S01.E05: Dunk The Skunk / S01.E06: Some Friggin' Fat Guy

[Tara Ariano]

The topic of repopulation is a popular one in Tucson as Phil, Carol and Melissa look to the future.

[LADreamr]

It's not something that needs to be heavy handed, but I hope the show looks at ideas around starting the world new without its old problems. They actually have a chance at repopulating without race or gender issues or huge income inequality. It doesn't need to be the focus of the show, but I'd love to see them address some of the possibilities here.

[stopeslite]

Gaaa! I didn't even realize there were two episodes until I logged in and saw the dual title, so I missed half of the second episode.

 

The first episode was so boring. I don't think there was a single second of it that wasn't handed directly to us in the "next time" bit from the previous episode. Entirely predictable.

 

Came into the second episode while Melissa and Todd were on their date.I like Todd. I hated Phil. I don't think he deserved to have Melissa take pity on him - the rest of them have been without people that long too, and didn't turn into raging assholes because of it. I liked how she flat-out shut him down, though.

[sonyab]

Having another guy on is strange. Now unless he has a heart attack and dies, they are going to have to change the name of the show. It's not the last man on earth anymore.

[sonyab]

Hahaha... they can call it whatever the hell they want... As an aside - "For What It's Worth" doesn't have those words anywhere in the lyrics.

 

ROFL!

[VCRTracking]

Wow, they really aren't afraid to make Phil be a total asshole

 

Todd and Melissa are cute and this finally shows how good she is as Betty on Mad Men I did not know January Jones could be that sweet.

[henripootel]

This show still has a serious tone problem, with the two leads being surprisingly unlikeable and unfunny.

[scrambled eggs]

I keep watching, even though I don't know if I like the show. Phil has become increasingly unlikeable, and I'm generally not a fan of the anti-hero. I'm also getting distracted by questions like, Do jellybeans stay fresh for more than 2 years? Where are they finding tennis clothes? Why is Phil wasting so much water on a dunk tank? 

 

And of course Phil's kids with Carol and Melissa would be half-siblings, so that's still incest. Hardly a solution.

[Beach Party]

In "Skunk" episode: Melissa and Carol came to agreement about repopulation.  Contractual terms.   Seemed to me she'd just engage in intercourse without the intimacy.  So it felt off to have Melissa initiate a kiss with jerk Phil.

[Irlandesa]

And of course Phil's kids with Carol and Melissa would be half-siblings, so that's still incest. Hardly a solution.

But slightly better than full siblings.

 

I continue to appreciate the fact that Carol is more important to Melissa and how lovely she was in completely shutting Phil down.  It would be even lovelier if he accepts that as an answer and they move away from how awful he was in these two episodes.

[marketdoctor]

 

Seemed to me she'd just engage in intercourse without the intimacy.  So it felt off to have Melissa initiate a kiss with jerk Phil.

 

I was a little surprised there too, but maybe she was trying to make the best of it, or desperate for affection.

 

I didn't like Phil's transition from anti-hero to full-on antagonist.  Considering the size of the cast, they could be a little more consistent with his writing.

 

Todd was such a good person, I had ominous feelings about him (like they would try to mine his death for the "comedy" of Phil regaining it as opportunity with Melissa.)  I did like that in the first episode, they ran with the idea that there are three people on Earth, and they manage to have an awkward love triangle.

[tominboston]

This show isn't perfect but I enjoy it and it's on my list of things to watch every week. It's definitely not a laugh-out-loud sitcom, more a look into a really weird world, and in that way it's different from the other sitcoms I watch. I know the joke is a movie ripoff, but I love Phil's collection of spherical friends. I do find Carol to be both funny and sympathetic, especially when the poor woman is suddenly confronted with a hot blonde rival.  Adding Todd to the mix has promise and I'm interested in seeing where the writers take it.

 

 

[BeatrixK]

I'm with Tominboston:  Show has it's flaws, but I do find it an interesting premise, and God help me, since Nebraska, I have loved Will Forte. (He seriously got screwed hard with no Supporting Actor nod last year!)

 

I felt like they explained/justified Phil's a-holiness perfectly:  Several years without human contact is going to seriously mess with your social skillset.

 

And I like that they are making the traditionally unattractive guy the 'gold standard' of manhood.  Messing with standards might be the key to this show finding it's legs...and I'm OK with that.

[mtlchick]

Every time I hear Kristen speak, it's jarring simply because Bob's Burgers is on 2 hours earlier.  So it's very weird to hear her talk about sex and in my head I'm thinking "Thank god she's not wearing the pink bunny hat."

[peeayebee]

Having another guy on is strange. Now unless he has a heart attack and dies, they are going to have to change the name of the show. It's not the last man on earth anymore.

I think it still works. Phil could be seen as "the last man on earth" that Melissa would want to have sex with.

 

 

I still like the show, but I'm not as enthusiastic about it as I was after the first two eps. Still, I like how things keep changing. I was surprised that there was another man, and I was very curious who the actor was. Of course I was surprised it was Patsy from Getting On. 

 

It was pretty classic how Phil just kept sabotaging himself. He could have had sex with Melissa, but instead he just had to try to make it romantic, including the fireworks which ended up bringing Todd into their lives. Then he brought up Todd's weight, which elicited the sad story about the prom from Todd. Then Phil made Todd take off his shirt, which brought out the story about giving his kidney to his step-brother who ended up dying. 

 

I really hated Phil during these eps, particularly the second one, but I had the feeling that he would soon end up making amends. Showing Melissa his ball friends was a step in the right direction. 

 

I think January Jones is just fine in the role. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

I felt like they explained/justified Phil's a-holiness perfectly:  Several years without human contact is going to seriously mess with your social skillset.

 

But that should equally apply to all 4 of them -- but Todd, Melissa and Carol aren't complete assholes and doing stupid shit (except for Carol and the raisin balls).

 

I have an issue with the fact all the highways and byways are in such pristine condition years after everyone has died that Todd could drive from Florida to Arizona at high speeds like that.  No blocked roads, wires down, trees fallen or crumbling infrastructure (bridges and roads are crumbling even now with people and are in need of constant repair).

[sonyab]

I think it still works. Phil could be seen as "the last man on earth" that Melissa would want to have sex with.

 

 

 

BAHAHAHA! Yeah that's true. She is not interested in him at all!

[cpcathy]

Is Melissa supposed to be that great? I think she's a drip. It may be January Jones, I've only seen her in that dreadful SNL episode but she just seems like she doesn't want to be here. They couldn't have made her sweeter? She either seems really jaded or completely bored and annoyed, and since Jones is no great actress I can't tell which. I see no reason for Phil to have declared he was falling in love with her, other than she's pretty (but, we do see that a lot on TV, now don't we?)

[Ms Blue Jay]

I would appreciate if Phil divorced Carol.  I hate when people are so selfish as to keep being in a relationship with someone while interested in someone else.  So am I supposed to find it so ironic and hilarious here because of the premise?  There is nothing keeping Phil to Carol - No kids, no lawyers, no divorce settlements, no pre-nups, nothing that exists in the Normal world.  So what the f***?

 

I find it weird that Melissa has been so cold to Phil.  I guess it's very pro-woman and rah rah rah which is great, but I feel like I never see this played out on television normally.  Again , irony based on the circumstance, like the show is saying Phil really is THAT repulsive to her.

 

With a new person practically appearing every 'episode' there is no way these characters would honestly think they're alone on Earth.  4 people ending up in the same city in this short a time?  Come on!

 

I think January Jones is just fine in the role.

 

I find her so pretty and charming.  

Edited March 23, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[BoogieBurns]

4 people ending up in the same city in this short a time?

 

I think they were each alone for 2 years before they made their way to Arizona. So, that helps. But if some time passes by before the next "Last Person" arrives, it would be more believable. Even if they just say "3 months later" on the screen. 

[Myrna123]

So I'm a horrible channel-surfer, multi-tasker while TV watching, so I might have missed important details about this universe.  Did everyone die all of a sudden?  Society must not have slowly fallen apart, or there would be a lot more distrust whenever a new person showed up.  It's weird the way they don't talk at all about their experience the last two years--they don't compare notes at all, they don't wonder why they're still alive and no one else is, they don't talk about how they searched for other survivors, or anything.  I know they showed Phil crisscrossing the US in his motorhome, but I don't remember any details except the cartoon graphics on the screen.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Myrna123

[Traveller519]

After a couple episodes of annoying Carol, they really stuck it to Phil in this one. I like the technique, don't force one trait. In this situation everyone is going to have their grating moments. The show will be good if they can show Melissa as having her own annoying foibles after holding her up as the "sane" one so far.

 

And I agree that I like how January Jones is playing it so far as straight against the ridiculousness of Phil and Carol. 

 

With their mini society now, I'll be interested if they decide to turn the focus to restoring some amenities and trying to re-establish some infrastructure. That would give the opportunity for Melissa to come out as bossy or lazy or some other unlikable traits that cause us to sympathize with Phil and Carol.

[Beach Party]

It was weird that Carol had never thought of the second generation of procreation until Phil mentioned it.

 

In a planet of billions, Melissa could easily ignore Phil.  With only a handful of people left, she did make an attempt at a civil relationship with him.  I appreciated that Melissa went to smooth things over with Carol, and then she went to the bar with Phil to see his "friends."

 

Yards and the city are looking pretty good without people taking care of them for two years. The tennis court had plant debris over the back line.  At least that looked realistic.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Beach Party

[marketdoctor]

 

So it's very weird to hear her talk about sex and in my head I'm thinking "Thank god she's not wearing the pink bunny hat."

 

I thought the bunny hat January Jones wore at the Go-Kart/mini-golf course was a nice shout-out.

 

 

...I might have missed important details about this universe.  Did everyone die all of a sudden?

 

They said it was a virus that killed everyone off (except the four leads), so it happened quickly.  It's been implied it was an Ebola-type virus that took care of the problem of lots of dead bodies, possibly a mutant strain of Handwavitus.  

[peeayebee]

With their mini society now, I'll be interested if they decide to turn the focus to restoring some amenities and trying to re-establish some infrastructure. That would give the opportunity for Melissa to come out as bossy or lazy or some other unlikable traits that cause us to sympathize with Phil and Carol.

It seems like that's where the show is going -- These people are re-creating society. What rules do we have? Why do we have them? What's the alternative? Carol wants rules, etiquette, and order. Phil just wants what he wants.

[sonyab]

 The show will be good if they can show Melissa as having her own annoying foibles after holding her up as the "sane" one so far.

 

 

Well Melissa did say to Carol, the only thing I am horny for, is our friendship. ROFL! And that was a strange thing to say! :)

[Lone Wolf]

I keep watching, even though I don't know if I like the show.

 

And of course Phil's kids with Carol and Melissa would be half-siblings, so that's still incest. Hardly a solution.

Your first sentence pretty much sums it up for me, although my dilemma is that I'm starting to not like it and I'm too OCD to bail on it. I'm kind of hoping it just gets cancelled.

I was raised Southern Baptist, which pretty literally interprets the Bible, and never could get a straight answer from parents/pastors/Sunday School teachers about how Adam and Eve populated the earth as re: incest. Kind of spoiled the concept of religion for me.

I need to have Todd's Ferrari. And completely empty freeways on which to flog it. If that ever happens, maybe I'll revisit my religious upbringing in gratitude.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Lone Wolf

[qtpye]

I would appreciate if Phil divorced Carol.  I hate when people are so selfish as to keep being in a relationship with someone while interested in someone else.  So am I supposed to find it so ironic and hilarious here because of the premise?  There is nothing keeping Phil to Carol - No kids, no lawyers, no divorce settlements, no pre-nups, nothing that exists in the Normal world.  So what the f***?

 

I find it weird that Melissa has been so cold to Phil.  I guess it's very pro-woman and rah rah rah which is great, but I feel like I never see this played out on television normally.  Again , irony based on the circumstance, like the show is saying Phil really is THAT repulsive to her.

 

 

I assumed the only reason Phil married Carol is that he wanted to have sex with somebody (anybody).  However, it seems as if he truly can not stand her and barely tolerates her touch.  So, at this point I truly do not understand why the heck he is still married to her.  Phil could calmly explain to her that the marriage is not working and repopulating the world is not important enough for him to stay in a loveless marriage.

 

I also assumed that he was horny for Melissa and now he claims he is actually madly in love with her?  He barely knows her.

 

I am guessing that Phil is not dumping Carol, because Melissa liker her so much?  Again, this makes no sense as Melissa just met Carol and the instant bff friendship seems forced.  I realize they have no other alternative for female companionship, but a real friendship takes time to grow.  I guess Phil is trying not to hurt Carol, because that would make Melissa like him even less? 

 

I understand he had been alone for the longest time, but the other three are in the same boat and all of them seem much more normal (even Carol).

Edited March 23, 2015 by qtpye

[possibilities]

I think it's interesting what vehicles each of them has chosen. Phil was driving a truck (before it burned up). Carol chose a small, probably energy efficient, sedan. Melissa was driving a hearse. Todd opted for a ferrari. Based on this, it makes Carol and Phil seem like the practical ones, and Melissa and Todd are whimsical.

 

Todd may turn out to be a liar-- I actually suspected this before Phil self-servingly did, but that doesn't make Phil any less disgusting. And I really don't feel like having been alone for 2 years excuses him. Everyone else seems to be able to behave at least somewhat reasonably. Carol is the most wacky so far, but she's not even close to Phil's level of obnoxious.

 

Phil's ability to construct a dunk tank (even one that dunks too easily) and wire up the fireworks and blah blah blah romantic display for Melissa underscores just how hostile the crappy door repair for Carol was last week, and that it's not incompetence but aggression that made him fail so badly. Also, his rigging that display for Melissa while lying to Carol and not making any effort with her at all, is really shitty. I'd think that even if he's just that shallow, he would realize that with the few options for company that he has, he needs to be more prudent in how he behaves. The acting out is not funny to me, it's just gross.

 

I hope the show finds something more interesting to do than highlight the antics of Phil as he drools over Melissa and backstabs Carol. it's not funny or interesting to me, and they have so many potential stories that would be.

[peeayebee]

I think it's interesting what vehicles each of them has chosen. Phil was driving a truck (before it burned up). Carol chose a small, probably energy efficient, sedan. Melissa was driving a hearse. Todd opted for a ferrari. Based on this, it makes Carol and Phil seem like the practical ones, and Melissa and Todd are whimsical.

I thought Melissa was driving a limo.

 

Phil's ability to construct a dunk tank (even one that dunks too easily) and wire up the fireworks and blah blah blah romantic display for Melissa underscores just how hostile the crappy door repair for Carol was last week, and that it's not incompetence but aggression that made him fail so badly.

 

At first I thought he had put together the dunk tank, but I'm pretty sure he got it from a party supply place or some other business. I do agree though that he has not fixed the door because he doesn't want to rather than incompetence or inability. It's his way of rebelling against Carol.

[jumper sage]

I thought they explained in the first episode that Phil was always an asshole.

 

I am waiting for the preppers to pop up.

[DittyDotDot]

Both of these episodes were pretty predictable--who didn't know that guy was gonna show up just in time to ruin Phil's sexy times?--but I was still kinda engrossed in them. I loved the "Dunk the Skunk" gag and especially was laughing when Carol was wanting to show everyone her proof of being sick. I generally despise these sorts of antics, but for some reason they seemed to work for me here.

 

I find it hilarious how every time Phil starts to be happy and things seem to be finally going his way, here comes something to crap all over his parade. I also find it kinda interesting how others on the show get rewarded because they're basically "good" people--Carol got the wedding and the husband; Melissa got another man to choose from--but Phil keeps getting punished for being an asshole. I don't know, deep it isn't, but I'm finding more likeable with each episode.

 

I'm also getting distracted by questions like, Do jellybeans stay fresh for more than 2 years? Where are they finding tennis clothes? Why is Phil wasting so much water on a dunk tank? 

 

Well, as was stated in the last episode thread, Phil isn't all that smart. But, I'd think those jelly beans would've melted together in Tucson without any air conditioning. The clothes, I imagine they just broke into a sports supply store and took them.

[theatremouse]

See that's what bugs me: it was smart of Phil to drive all over and leave signs and try to get people to meet up with him.

Then they finally do, and yes, he'd clearly cracked in between, but suddenly he's not clever at all? There's a little disconnect for me that bugs.

Also, dude had access to FIREWORKS that whole time? In addition to my previous thought that Phil should've marked which exit people should take to find him, he also should've gone to the free-for-the-taking hardware stores, and wherever he got the fireworks, and shot off a flare or a single firework once each evening, late enough to be dark, but early enough he wouldn't worry about an approaching person sleeping. If he'd done that maybe he'd have had company by now.

Which I know would defeat the purpose but so far there's been what I consider a fair amount of internal logic, in that I buy it as a relatively realistic-ish portrayal of the scenario. At least for me, from a believability standpoint, they've got me consistently think about how I might deal in a similar situation, even though this is a comedy (and I like that it makes me think about it in that way). But if they keep bringing up more random stuff in contexts that make me think "why did you not use that before", I'm going to get impatient fast. Sure we knew he had stuff because we saw him destroying and/or collecting it...but oh man did those fireworks piss me off.

[DittyDotDot]

See that's what bugs me: it was smart of Phil to drive all over and leave signs and try to get people to meet up with him.

Then they finally do, and yes, he'd clearly cracked in between, but suddenly he's not clever at all? There's a little disconnect for me that bugs.

 

Yeah, but wouldn't it have been also smart for him to mark the road to his house? Melissa said she'd been driving around Tucson for days and Todd said he was about to leave...I wonder how many folks have come to Tucson and left.

 

He also managed to rig up a drip water system for Carol's garden. I'm not sure Phil's not clever at all anymore, but maybe he's one of those people who has moments of brilliance followed by long stretches of pure stupidity?

[theatremouse]

Yeah, but wouldn't it have been also smart for him to mark the road to his house? Melissa said she'd been driving around Tucson for days and Todd said he was about to leave...I wonder how many folks have come to Tucson and left.

Yep, but when he was leaving his signs he also seemed to intend to go home to his original apartment and then later decided to just take a McMansion. I mean, I've said it before, he could go change his signs, but even if he had initially left more specific signs (hopefully already in/very close to town), once he changed plans, they'd need to change. Plus he spent a bunch of time roaming around town destroying stuff. So yeah, you wanna be found, stay put. Which he didn't. But at that point he was going nuts and in his destroy all to eek out some bit of joy phase. And fairly convinced nobody was coming. Now that people have started showing up, they totally effing need to bust out the spray paint again.

I'm not sure if it's so much moments of brilliance followed by stretches of stupidity so much as it is brief moments of thinking things through followed by long stretches of having about 10 minutes worth of forethought.

Edited March 24, 2015 by theatremouse

[sonyab]

I thought Melissa was driving a limo.

 

 

 

Looks like a limo to me.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Yeah, but wouldn't it have been also smart for him to mark the road to his house? Melissa said she'd been driving around Tucson for days and Todd said he was about to leave...I wonder how many folks have come to Tucson and left.

 

When they met Melissa, she told them she had been driving around Tucson for two weeks -- and Carol had only been around for one week when they got married. So if Phil had put a little more effort into better directions, he could have been having sex with Melissa well before Carol even showed up.

[possibilities]

A limo makes sense; I'm not even sure I can tell the difference between a limo and a hearse, to be honest. Either way, I think it matches Todd's vehicle in a way that Phil's and Carol's choices match each other.

[Rockstar99435]

I find it weird that Melissa has been so cold to Phil.  I guess it's very pro-woman and rah rah rah which is great, but I feel like I never see this played out on television normally.  Again , irony based on the circumstance, like the show is saying Phil really is THAT repulsive to her.

 

I don't. Since the moment he saw her, Phil has been acting like that dick on the bus who insists on sitting right next to you, even though you are wearing headphones and reading a book and the bus is completely empty, and starts talking to you. Then you have decide whether to (a) shut him down right away, only to get called a stuck up bitch who thinks she's better than him and besides he wasn't trying to hit on her, he was just making conversation. What, are men just not allowed to talk to people on the bus anymore? What do you want, slutbitchc#nt! or (b) be "friendly" and "nice" and chat with him, only to have to turn him down when he does ask for your number and then get called all sorts of names. (Surprise! the answer is © Put on your very best "don't fucking talk to me" face before you even leave your house. Sure, you still get called bitch etc. But you also get to read your book in peace.)

 

Melissa was nice to him when she first met him, even after he physically shoved an injured Carol out of his way to get to the front seat and then kept closing the window so Melissa couldn't talk to her. She lets her guard down, has a couple of beers with him, and shares her feelings only for him to immediately use that information to drive a wedge between her and the only other woman in the world. He claims that he loves her, but other than what he learned from Todd asking questions and what he saw spying on her, he knows nothing about her or her personality. He only wants to have sex with her because of her physical appearance. Why should Melissa be nice to him? He isn't nice to her or to Carol or to Todd.

[Ms Blue Jay]

My point of view wasn't in disagreement to yours at all.  Just that I rarely see this dynamic played out on television and it makes it especially 'strange' (meaning, rare to me) to see it played out in this particular scenario where Phil represents 1/3 of the population that Melissa can interact with.  I find the portrayal here notable for these reasons.

[possibilities]

Phil is behaving so badly, I would hate Melissa if she was nice to him.

 

Actually, I think she is very nice to him, considering how gross he is.

 

I know what you mean about how rare it is, though, to see a self-respecting woman on TV.

[The Evil One]

I seem to waver episode by episode on Phil. In Dunk the Skunk, as predictable as the ending was, I could at least find some of his antics funny. I felt like Some Friggin Fat Guy pushed him from occasionally loveable loser to unbearable douche, with the tennis court scene being the capper. He can't fathom that Melissa could like Tom on any level, despite the fact that we already know more about Tom in one episode than we really do about Phil. He's just so shallow in his insistence that he "deserves" the pretty girl. It's wearing thin.

[theatremouse]

My brain is blurring where the episodes began and ended but in watching this hour I started to really really be pissed at Phil. Actually, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I almost identify with Melissa a little? In that, before I sort of couldn't tell if Phil were genuinely stupid/horrible/boorish/tasteless/stupid/tactless/whatever or if he were still sort of reeling and awkward and forgotten how to interact with humans and maybe a little mentally unstable (in a non-dangerous way). So sort of approaching him from a "be pleasant and civil and just try to figure him out, even when he's a little weird" kind of way. Because of course, there are almost no humans to interact with. So you can't really be as selective about who to hang out with. Her choice seemed to be to just wait and see and only if he crossed a major threshold, with the standard being higher than previous society, would he merit himself being entirely cut off. Were there even 20 people I think Phil would've already been in the "nope, not friends" bucket, but she seemed to sort of trying to find out more, really putting a lot of effort into not writing him off. Frankly, same with Carol, who was also weird, but usually, less offensive. So, that's how I felt about Phil: lots of not great things there, but wanting to find out more about what makes him tick and hoping that as he's forced to remember how to interact with others he becomes less cringeworthy.

But then he crossed a line where I was all...dude, this guy can fuck off. And just as I was thinking "ok I really can't stand Phil anymore if this is where he's gone with this" they did the stupid scene starting with him apologizing with his head leaning against the door, and apologizing, and sounding like he meant it, and saying outloud that he was messed up and knew it. Then I sort of didn't know what to do with myself, as a viewer. If he were a real person, I'd still probably have been like, dude, your actions have consequences, deal. Go away. But I found it especially interesting that just as the very moment where my internal monologue hit "I'm done with this guy", two seconds later he was realizing he was a total ass. And so that made me sort of intrigued again. I can't tell if he has enough brain power to be conniving in a non-transparent way. And the acting in the moment felt very sincere, not sitcommy, as he just poured out his own fuckedupedness. So I still don't really know what to make of the character. So I still want to watch more to try to find out. So in that way, I understand why Melissa invited him in, and wanted to meet the sports balls and discussed his actual favourite movie. She stopped short of being unnecessarily nice to him, but I do think she has compassion for him, and is maybe trying to make sense of him, or possibly, help him to make sense himself again.

Originally I was hoping there'd be the occasional flashback, but actually at this point I'm glad there isn't. If I had any sense of what any of these people were like before the world basically ended, I don't know that I'd be half as intrigued right now.

Edited March 25, 2015 by theatremouse

[Rockstar99435]

My point of view wasn't in disagreement to yours at all.  Just that I rarely see this dynamic played out on television and it makes it especially 'strange' (meaning, rare to me) to see it played out in this particular scenario where Phil represents 1/3 of the population that Melissa can interact with.  I find the portrayal here notable for these reasons.

 

Sorry. I thought you meant that it was weird that she was being so cold to Phil. 

[SlackerInc]

Wow, there's just giant buckets of hate for this show around these parts.  I really like it, more and more with each episode, and it's gotten lots of critical raves too, so I'm surprised.

 

This show isn't perfect but I enjoy it and it's on my list of things to watch every week. It's definitely not a laugh-out-loud sitcom, more a look into a really weird world, and in that way it's different from the other sitcoms I watch. I know the joke is a movie ripoff, but I love Phil's collection of spherical friends. I do find Carol to be both funny and sympathetic, especially when the poor woman is suddenly confronted with a hot blonde rival.  Adding Todd to the mix has promise and I'm interested in seeing where the writers take it.

 

What's funny here too is this is the rare (and welcome) positive opinion about the show, and I still at least partially disagree.  I think this is a laugh-out-loud sitcom!  Maybe not twenty times an episode or anything; but it's not that easy to make me really laugh as opposed to sort of smiling/smirking/slightly chuckling.  

 

In this (these, technically, but I consumed them as essentially one long ep) there were two lines that particularly got me.  Like DittyDotDot I found Carol's "I just vomited, want to see it for proof?" hilarious.  And then most of all, Phil's answer to the question of his favorite line from The Shawshank Redemption ("probably the part where...the Shawshank is redeemed") had me laughing harder than anything I've seen on a TV comedy in a long, long time.  As in, gasping for air, getting a stitch in my side, the whole nine yards.  (His subsequent use of post-it notes on Melissa's door frame was pretty funny too.)

 

If this were a drama or even a dramedy, I'd be annoyed by the logistical things people are complaining about (I'm known for nitpicking all kinds of stuff on The Walking Dead).  But because it's a silly comedy that cracks me up, I'm fine with just completely handwaving it away.  Essentially it's a magical world that's empty of bodies and where anything anyone wants to get and use is going to work fine even after years of disuse.

Edited March 25, 2015 by SlackerInc

[qtpye]

Originally I was hoping there'd be the occasional flashback, but actually at this point I'm glad there isn't. If I had any sense of what any of these people were like before the world basically ended, I don't know that I'd be half as intrigued right now.

 

 

Yeah...it is like the audience is the unofficial fifth person on earth (at least for now).  It is is a very unique premise and I do want to see where the show goes.  I do not think of the logistics.  I compare it to Giligan's Island, in that I have a very low bar on the realism of the situation.  In fact, it might sometimes go into the realm of fantasy and perhaps also be a little horrible, since the situation of itself is very sad (death of the human race).

 

My husband was so disgusted with Phil's antics that he got up and left the room (not before questioning my taste in t.v.).

[Myrna123]

I think my biggest stumbling block with the show is that these four people seem essentially unchanged by having the entire population of the world die off.  Phil is a douchey loser, Carol is a quirky oddball, Melissa is a sweet, pretty woman, Todd is a pleasant enough fellow.  I know there's not a lot of comedy to be mined about four people completely unhinged by an apocolypse, but the disconnect of watching Phil exhibit zero degree of care about two (Carol and Todd) out of four humans left (as far as he knows) isn't fun to watch. 

 

It seems like there would be a lot of funny stories to tell from these four different kinds of people trying to do virtually every single job that existed to keep society up and running.

[Matt K]

I'm kind of glad they put these two episodes together because if it just the first then I might not be watching next week.  But then second episode ended with enough hope that Phil was going to be less of an ass going forward.  The concept is still interesting enough to keep me around but I hope Phil stops trying to get in Melissa's pants now.

[DittyDotDot]

Yep, but when he was leaving his signs he also seemed to intend to go home to his original apartment and then later decided to just take a McMansion. I mean, I've said it before, he could go change his signs, but even if he had initially left more specific signs (hopefully already in/very close to town), once he changed plans, they'd need to change. Plus he spent a bunch of time roaming around town destroying stuff. So yeah, you wanna be found, stay put. Which he didn't. But at that point he was going nuts and in his destroy all to eek out some bit of joy phase. And fairly convinced nobody was coming. Now that people have started showing up, they totally effing need to bust out the spray paint again.

I'm not sure if it's so much moments of brilliance followed by stretches of stupidity so much as it is brief moments of thinking things through followed by long stretches of having about 10 minutes worth of forethought.

 

I didn't mean he'd have to go change all the signs across the country, just put up a few around Tucson pointing people in the right direction. I'm really amused he didn't consider there were anymore out there than these three. I mean, with Carol, sure I get it, they could be the last two on Earth. But after Melissa showed up? I might've thought there'd me at least one or two more. I just find amusing in how Phil can be smart and clever, but also not at all smart and clever. He's really the downfall of himself, in the end. But, I'm weird, so... 

Edited March 25, 2015 by DittyDotDot

[theatremouse]

I think my biggest stumbling block with the show is that these four people seem essentially unchanged by having the entire population of the world die off.

I don't think we have enough evidence to say this for sure. We have no idea what they were like before, to know that this is them unchanged. I take it what you mean is that you find their current personalities plausible for how people might have been before an apocalypse, but I don't think that necessarily means that these people were that way before. Especially Phil and Carol might have been a whole lot less douchey/wacky. I also think Todd and Melissa could still end up less straightforward than they currently seem. Depending on how many more people show up, I'm wondering if somebody might turn out to be a little more devious than what they initially seemed like. Edited March 25, 2015 by theatremouse