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Feb 28, 2015 By Cody Ray Shafer Web Exclusive

Will Forte is living out a loner fantasy on FOX’s brilliant new sitcom, The Last Man on Earth. Forte is one of the most uniquely gifted comic actors to come out of Saturday Night Live in the last decade, so it is no surprise that his first lead role in a sitcom is also a wonderfully executed and original idea.

Forte plays Phil, the titular last man on earth, crossing the U.S. in an RV looking for signs of life. The big question lingering as Phil aimlessly wanders through the pilot—also written by Forte—is how exactly will The Last Man on Earth make use of its seemingly limited potential through the first few episodes, and a whole series’ length beyond. By the end, however, all fears are subsided. Spoilers below.

Just as his loneliness and hopeless prospects of survival reach their bleakest point, Phil finds his last woman on earth counterpart, Carol (Kristen Schaal). Initially relieved, Phil quickly discovers that he and Carol are completely incompatible, but they have the entire future of the human race to worry about. The following act plays like a rom-com version of The Odd Couple on a post-apocalyptic scale. Phil has to learn how to live with Carol, who is not content leaving Phil to his own devices.

There is an interesting dynamic of a cast so compact in a setting so large. They literally have the entire world at their disposal, and though they’ll likely stay confined to the Tucson suburbs, even those are adequately vast and empty. A lot of the initial gags are taken care of in the pilot, as Phil packs his RV, and later his mansion, with treasures gathered from across the country, including a rug bearing the Presidential seal from the Oval Office which he lays in his entry way. These moments are satisfyingly surreal, but the show’s real charm will rely on the character chops of Forte and Schaal. Luckily, they seem up to the challenge. (www.fox.com/the-last-man-on-earth)

Author rating: 8.5/10