THE 2015 POPFILTER TV CHALLENGE:

MARCH MADNESS

 Follow the tournament here!

Round 3

THE UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT

VS

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH

RYAN: With no one proving themselves trustworthy enough to select the two shows that will make it into the final round of the March Madness Television Tournament (patent not pending, if you want it take it), PopFilter has decided that two writers must make this lofty decision together, culminating in a final with all four judges picking the winner. Mike, you and I have been given the insane task of choosing who will move from this round, and into the finals, between The Last Man on Earth and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when we were handed the assignment of picking the one television show the public should watch out of everything that debuted in March of 2015, didn’t you think that we would all decide on some mediocre bullshit we could all barely get behind? I mean – it’s March for fuck’s sake.

Tina Fey vs. Lord/Miller. Ellie Kemper vs. Will Forte. One of the most insane premises for a comedy of all time vs. the other most insane premise for a comedy of all time. Two laugh-filled shows that rarely feel like they are cheating their respective tones or characters in order to get a cheap laugh, something that you can’t say about the Lord/Miller directed movies, or even 30 Rock. Where do we go from here? Can you feel yourself leaning one way or the other and, if so, are you even able to describe why, or are we just working with pangs in your gut?

MIKE: If we followed the pangs in my gut, all we would be doing is eating $147.38 worth of sushi right now. Which might be what I just did to avoid having to make this decision. ($5 rolls at Kumo Sushi on 7th!). I wasn’t prepared for this, at this point in the year, to have to decide which one of my favorite new shows is shot in the back of the head. This isn’t fair Ryan. It just… isn’t fair.

But enough wishy-washy dilly-dallying, someone’s gotta die today. What makes both of these shows so great, so strong, is that in this era of a wide return to cutesy vibes or safe premises, they buck that and say fuck that trend. Not only do both The Last Man on Earth and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt deliver on premises that should be dead on arrival, they’re not afraid of digging deep into the dark pathos that exist within their characters. And I don’t mean dark like other shows where they’re not afraid to “swear” or “get nasty”, or dark like You’re the Worst where all the characters are all selfish pricks, or dark like It’s Always Sunny where all the characters are all … selfish… pricks… In the pilot of Last Man,  Forte is haunted by horrific loneliness and barely dodges suicide, while in the first ep of Kimmy, it straight-up says that the mole women were all sex slaves and her PTSD remains a constant. And these are pilots for fuck’s sake– the thing you show to a network to get the show picked up because people will hop on board. At the same time, both of these shows are fucking hilarious. Not only are they both lead by strong voices behind the scenes, they both know the true weight of their respective shows is on their leads. And I think that’s where the real fight is: Kemper and Forte. And as much as I love Forte, and as much as I think he’s pushing the stereotypical man-child in deeper directions, I have to say the things Kemper does as Kimmy are constantly snort-inducing while remaining unbelievably, devastatingly human. I think The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is pulling ahead.

RYAN: Hoo boy. We might have a problem here. Let me see if I can convince you that you’re completely valid opinion is dead fucking wrong, despite Schmidt being pretty wonderful. I’ll attempt to do this by only using the evidence you have presented.

Evidence A: The Last Man on Earth isn’t just pushing the stereotypical man-child in deeper directions. It’s redefining it, while defining it, and basically providing the final statement in a genre that has ruled comedy for the last decade or so. It’s post-modern, pre-modern and modern all at the same time. We never get to see what Forte’s character’s life was like before the apocalypse, but it’s pretty easy to imagine that he was a productive member of society, forced into his man-child ways due to loneliness and desperation, as opposed to weed and lack of ambition. This allows us to relate to this type of character on a level we never have before, instead of just pointing and laughing at the clown. This is the kind of thing that gives a show the ability to be both of its time and timeless, with our generation able to enjoy the commentary or reflection of the comedy that’s come before it, while future generations can enjoy it aside from that.

Evidence B: Both shows do have dark premises, and both do dig, but Last Man does it sooner into it’s first season, and more effectively. It’s important to remember that this battle involves the first three episodes of the shows, and I don’t think Schmidt really felt comfortable balancing the light and the dark until episode 6 or so. Last Man immediately does both at the same time. Little throwaway scenes with Forte sitting a pool filled with margarita, or lying in front of a pitching machine in a full suit of armor, make you point and laugh at the clown, and then realize that’s exactly what you would be doing if you were in his situation, and then feel horrible because his hilarious, awesome life is also one of the saddest in all of pop culture history.

Evidence C: OK, this one isn’t based on anything you said, but on the podcast we talked about whether or not the third episode of Last Man was going to have to pull Kristen Schaal’s character out of the bitchy shrew tailspin the show had already thrown her in. The third episode did a little bit to make her human, at least in Forte’s eyes, but didn’t betray her character. She was still a bitchy shrew. And it was awesome and hilarious.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt did so many things great. It’s awesome to have that distant feeling that somehow we’re getting bonus episodes of 30 Rock. But Last Man is on its way to being historically great, and these first three episodes stand up against the first three episodes of any classic comedy.

MIKE: See if it was the first two episodes up against each other, I could probably more easily agree with you. I think Kimmy kept pushing and growing in the third ep, but Last Man felt predictable in a way. While it was nice to see Forte view Schaal as a human, but all the beats (though funny) were what you could expect. If this was another show that might not be a big deal, but the bar Last Man set for itself in those first two episodes was insanely high– to be that dark, that experimental, and still that accessible for the normal shlubs who want to watch a silly sitcom to forget their day woes. The third episode just didn’t live up to what the first two declared. I don’t think it was bad in any way, but I had hoped it would keep pushing in unexpected ways. I will say this is the best January Jones has ever acted, in literally anything. That chick is the worst. And here… she was aight. I also think it’s unfair to say Kimmy is worthwhile only because it feels like extra 30 Rock episodes. The connection and atmosphere are obviously there, but I think  Kimmy creates a strong voice of its own quick. But that’s another conversation.

Because we unfortunately can’t have a tie, this piece is already longer than any Filterino is used to reading, I’ll concede that the first 3 Last Man eps take the first 3 Kimmy. But that’s with the asterisk of the first two doing the heaviest of lifting. I challenge us to battle out the complete seasons of both when Last Man wraps up. Phil Miller may be moving on this round, but we’re all winners for being able to watch these weird and fucking wonderful shows.

NEXT in MARCH MADNESS:

WHO WILL WIN THE BRACKET AND TAKE IT ALL HOME?!?!!

(AFTER A FEW MORE EARLY ROUNDS OF COURSE)