TMC
05-14-2018, 04:16 PM
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/05/someone-please-save-the-last-man-on-earth--this-sh.html
The Last Man on Earth (https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/8jdot6/someone_please_save_the_last_man_on_earth_this/) was axed last week as part of a wave of cancellations that also included the likes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Expanse. The latter few shows have received the lion’s share of the attention and think pieces in the wake of their resolution (Brooklyn Nine-Nine has already been saved by NBC, to the joy of many ), and understandably so—Last Man was always more of an acquired taste. Its oddity was both its primary draw and most limiting factor, but there’s one thing that’s certain: It was the only show of its kind on TV, and for that reason alone, losing it is a shame.
To be sure, Last Man was never going to be an easy sell for either networks or audiences. Its brilliant pilot episode was like some kind of avant garde comedy one-man show that must have had plenty of viewers scratching their heads. In a half hour almost entirely without dialogue, it introduced us to poor Tandy as he traveled a nation seemingly bereft of a single survivor, running roughshod over the dignity of the old world. His character was a pathological liar, a man both despicable and uniquely pathetic, but somehow sympathetic despite it all. He embodied the banality of the average person, as well as the cruelty of a random universe—of all the people who could have been immune to the disease, it wasn’t someone who strove to rebuild the world, or at least felt some responsibility to steward what was left of it. Instead, it was just some idiot like Tandy.
The Last Man on Earth (https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/8jdot6/someone_please_save_the_last_man_on_earth_this/) was axed last week as part of a wave of cancellations that also included the likes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Expanse. The latter few shows have received the lion’s share of the attention and think pieces in the wake of their resolution (Brooklyn Nine-Nine has already been saved by NBC, to the joy of many ), and understandably so—Last Man was always more of an acquired taste. Its oddity was both its primary draw and most limiting factor, but there’s one thing that’s certain: It was the only show of its kind on TV, and for that reason alone, losing it is a shame.
To be sure, Last Man was never going to be an easy sell for either networks or audiences. Its brilliant pilot episode was like some kind of avant garde comedy one-man show that must have had plenty of viewers scratching their heads. In a half hour almost entirely without dialogue, it introduced us to poor Tandy as he traveled a nation seemingly bereft of a single survivor, running roughshod over the dignity of the old world. His character was a pathological liar, a man both despicable and uniquely pathetic, but somehow sympathetic despite it all. He embodied the banality of the average person, as well as the cruelty of a random universe—of all the people who could have been immune to the disease, it wasn’t someone who strove to rebuild the world, or at least felt some responsibility to steward what was left of it. Instead, it was just some idiot like Tandy.