The Last Man on Earth TV series review

Overview

To combine some apocalyptic drama with light-hearted comedy, The Last Man on Earth is a good option. This TV series has been around since 2015, and initially aired on Fox. There are four seasons to get stuck into, and Fox cancelled the series after the last one aired in 2018. In total, there are 67 episodes to watch. This show was both created by and stars Will Forte, who also serves as an executive producer. Notably, big names such as Seth Cohen are also on the executive producer list.

Premise

The plot for The Last Man on Earth focuses on the aftermath of a deadly virus which takes over the world. Set in late 2020, Phil Miller believes he is the last man on Earth and looks for others. After a long search across every state, he is unsuccessful in finding anyone, and decides to run his truck into a rock after being on his own for years. However, as he looks to his right while driving the truck, he sees smoke and finds out there is another survivor called Carol Pilbasian. Carol believes they should repopulate the world because they are the last two survivors, and insists that they get married. More survivors end up joining the pair over the coming months.

Cast and characters

Will Forte – Philip Tandy Miller
Kristen Schaal – Carol Andrew Pilbasian Miller
January Jones – Melissa Shart
Mel Rodriguez – Todd Dimas Rodriguez
Cleopatra Coleman – Erica Dundee
Mary Steenburgen – Gail Klosterman
Jason Sudeikis – Michael Shelby ‘Mike’ Miller
Boris Kodjoe – Philip Stacy ‘Phil’ Miller
Mark Boone Junior – Patrick ‘Pat’ Brown
Kenneth Choi – Lewis
Kristen Wiig – Pamela Brinton
Keith L Williams – Jasper
Chris Elliott – Glenn
Fred Armisden – Karl Cowperthwaite
Alexandra Daddario – Victoria
Will Ferrell – Gordon Vanderkruik
Jon Hamm – Darrell
Laura Dern – Catherine
Timothy V Murphy – Benjamin Brinton
Jack Black – Rear Admiral Roy Billups
Alma Martinez – La Abuela Gordillo
Jack Guzman – Hector
Leighton Meester – Zoe
Martin Short – sport utility vehicle driver

Filming locations

Most of the filming for The Last Man on Earth took place in Chatsworth, California, in a studio for 20th Century Fox. The filming process proved to be difficult at times, primarily due to issues such as keeping up silence and muffling out the sounds of civilization such as cars in the distance.

Production

The process behind developing The Last Man on Earth began with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller writing up their concept. To begin with, they wanted the premise to become a feature film. However, when they gave the idea to Saturday Night Live cast member Will Forte, he took it on with his own ideas. This led to Forte giving his own spin to it over a weekend before showing it to Hollywood execs. After a positive response, the pitching to cable and Internet services began – with Forte avoiding broadcast networks due to a belief they would have strict requirements in the content department. Fox became the distributor of the show in the end, and the main character – Phil Miller – was created with a combination of the two executive producers’ names (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller).

Episodes and reception

The first season of The Last Man on Earth has 13 episodes, and the other three each have 20 episodes. All of the seasons aired on Sundays at 9:30pm, and viewership ranged between around 1.5 and 3.5 million, going down for each season (as is the case with most TV series). Generally positive reviews were received critically; for example, Metacritic gave the series 72 out of 100. Furthermore, Rotten Tomatoes gave it an approval rating of 74% – and an average review score was 7.74 out of 10.

Watch this series right now

It's available for streaming tonight.

$5.99
a month

Save money by combining Hulu with Disney and ESPN
Choose from thousands of movies and TV shows
Stream on a broad range of compatible devices

Watch Now

There are many channels available to watch with Hulu. If you’re looking for entertainment content, you can go for Adult Swim, Food Network, Hulu Original Series, Lifetime and TLC to name but a few. For kids, options include Cartoon Network, Disney Junior, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Universal Kids. Finally, a mixture of news channels are available – Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC and ABC News.

Hulu places a priority on providing TV shows, so if you’re looking for a high quality catalog of series to browse through, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s the lowdown on what you can expect with this streaming service.

Pros and cons

Pros

Large catalog. Hulu understands the ‘binge’ mentality, so it stocks full seasons of the shows you want to watch. You won’t need to worry about only being able to watch up to a certain point, as Hulu makes investments to ensure everything you need is on its platform.
Navigation. This streaming platform is incredibly easy to use, with a clean layout and a simple search function to access your content.
Managing your account. If you want to keep track of certain TV shows or movies, you can add them into the My Stuff category. For picking up where you left off, you can click on the Keep Watching tab.

Cons

Lack of films and original content. As Hulu places a focus on TV shows, you may then conclude that competitors will have a better range of movies and original shows. Netflix is one of the main contenders here.
Paying more to remove ads. If you want an ad-free plan with Hulu, this will cost more. Meanwhile, other competitors will offer all of their plans without ads.
Not available worldwide. Currently, Hulu is only available in the US and Japan. This means that locations across Europe, Australia and so on will only be able to read news about new shows without being able to watch them.

Types of content available

To browse the available content, go to the ‘Browse’ button in the top left hand corner and select the filter. For example, if you want to watch TV shows, this is a filter, with genre sub categories including action, drama, family, game shows and comedy. Further filters are available as you scroll, so you can view content that it’s been predicted you will enjoy based on your preferences or viewing history. Furthermore, you can view which content is popular at the moment, which series have new episodes available, Hulu Originals and newly added shows.

Available TV shows on Hulu include The Handmaid’s Tale, America’s Got Talent, Life of Kylie and King of the Hill. There are bite-sized episodes available for those who don’t have a lot of time on their hands, and you can catch up on missed episodes from both current and returning network shows. Many top comedies and dramas such as American Dad, Archer and 12 Monkeys are available to binge from the very first episode. Further filters include Staff Picks, International, Teen Shows and Anime Favourites.

When it comes to movies on Hulu, there is a similar selection of genre sub categories to use as filters, such as classics, history, horror and science fiction. Personalised recommendations are available at the top of the movies page, and there are also popular movies shown for users to browse. For example, people may be watching Deadwood The Movie, Jumanji and Night School.

Certain movies are exclusive to Hulu, such as Ben is Back, Destroyer and Backtrace. Similarly, Hulu Originals are also showcased on the movies page, with titles including All That We Destroy, Ask Dr Ruth and Treehouse. If you want an 80s movie binge, to watch a critically acclaimed film or to browse staff picks, this is also possible. If you have an addon, such as HBO, Showtime or Starz, you can watch titles such as The Meg, Crazy Rich Asians, Den of Thieves, I Feel Pretty and Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who.

Top Hulu TV shows and movies

The Handmaid’s Tale

Offred is one of a few remaining fertile women who must be a concubine for the Commanders in a dystopian society. She begins illegal relationships and dreams of being reunited with her daughter.

Castle Rock

This TV series takes place in the Stephen King multiverse. Death row attorney Henry Deaver is lured back to Castle Rock after an anonymous phone call. He returns to help a sinister man locked up under Shawshank Prison.

Marvel’s Runaways

Six teenagers come together against their mutual enemy – their criminal parents, who are part of a group called the Pride. They go on to live on the run as they figure out how to stop the Pride for good.

Seinfeld

A TV series based on real-life experiences from the comedian’s life. It was created by both Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, and stars a fictionalised version of Seinfeld. It is often described as a show about nothing.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy Summers learns she is one of the chosen women who must play the part of Vampire Slayer. She wants to live a normal life but grows to accept her destiny.

Futurama

Fry is accidentally frozen and wakes up 1000 years in the future. He is taken in by his only family member – an elderly scientist. He works for his cargo delivery service alongside Leela, Hermes, Amy, Bender and Zoidberg.

The Path

Aaron Paul plays Eddie Lane, who is part of a new age spiritualist movement called Meyerism. However, he questions his faith right before he climbs its ladder, and his wife becomes suspicious when he meets with a Meyerist defector.

Letterkenny

A TV series which focuses on the goings-on in a small community in Canada. Wayne and Katy are siblings who run a farm and produce stand. Other groups in the community include the farmers, the local drug addicts, the natives and the out of towners on the local hockey team.

You’re The Worst

Jimmy and Gretchen meet at a wedding and decide to pursue a relationship. Their respective egos soon make life difficult as they battle it out. Jimmy receives tiny royalty checks for a single novel and Gretchen lives a sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle.

Wu-Tang: An American Saga

Set in New York City during the cocaine epidemic which took place at the start of the 1990s, this series chronicles the Wu-Tang Clan being formed. Diggs turns to rap so he can try to reach fame – going against the lifestyle of his brother Divine, who used drug selling to improve his family’s lifestyle.

User Interface

Hulu has worked to keep its user interface as consumer friendly and efficient as possible. Those who are watching on streaming players such as Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV will be able to make use of a grid guide which allows you to view shows up to 14 days into the future. You will also be able to see which shows are coming out in the next few weeks and plan recordings well in advance.

The Hulu app lets viewers see a grid of shows, allowing for easy choice and selection. There will be options to look through categories such as Sports, News, Movies and Kids. The personalisation level is high, as you can look at My Channels and Recent to access content you’re prone to regularly watching.

In terms of the on-demand interface, you will see rows of content displayed in a similar fashion to competitors such as Disney Plus and Netflix. You will be able to click on one of the titles under Keep Watching, or navigate to Jump Back In to return to shows you hit pause on in the past. There are also other useful categories such as TV, Movies, News, Kids and New Movies.

How to watch

There are many devices you can use to stream Hulu. For example, you can use your Android TV (for on-demand services only), Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV and Roku. If you want to watch Hulu on the go, you can load this provider on Android, iOS and Fire devices. Alternatively, compatible video games consoles are the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 (for on-demand services only), the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Wii U (for on demand) and the Nintendo Switch. You can also use Echo Show, the in-browser app for PC, Mac and other desktop devices, certain smart TVs and TiVo if you’re using on-demand services only.

Hulu Basic