Author Archives: Patrick Flanagan

Last Man on Earth- Week 6 *RENEWAL*

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Fox has renewed Will Forte’s Last Man On Earth for a second season. Following the good debut demo rating, rising to a 3.3 in L+3, and the premiere attracting 1.3 million streams in the first three days, Last Man On Earth had followed a ratings course consistent with a episodic series, falling to, 3.0, 2.6 and 2.7/2.4 in L+3 (18-49) for the most recent back-to-back originals. But those are good numbers, Last Man does very well in the younger/male demos, ranking as the N.1 new comedy this season in adults 18-34 and men 18-49. It wins its Sunday 9:30 PM slot in adults 18-49 and 18-34, repeatedly builds onto its Family Guy lead-in, and the network brass had been happy with the Forte’s creative direction.

This announcement was huge because Last Man and other comedies like Weird Loners were ordered direct-to-series last spring. Fox has renewed three new winter series including Gotham, Empire and now Last Man.

David Madden president of Fox Broadcasting Company entertainment was quoted saying, “It’s one of those rare shows that continues to add depth and dimension to its unique premise, week after week. We are so thrilled that this incredibly bold, original and inventive series has been embraced by both fans and critics, and we cannot wait to see where the creative genius and inspired vision of Will, Phil and Chris take us in season two.”

Last Man on Earth- Week 5

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Going against The Walking Dead finale at 9pm, ABC’s Secrets and Lies once again beat out its CBS drama competition in the hour by 18% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/4 vs. 1.1/3 for Madam Secretary/The Good Wife), and tied Fox’s back-to-back episodes of The Last Man on Earth (1.3/4).

The reviews of this week’s two episode have been positive. People are saying Last Man is funny and that there’s certainly still room for it to explore that extra bit of depth that the pilot tapped into.

Following Last Man sewer-raton social media I see trend in making short videos and GIFs out of the funniest moments. This has been getting a lot of buzz out with re-tweets and shares. People seem to be enjoying the weird but funny cast and the bizarre premise.

Last Man On Earth – Week 4

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This week Fox gave viewers two episodes of Last Man On Earth. Many Last Man viewers are saying that they should have spent more time developing Phil’s character before introducing more people. Critics are saying that every episode a new cast member becomes introduced and they want to see more layers of Phil because they view him as this obnoxious, grating person.

Last Man came in first in the 9pm 18-49 ratings, against Secrets and Lies and Dateline but third in total viewers (live + SD) attracting 4.55 million viewers. The 9:30pm episode came in first in 18-49 ratings against The Good Wife but almost had half of the total viewers The Good Wife attracted (8.43 compared to Last Man’s 4.42).

Last Man On Earth – Week 3

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Mad Men’s January Jones made her appearance in this episode. Phil Miller meets Jones’ character Melissa just one week after marrying the world’s most obnoxiously awful woman Carol (Kristen Schaal) out of desperation in order to repopulate humanity. All three characters believed they were the only person left on the planet. The three are now slowly, and hilariously, trying to figure out their new dynamic. Jones hasn’t been able to say anything about what she’s doing on the show until now.

Fox was second in Sunday night ratings with a 1.3/4, but fourth in viewers with 3.1 million. Following a rerun, “Bob’s Burgers” at 7:30 got a 1.0/4 and 2.3 million viewers. “The Simpsons” at 8 had a 1.5/5 and 3.6 million viewers. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” at 8:30 received a 1.4/4 and 3 million viewers. “Family Guy” at 9 dipped 19 percent to a 1.7/5 and had 3.5 million viewers. “The Last Man on Earth” fell to a 1.5/4 and 3.7 million viewers.

ABC was first in ratings with “Secrets and Lies” at 9pm had a 1.3/4 and 5.3 million

Last Man On Earth – Week Two

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In it’s 2nd week, Last Man On Earth fell 25% from its solid premiere. HOWEVER, Fox must be happy because once viewers who caught the show on DVR within three days were measured, the show added more than 2 million viewers to its tally and jumped an impressive 58 percent in the demo to the aforementioned 3.0. Taking total viewership (linear + nonlinear viewing) into consideration Last Man dropped 9%. And Day Lights Saving could be one factor to this ratings drop.

“Last Man” retained 100% of “Family Guy” in 25-54 while building on it in total viewers. I think Fox should be happy with this powerhouse Sunday night lineup.

Viewers are shocked how funny the show is but wonder, can it maintain the level of quality for 3, 4 seasons?

Last Man On Earth – Premiere

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Fox’s Last Man On Earth premiered with a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49. Last Man is tied for the fourth-biggest new comedy series debut this season.

It was Fox’s highest-rated comedy premiere since September 2013’s Brooklyn and the network’s biggest comedy debut in men 18-49 in nearly three and a half years, since New Girl in September 2011. Last Man On Earth was the top program in 18-49 on the commercial broadcast networks Sunday March 1st.

What happened in the premiere? Phil Miller, the “last man” gives up hope but finds a companion in Kristen Schaal, a well-mannered traveler disgusted by Phil’s habits that still understands her responsibility to mankind. The two must repopulate the world.

Last Man On Earth: 12 Days Until Premiere

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What would happen to an average person if a whole society just disappeared? Fox released their first look at Last Man On Earth:

With just 12 days till the premiere Fox’s social media team is really promoting the show on Facebook generating over 40K “likes”. But not doing so hot on Twitter accumulating just over 1,200 followers. I see that the @LastManFOX account re-tweeted many powerhouse comedians like Seth Rogen, Jake Johnson and Kristen Schaal’s words of excitement over Forte’s new show.

News broke last week that Boris Kodjoe from Love & Basketball will join the cast for a mystery role.

Here’s a fun Fifty Shades of Grey spoof to get you curious:

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Last Man on Earth

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The Last Man On Earth is not really alone. There have been recent powerhouse celebs to join the cast such as January Jones from Mad Men, Kristen Schaal from Flight of the Concords, Mel Rodriguez from Getting On, and Cleopatra Coleman.

Fox has a neat promotional campaign that I found interesting. They put up 12,000 fliers in markets New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco with Will Forte’s face and a number to call if “anyone is out there”.

In addition to fliers, Fox will have branded vending machines stacked with apocalyptic, survival goodies such as twinkies and flashlights.