The Last Man on Earth

Watching Fox’s wonderfully creative and ridiculously entertaining new series, The Last Man On Earth, you can’t help but laugh (it’s a comedy--duh), but also be truly and utterly impressed.

There is an interesting dynamic of a cast so compact in a setting so large. They literally have the entire world at their disposal.

The whole endeavor could easily burn itself out, but judging by the first three episodes--which never felt stale and constantly kept me guessing--Fox might just have a winner on its hands.

The first half-hour is all setup, and while entertaining in its own way, with just one character, it's insular and unlike anything else on TV, which is always a tough sell for viewers conditioned to expect more of the same. The second episode gives Phil a much-needed sparring partner, which is funnier than the gags during his solitary existence.

The Last Man on Earth is well made, meticulous in its comic details and pleasantly acted by Mr. Forte and Ms. Schaal, but you may wish that it really had been about the last man on earth.

The Last Man on Earth has a unique, committed comic sensibility. But the pacing of the first hour is a little slack, as Forte returns to the same comic well a few too many times before an inevitable twist gives the second half a different energy.

Forte himself isn't bad, it should be added. But like the human race when it seems to be down to a single person, the show doesn't feel like it has much of a future.