Should You Spend Some Time Alone With The Last Man On Earth?

What Is This Thing?

In the year 2020, humanity has been wiped out by a virus, with the exception of, literally, one guy: Phil Miller of Tucson, Arizona. This is his story!

When Is It On?

Sunday at 9:30 PM on Fox.

Why Was It Made Now?

The critical acclaim for sitcoms like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Bob's Burgers has made Fox's Sunday-night comedy lineup fertile ground for launching new comedies...but the real question, when you read the section below, is why it wasn't made ten years ago.

What's Its Pedigree?

Series creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller are best known these days as the writer-directors of 21 Jump Street (the movie), Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, 22 Jump Street, and a little crossover juggernaut known as The Lego Movie. But thirteen years ago, they were establishing their comic voices and cred with a TRAGICALLY little-seen animated series called Clone High, and if you haven't seen it, take $30 out of your baby's diaper fund or whatever and buy it. TLMOE re-teams Lord and Miller with Will Forte, who plays their co-namesake here, having formerly voiced Abraham Lincoln on Clone High. Lord and Miller are credited as directors on the first two episodes (per IMDb), with Forte credited as writer on the pilot; future episodes were written by Andy Bobrow (Community), Emily Spivey (Parks & Recreation), with Jason Woliner (Human Giant, Eagleheart) directing Episode 3.

...And?

Finally, a post-apocalypse story for the irrationally-afraid-of-the-apocalypse viewer! The Walking Dead is so depressing that if you don't go into it pretty certain that the grind of daily zombie attacks wouldn't drive a reasonable person to suicide after the first, let's say, hundred, then surely you've arrived at that/my viewpoint by now, right? But Phil's apocalypse hasn't left him with any external threats; from what we see, it hasn't even left him any bodies to trip over.

So most of the first half-hour (Fox has scheduled the first two episodes back-to-back on Sunday) is kind of a dirtbag version of "Time Enough At Last." Left alone, Phil apparently has less interest in reading than he does in furnishing the McMansion he's squatting in with the art and artifacts he collected during his time driving around the country to see if he could find one other living person; destroying property in novel ways; and, obviously, masturbation -- for which he apologizes to God, but not without adding, "But that's kind of on you." The moments of euphoria Phil experiences by wrecking aquariums and cars are endearing for their adolescent heedlessness, but the first half-hour also shows us that Phil was once a good person, and still is, deep down: among the priceless pieces of art he hangs is a small framed photograph of himself with (one assumes) his parents and brother, and though he may not need to worry about zombies attacking him, the show makes his loneliness both comic and moving. Early on in his tenure in his fancy new squat, he heckles Tom Hanks in Cast Away, disgusted by the notion that anyone would need to make friends with a volleyball. But when a few more months have passed, it's a different story.

Loneliness gives way to severe depression, and an apparently very real depression beard, which: kudos to Will Forte for really going for it, hairwise.

Without giving anything away, shit gets believably dark without ever feeling maudlin or sacrificing jokes. I personally might not agree with Phil that "having other people around is really what makes life worth living" -- I'd just watch TV until the power gave out, and then maybe I'd actually read a book FOR ONCE; when I say this is my kind of apocalypse, I'm really only 44% kidding -- but the progression of events in that first half-hour feels logical and absurd all at the same time.

...But?

I mentioned the lack of corpses, which is just one aspect of the premise that is elided for the sake of the comedy; TLMOE is definitely not designed to stand up to rigorous scientific analysis. But even if you can overlook that, if your tolerance for Will Forte, or filth, is low, this show would be a real trial for you. I like the former enough that I could cope with the latter.

...So?

I am pretty much pre-sold for anything Lord and Miller do, and Forte has been a favourite since he was half of Twinkle and Stink. My positive prejudice aside, I think there's a lot for even casual fans to like. If nothing else, at least it's different from any other sitcom on the air, which should be enough to make you give it a chance and possibly forestall another avalanche of familycoms with knowing narrators telling us how to feel.