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| Me Seeking new episodes of Man Seeking Woman! |
"But suddenly, a new contender has emerged" - George Costanza, Seinfeld, S02E05
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| Jon Lajoie on FX 2.0! |
Last Wednesday, FXX aired the incoming seasons of its Winter comedies: the always-reliable It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and an interesting show called Man Seeking Woman, beginning its second season.
After the first couple episodes of this show aired last year, I wrote a post in which I lambasted its surrealist humor, saying that it wasn't funny enough to earn all of the weirdness it entailed. However, as the season went on, my opinion drastically changed. Suddenly, the show seemed to warm into itself, finding a great happy medium of satire, surrealism, and dating hyperbole. Thus, it's not surprise that in the second season, it capitalized on this momentum and gave us a fantastic season two premiere.
The new episode, titled "Wings," begins with a perfect example of what Man Seeking Woman does best. Eric Andre's Mike, a character who I hope gets more screentime in the second season, is hanging around the apartment, when a group of military men show up at the door, informing him that Josh won't be coming home that night, as he... he got a girlfriend. It's taking real problems, mixing them with real relationship issues, and creating comedy out of them that the show does best. Combining sad military doorstep information with the loss of a "bro" to a girl is quite ingenious, and sets the tone for the rest of the episode, and hopefully the season.
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| Another genius satire about a cabin... |
Throughout the twenty minutes, we see Mike try to sue Josh for more time spent together, complete with a crowd of lawyers, a picket line outside of Josh and his girlfriend Kelly's movie night, and suddenly: a change of pace. About nine minutes into the episode, we continue on the Josh and Kelly narrative, but switch to one where Josh goes with Kelly to a cabin in the woods wherein her friends from high school are hanging out. Though this is very much in line with what we've seen previously, Man Seeking Woman has realized that a format in which the show gives two to three interconnected sketches works better for them than a full thought. For instance, some of the first season episodes that suffered, namely the pilot, "Lizard," followed one narrative that, although it had some laughs, couldn't provide enough for a full twenty minutes. Toward the end of the first season, they came to realize that these miniature stories within one larger arc worked better in an overall sense. With the beginning of the second season, this is done to perfection, giving us several small parts of a larger story, complete with their own gags and surrealist aspects.
At the cabin, Josh falters to fit in with Kelly's old friends, and when the fun starts, namely the trope of the cabin in the woods being haunted, it gets hysterical. In a fantastic directing sequence, Josh stays inside to do a puzzle while Kelly and her friends fight an undead lumberjack from the window outside. At one point the horrific zombie comes in, asks who Josh is, thinks he doesn't fit in, and leaves to terrorize the others. Josh breaks up with Kelly here, and once again, we have a narrative shift within the same frame. Upon arrival back to hang out with Mike, Josh realizes that they have a daughter together from "jizzing into the toilet without flushing."
Here, they satirize the wayward father trope, as the daughter, completely decked out with black eyeliner and lipstick, slowly bends to Josh's charisma, showing him her artwork to win over her... other father. And just like that, in one of the strangest twenty minute arcs possible, things are back to normal. Josh and Mike's daughter goes to college, they're back to being best friends, and Kelly is gone from the show. As far as the zombie lumberjack goes... well my theory is that he's actually Dexter Morgan.
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| Still the number 1 show needing a revival |
This episode details exactly why Man Seeking Woman is another of these under-the-radar comedy gems currently on the air. Much like Rick and Morty or the late, great Wilfred, Man Seeking Woman has a small but loyal fan base, and those who know it, love it. The problem with this kind of show, however, is staying alive. The Life and Times of Tim is a perfect case study in this type of show. Though it was hilarious and those who watched it loved it, there was fear of cancellation after every season, and it ended far too early after season three. A cult following is great for those in the cult, but for the rest of people, it's just filling space on a network that could use larger ratings.
In the current state of television, it seems that these are being brought back into circulation more and more (revivals of Twin Peaks, Arrested Development, etc.) but for current cult following shows, there is no true way to build up a way of survival aside from just more viewers, or by being on HBO.
Thus, for all the great cult shows we've lost over the years, from Carnivale to Rubicon to John From Cincinnati, keep Man Seeking Woman and the shows like it on the air!Labels: Arrested Development, Britt Lower, Carnivale, Eric Andre, FX, FXX, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Jay Baruchel, Man Seeking Woman, Rick and Morty, Simon Rich, The Life and Times of Tim, Twin Peaks
