R.I.P. TO THE LAST MAN ON EARTH

     Oh farts; I knew that this day was coming.  In fact, this article could have been written in tears two or three times.  "The Last Man Earth" was one of the most fascinating and innovative sitcoms ever on a broadcast network.  I'll be the first to admit that not all stories they tried worked but when they failed, they failed BIG TIME.  Will Forte was one of the most annoying but likable characters on TV.  As Phil Tandy Miller, Forte dialed down the gross-out humor and added a touch of the going-nowhere son from the 2013 quirky comedy-drama film "Nebraska."  To say that Tandy was socially awkward is quite the understatement.  All of the female cast members were certainly not made from the network comedy cookie-cutter department either .  Kristen Schaal as Phil's clingy and anal-retentive wife.  Mary Steenburgen as the recent widow who loves drinking wine while shooting zingers at the rest of the crew (okay, mostly just Tandy).  January Jones as the tough no-bullshit blonde bombshell who we find out later is suffering from mental illness.
     From the first couple episodes where Tandy goes from mansion to mansion trashing everything in sight except from the bare necessities (I almost to mention that this show took place in the near future where a virus had seemingly wiped out the world's population) and using their swimming pools as his personal makeshift toilet bowls to the later episodes where other survivors are revealed (and sometimes blown to bits), including Tandy's brother who is up in a space station when the virus breaks out.
     The show had 80s soap-opera like cliffhangers and dabbled in sci-fi but never dove in too deep; making sure laughter was the main ingredient.  The odd and fickle relationships between the members of 'the group' was the accelerator.  Their journey together as a forced family was what really made this wacky little world go around.  Alas, we'll probably never see the final destination.  I enjoyed the relative real-life pacing of the episodes along with the lack of  headache-inducing jump cuts, Red Bull enhanced rapid-fire dialogue and the welcome absence of tired documentary style camera work.  Thanks to FOX for letting this long strange trip go on for as long as it did.  Sunday nights will never be the same.