The Last Man On Earth

[molyholy]

Watched a new 'sitcom' tonight which enraged me. Husband think I am looking too much into it. Premise:-
everyone on earth has died of a virus. He is cool man left on earth. Drinking, being cool. Making a mess of his house. Along come last woman on earth. Shrill, manipulative, shrewish, spoiling his fun, wnating to get married before they procreate.
That is just a taster. Infuriating.

[TiggyOfQuirm]

That sounds a terrible idea for a sitcom. Only 2 characters with no chance of any others with one of them not being very nice. It won't last long.

[messyisthenewtidy]

Oh that old tv chestnut! The couple where the husband is all laid back and charming. Lazy but lovable. The wife is prettier, smarter but a humourless sourpuss, doesn't get to deliver any jokes but just acts as a foil for the husband to deliver his.

You would think they'd done it to death already.

[PuffinsAreFictitious]

You'd think they'd demand new stories or ideas for sitcoms, wouldn't you? But no, the same old tired tropes get wheeled out and resuscitated every single time.

[TiggyOfQuirm]

Sounds a bit like Early Red Dwarf. Lister and Rimmer, messy laid back and fun verses uptight and mean. But they also made Lister have really gross bad habits, and helped us to understand Rimmer better and feel for him somewhat.

[BrightBlowsTheBroom]

The critics have liked it with the exception of the Huffington Post.

m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6787066?utm_hp_ref=maureen-ryan

[TiggyOfQuirm]

Just watched a few clips. The Man seems to be a pain in the arse gross loser, while the blonde lady seems clever and normal. The second woman is funny and weird. The 5 minutes I saw seemed fine.

[850Pro]

I don't see the problem, if you don't like it watch something else?

[PuffinsAreFictitious]

If you don't like it watch something else?

If you don't want to see tits, don't buy the S*n.

If you don't like p0rn, don't watch it.

It's like a K-Tel advert for 'Lines used by people who willfully won't understand the issues'

[ApocalypseThen]

Yeah, why discuss anything or have opinions? Nothing means anything anyway, it's like a waste of time to talk.

[RingforJeeves]

Well to be fair, the man was literally just about to kill himself before the woman showed up, so I don't think she really ruined his fun. He was painfully lonely and had just given up basically.

I've only made it as far as the second episode so far but I thought it was darkly funny. The guy starts out as a loser doing stupid things, but given he's the last man on earth I'd say that's kind of to be expected. Not sure we're supposed to think he's cool really. His desperation is played for laughs but it starts out as a tragicomedy. The man's 'friends' are a dozen balls he's drawn faces on and he's so lonely he tries and fails to earnestly make a connection with mannequin. He's going insane before the woman shows up.

I like the premise of the last two people on earth (at least to start with) annoying the living hell out of each other. The woman is funny and weird and more resourceful than the man, but she's not particularly likeable and I actually thought that was a good thing. TV could use more female characters who don't have to be likeable. Apparently another female character shows up in the next episode, so if nothing else it's a show with a 2-1 female to male ratio.

[TeiTetua]

Huh. Wonder if it'll pass the Bechdel test.

[Allstoppedup]

I've watched all the episodes so far (I think there are 4/5 now) he's certainly not shown in a favourable 'cool' light as the story develops and although the 'wife' is still fairly nutty, the comedy is now driven largely by two people stuck together despite being totally incompatible.

He's definitely portrayed as boorish, slovenly, fickle, moody and a bit stupid whereas his partners behaviour is given some explanation- her insistence on social 'norms' being linked to the total break down of the society.

She's still a fairly feisty, intuitive and clever character who certainly doesn't let him mistreat her or speak down to her in any way. A few episodes in a (fairly predicatable) plot twist arises and shakes up the dynamic further.

It has some obvious sitcom tropes but it is still quite a clever, twisted take on a played out idea (post apocalypse).

I'm intrigued to see how it will continue.