The Last Man on Earth: "There's really no wrong way to use a margarita pool."

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > The Last Man on Earth: "There's really no wrong way to use a margarita pool."

«‹›25 »

shadok: Dec 12, 2004; You tried to destroy it once before, Commodore.
The result was a wrecked ship and a dead crew.; Fun Shoe

How Kristen Schaal Became the Surprise Leading Lady of �Last Man on Earth�

Kristen Schaal posted:

The starkness in characterization between Phil and Carol creates a precarious comedy tightrope for Forte, Schaal, and the show to teeter down. New Yorker television critic Emily Nussbaum raised the point on Twitter: �If they�re BOTH flawed, it�s funny, otherwise it�s just �what if you were stuck with a crazy bitch.��

It should be fairly obvious when a show is titled Last MAN on Earth there is high risk for sexism. Spectacularly, Last Man on Earth doesn�t fall prey, though Schaal admits that it was a concern.

�In the pilot, you�re so on Phil�s side, because you�re in his world. You�re seeing it from his perspective,� she says. �He�s a character you instantly care for. When Carol comes in, she doesn�t have the benefit of things being from her point of view. So I was very nervous about the imbalance of that. But as the show goes on, you sort of sway back and forth with whose side you�re on. And exactly [to Nussbaum�s point], I think Phil is definitely flawed in a lot of ways�some of them worse than Carol�and vice versa.�

# ? Mar 6, 2015 18:48

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 23, 2024 17:43

feedmyleg: Dec 25, 2004

If one of those 13 twists isn't mutant irradiated humanoid monsters I'll be a little disappointed.

# ? Mar 6, 2015 19:01

CobiWann: Oct 21, 2009; Have fun!

I have to give credit for Will Forte for carrying the entire pilot episode and a good bit of the second episode, not just in his �monologue� dialogue, but his physical presence. The casual way he shoots out the shop windows and fills the margarita pool with a bottle between his thighs�

# ? Mar 6, 2015 19:39

tarlibone: Aug 1, 2014; Am I a... bad person?
AM I??; Fun Shoe

feedmyleg posted:

If one of those 13 twists isn't mutant irradiated humanoid monsters I'll be a little disappointed.

Right, because that would be original. I mean, when's the last time we saw a movie or film or TV show where an incredibly implausible event causes the mass extinction of most of the human race except for a few survivors, and those survivors have to deal with some sort of mutated/diseased/whatever former people who serve as little more than a human-shaped predators or mindless, constant antagonists? I... why, I can't think of a single example of that in the history of literature, or film, or TV.

Now, if there were, say, hundreds or maybe thousands of examples of shows were a small group of survivors has to deal with a hoard of mutated, undead, diseased, etc. monsters who used to be regular people, then I'd say we don't need that for this show, because that's been done already a million times (hyperbole!), and we don't need to do it a million and one times.

Maybe they should come up with some kind of undead character. You know, one that eats brains? Or maybe turns into a bat and drinks blood? Because even if that's ever been done on TV or in the movies before at some point, it's certainly not been done to death and run into the ground over the last 10 years or so.

# ? Mar 6, 2015 19:39

feedmyleg: Dec 25, 2004

Nah, I think it'd just be fun if a really grounded show suddenly had monsters show up 3/4 of the way through as a gag.

That's a really weird chip to have on your shoulder.

# ? Mar 6, 2015 20:02

sbaldrick: Jul 19, 2006; Driven by Hate

feedmyleg posted:

If one of those 13 twists isn't mutant irradiated humanoid monsters I'll be a little disappointed.

humanoid monsters that just want love.

# ? Mar 6, 2015 20:06

Philthy: Jan 28, 2003; Pillbug

feedmyleg posted:

Nah, I think it'd just be fun if a really grounded show suddenly had monsters show up 3/4 of the way through as a gag.

That's a really weird chip to have on your shoulder.

If you're into video games, you might have this same chip as well. Every other game coming out has zombies, or a zombie mode, or virus eating away this and that. It's gone on longer than the WW2 games that were coming out prior to this phase.

I used to love zombie stuff, now I absolutely hate it.

# ? Mar 6, 2015 20:34

tarlibone: Aug 1, 2014; Am I a... bad person?
AM I??; Fun Shoe

feedmyleg posted:

That's a really weird chip to have on your shoulder.

I don't know if I'd call it a chip on my shoulder. I'm just worn out from all the zombies and monsters and crap, and I'd hate for this show to go in that direction, even if for just a moment, and even if it were all just a joke or gag. It's been done way too much, especially in the last several years.

Now that I give it some serious thought, it's hard to remember any story where there aren't half-surviving hoards of man-monsters roaming around. Plenty of examples start that way. Night of the Comet comes to mind. But pretty soon, you've got monsters. I'm sure there are examples out there, but there can't be too many, and I for one am looking forward to a show where the source of the tension isn't so much the monsters trying to eat your brains, but that chick with the underbite and super-annoying voice who is attached to the last vagina on Earth.

# ? Mar 6, 2015 22:04

PassTheRemote: Mar 15, 2007; Number 6 holds The Village record in Duck Hunt.

The first one to kill wins.

The problem with zombies and mutant monsters in a post humanity story is that inevitably attract Chris Hardwicks, and once those burrow in, it's impossible to get rid of them.

# ? Mar 6, 2015 22:07

Hobo Clown: Oct 16, 2012; Here it is, Baby.
Your killer track.

Yeah I'm perfectly happy with them leaving the sci-fi out of it and just making it a show about two folks making do with no one else around. Probably tough to keep it interesting for multiple episodes that way, but for me the show would lose a lot of appeal if it becomes Walking Dead With Jokes.

# ? Mar 6, 2015 22:21

GreenNight: Feb 19, 2006; Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Z-Nation already has Walking Dead with jokes all sewn up.

# ? Mar 6, 2015 22:34

asecondduck: Feb 18, 2011; by Nyc_Tattoo

Philthy posted:

If you're into video games, you might have this same chip as well. Every other game coming out has zombies, or a zombie mode, or virus eating away this and that. It's gone on longer than the WW2 games that were coming out prior to this phase.

I used to love zombie stuff, now I absolutely hate it.

I played Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for the first time last week and actually groaned aloud when the zombies showed up. I know the game was made before the "OOOH LOOK ZOMBIES!" thing took over popular culture, and it was probably awesome at the time, but it's so overplayed these days that it kinda ruined the game for me a bit.

That said if zombies do show up in TLMoE I have a feeling they'll be handled pretty well.

# ? Mar 7, 2015 02:53

Sleeveless: Dec 25, 2014; by Pragmatica

Videogames use zombies all the time because it's cheap and easy since there's no need to program a AI more sophisticated that mindlessly running at the player and you can recycle the same humanoid model and animation endlessly. In TV it's actually really expensive because of all the makeup and extras it entails, that's why The Walking Dead blew so much time holed in a barn.

tarlibone posted:

Right, because that would be original. I mean, when's the last time we saw a movie or film or TV show where an incredibly implausible event causes the mass extinction of most of the human race except for a few survivors, and those survivors have to deal with some sort of mutated/diseased/whatever former people who serve as little more than a human-shaped predators or mindless, constant antagonists? I... why, I can't think of a single example of that in the history of literature, or film, or TV.

Now, if there were, say, hundreds or maybe thousands of examples of shows were a small group of survivors has to deal with a hoard of mutated, undead, diseased, etc. monsters who used to be regular people, then I'd say we don't need that for this show, because that's been done already a million times (hyperbole!), and we don't need to do it a million and one times.

Maybe they should come up with some kind of undead character. You know, one that eats brains? Or maybe turns into a bat and drinks blood? Because even if that's ever been done on TV or in the movies before at some point, it's certainly not been done to death and run into the ground over the last 10 years or so.

You're arguing about originality as if The Last Man On Earth isn't an idea that's already so well-worn its practically its own subgenre.

Besides, Lord and Miller are the poster children of the "remix generation" because they have pretty much built their entire career on taking weird IPs and adapting them with great success through clever writing and genre awareness. If anybody could make a monster-filled post apocalypse fresh and exciting it would be the people who made a movie about loving Legos one of the best movies of last year.

# ? Mar 7, 2015 07:05

David D. Davidson: Nov 17, 2012; Orca lady?

Sleeveless posted:

Videogames use zombies all the time because it's cheap and easy since there's no need to program a AI more sophisticated that mindlessly running at the player

Not entirely true, in bad games maybe, but in order to actually have good zombie AI to does require quite a degree of effort. such as dormant and states searching also a shittion pathfinding programming to keep them from being too stupid when in come to players climbing up on things. YOu can hear more in the developer commentary for Left 4 Dead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VJkkn6qlMI YOu can also see some of thier work in The Last of Us.

Also Just to clarify, I'm not saying that zombies aren't done to death; By god are they ever.

# ? Mar 7, 2015 07:16

Blazing Ownager: Jun 2, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

tarlibone posted:

Right, because that would be original. I mean, when's the last time we saw a movie or film or TV show where an incredibly implausible event causes the mass extinction of most of the human race except for a few survivors, and those survivors have to deal with some sort of mutated/diseased/whatever former people who serve as little more than a human-shaped predators or mindless, constant antagonists? I... why, I can't think of a single example of that in the history of literature, or film, or TV.

Now, if there were, say, hundreds or maybe thousands of examples of shows were a small group of survivors has to deal with a hoard of mutated, undead, diseased, etc. monsters who used to be regular people, then I'd say we don't need that for this show, because that's been done already a million times (hyperbole!), and we don't need to do it a million and one times.

Maybe they should come up with some kind of undead character. You know, one that eats brains? Or maybe turns into a bat and drinks blood? Because even if that's ever been done on TV or in the movies before at some point, it's certainly not been done to death and run into the ground over the last 10 years or so.

Actually the trick to doing something like this would be to go the Fallout Ghoul route: Make them appear to be horrible shambling abominations that you'd want to shoot on sight, but then finally talk to them and find out they're actually pretty chill.

Blazing Ownager fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Mar 7, 2015

# ? Mar 7, 2015 13:10

bring back old gbs: Feb 28, 2007; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

Blazing Ownager posted:

Actually the trick to doing something like this would be to go the Fallout Ghoul route: Make them appear to be horrible shambling abominations that you'd want to shoot on sight, but then finally talk to them and find out they're actually pretty chill.

I dislike the zombie/mutated survivors idea but it they were like Ghouls it could be funny. I could picture Forte leading a band of Mad Max type guys. Like none of them had drivers licenses before the apocalypse so they figured they just had to stay where they were. Forte's character reminds them it's the apocalypse and they can build/drive any vehicle they want. Mutants ride off into sunset.

Also they mistake him for a ghoul at first because of his appearance which is a growth moment for him because "holy poo poo I can't believe rotting corpses mistook me for one of their own..."

# ? Mar 7, 2015 18:07

tarlibone: Aug 1, 2014; Am I a... bad person?
AM I??; Fun Shoe

... but only if one of those Ghouls is also a grammar Nazi.

# ? Mar 7, 2015 18:08

FetusSlapper: Jan 6, 2005; by exmarx

What is the name of the song that plays as Forte approaches the campsite after aborting his suicide?

# ? Mar 8, 2015 05:35

asecondduck: Feb 18, 2011; by Nyc_Tattoo

FetusSlapper posted:

What is the name of the song that plays as Forte approaches the campsite after aborting his suicide?

It's part of the show's original score by Mark Mothersbaugh, who is one of the founding members of the 80's new wave band Devo. He has composed the scores for a host of movies and TV shows, including The Royal Tenenbaums, The Lego Movie, and Regular Show.

# ? Mar 8, 2015 20:29

Kwyndig: Sep 23, 2006; Heeeeeey

Okay that was a great nightmare.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:34

twistedmentat: Nov 21, 2003; Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to

Wasn't that a T Rex skull in the pilot? It looks like the Jurassic Park T Rex head now.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:35

Maxwell Lord: Dec 12, 2008; I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.; Grimey Drawer

Raisin balls. Almost not an awful idea.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:36

twistedmentat: Nov 21, 2003; Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to

Oh Kevin I'm so sorry!

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:40

AndyP: Nov 7, 2011

That's not the worst idea for a bachelor party I've seen.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:42

Maxwell Lord: Dec 12, 2008; I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.; Grimey Drawer

Porn J. Ratbeard Poopypool

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:51

Mooseontheloose: May 13, 2003

Hah, love the no scrubs pillow.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:51

twistedmentat: Nov 21, 2003; Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to

What was the cake made of?

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:52

kidcoelacanth: Sep 23, 2009

twistedmentat posted:

What was the cake made of?

Eggplant, apparently.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:52

muscles like this!: Jan 17, 2005

twistedmentat posted:

What was the cake made of?

Eggplant parm

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:52

Maxwell Lord: Dec 12, 2008; I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.; Grimey Drawer

After doin' the nasty I need to have some beans.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:53

DivisionPost: Jun 28, 2006; Nobody likes you.
Everybody hates you.
You're gonna lose.

Smile, you fuck.

Carol's dirty talk :stare:

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:54

Kwyndig: Sep 23, 2006; Heeeeeey

DivisionPost posted:

Carol's dirty talk

That was pure boner poison.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:54

A A 2 3 5 8 K: Nov 24, 2003; Illiteracy... what does that word even mean?

He's going to kill her, right? That's where this is going? It's a copout if they have her die accidentally.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:55

Maxwell Lord: Dec 12, 2008; I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.; Grimey Drawer

This is kinda heartwarming.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:57

Kwyndig: Sep 23, 2006; Heeeeeey

At least they're using protection.... for everything but the sex I hope.

Oh god, another woman.

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:58

twistedmentat: Nov 21, 2003; Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to

muscles like this? posted:

Eggplant parm

That's what I thought he said, but I couldn't believe what i heard.

3 way aaaaalllllright

# ? Mar 9, 2015 02:59

Maxwell Lord: Dec 12, 2008; I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.; Grimey Drawer