like this show might work better on something like Netflix that allows you to sink into it a bit more.