Thursday, March 5, 2015

'The Last Man on Earth' Pilot


I found this show under New Series on Hulu.  I didn't hear or see any promotion for this show, but since it's a show on a major network I thought it would be worth a try. It starts out in the near future "Novemberish 2021" showing a man, Phil Miller [Will Forte] traveling the US in an RV, crossing out states on his map.  He has been searching for another living human for what seems to be over a year. It is mentioned that he is the last man on earth after a fatal virus hit a few years ago.
        Here is a promo for the show:
My favorite part of this episode is when Phil is watching the movie Cast Away starring Tom Hanks.  He is watching the scene when Hanks' character draws a face on a ball and starts talking to it as a friend; Phil says he will never become that crazy.
Photo from 'Cast Away'
 It then cuts to 6 months into the future and he has multiple friends who are different balls he drew faces on. I thought it was clever but also could actually happen to someone that has been living in a city with no people around for multiple years.
Eventually Phil starts getting depressed and keeps asking to see a woman one last time.  He hits a breaking point and decides he would rather kill himself than be alone any longer.  Right before he tries to kill himself he sees smoke in the distance and tracks down where it is coming from.  To his surprise there is a women there! She is the last women on earth Carol [Kristen Schaal]. Phil soon realizes that he might regret what he wished for after talking to Carol.

Even though there is another character in this series, I feel like the premise doesn't seem like it would last for multiple seasons. Since there are only 2 characters left on earth, I am not sure how interesting it will be to only watch 2 characters throughout a whole series. I can't see this showing making another season but I will continue to watch this show as it airs.

 I rate the Pilot 6/10, this episode was funny and I enjoyed it, but I can't imagine where else this show can go.  I feel like they used all their best jokes for the pilot.

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