“Balls aren’t people, dude.”
A hilarious and agreeably strange new sitcom directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord (the “Jump Street” movies and “The Lego Movie”) from teleplays by star Will Forte {“MacGruber”), “The Last Man on Earth” follows Phil Miller (did Chris Lord sound too religious?), a fellow trying to figure out what to do with himself after everybody else appears to have left the planet.
How they left the planet is a little open to question. Probably because the producers deemed human remains too depressing for a sitcom, there are no corpses anywhere. Maybe all the bodies just disappeared, “Leftovers”-style? Maybe the disease turned them to dust, the way Buffy’s stakes did vampires?
I found myself laughing aloud an improbable number of times while I was watching the first two episodes airing tonight; I was particularly taken with a number of gags involving defecation and others referencing Robert Zemeckis’ “Cast Away.”
Spoilers in invisotext. At the end of the first episode, a second human being enters the picture in the form of Carol Andrew Pilbasian (Kristen Schaal) and a surprising amount of comedy milage is derived from the fact that Carol is ridiculously incompatible with Phil. (Gorgeous “Mad Men” player January Jones will be joining the cast after tonight, which should inevitably fill Phil with thoughts of trading up.)
Beware the many non-invisotexted spoilers below:
... Lord & Miller's direction of the opening "Last Man on Earth" hour is a textbook lesson in precision comic timing and humorous use of physical space for the small screen. … I'm strongly recommending "The Last Man on Earth" …
... I’m still not sure how the premise can sustain a series. And I still want to see more, so consider me sold. … what sells it is the understatement. …
... distinctive, charming … well made, meticulous in its comic details and pleasantly acted by Mr. Forte and Ms. Schaal …
... instantly engaging … a charming and intelligent sendup of pop culture’s obsession with the end of everything. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... funny, entertaining and pretty original … Creatively, there's no question "Last Man on Earth" is a winner, a unique comedy in a sea of sitcoms viewers have seen before. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... Oddly, as great as Schaal is, as usual, and as great as the interplay is between Forte and Schaal, “Last Man” is actually funnier when its title is still accurate and Miller believes he is the last man on Earth. Not funnier to sustain a weekly sitcom, but on its own, funnier. …
... Forte is entertaining as a low-achiever bumbling about, but how do you build an entire TV show around someone talking to himself? Mild spoiler alert: You don’t. …
... The series serves as a great playground for Forte, who gets his glorious freak on to show what being alone can do to a person. … I was impressed by “The Last Man on Earth, and hope it can continue to spin stories and character development out of its somewhat narrow premise. …
***1/2 stars out of four ... in your home, the silence may very well be broken by bursts of laughter. There may even be a few cheers for the audacity, inventiveness and achievement of Will Forte …
... There’s something to be said for a series that invites far more questions than it answers, and given the popularity of apocalyptic concepts (see Syfy’s “12 Monkeys” revival), it’s interesting to see the material filtered through a comedic lens, grim as the thought of mass extinction is. …
... Watching Fox’s wonderfully creative and ridiculously entertaining new series The Last Man on Earth, you can’t help but laugh (it’s a comedy — duh), but also be truly and utterly impressed. I can’t remember the last time I watched a half-hour sitcom and thought, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” …
9 p.m. Sunday. Fox.
