Our walkthrough with Last Man on Earth executive producer Andy Bobrow continues with episodes three and four.
This part of the walkthrough looks at episodes three and four fromLast Man on Earthsthird season.
Previous installments of this walkthrough can be foundhere.
What was that payoff?
LMOE Executive ProducerANDY BOBROW:Maybe I phrased it wrong.
I was also talking about using episode three to show Melissa really starting to slide off the edge.
So I just didnt want to spoil those ideas with my answer.
That Big Mouth Billy Bass alarm system gag is so glorious.
I think that just came out of the room.
I dont remember who pitched it.
And until now I had forgotten it was inThe Sopranos.
But I think that wouldnt have dissuaded us since our use of it is very different.
We wanted to use Dont Worry Be Happy, but it was cost prohibitive.
Yeah, that kind of stuff is easy.
Weve had some discussions this year about how dumb is too dumb.
And Im sure weve crossed the line a bit, but Carol is Carol.
They lead to some really great visuals.
Yeah this is Melissas year and we are really excited.
In any sitcom writers room, you find the writers getting stuck in quicksand with at least one character.
We didnt know what else to do with her.
Suddenly she became this helpless ruiner of things.
I dont think you might create a character like that out of whole cloth.
You have to experiment once youve established a couple traits.
And I think the same happened with Melissa this year.
January is awesome and shes always played Melissa very stingy, very withholding.
This year, we just kind of followed that energy and discovered this awesome new level.
I mean, the effect is far exceeding our expectations.
The note that the episode goes out on is a rather big one.
Big yes on that.
When we sat down in May to figure out the season, we started immediately talking about a move.
We changed locations at the start of season two, so the discussion was, Is this our thing?
Do we change locations each season?
I mean, story-wise, theres no reason not to.
Money-wise its a different answer.
We had to beg our studio for the overage, and it kind of came down to the wire.
Its way outside the norm for a TV show to build new sets every season.
And its hard to justify.
I mean were not a huge hit.
Just a solid little show with a small devoted audience.
But creatively it was exciting for everyone, including the studio.
The promise of the pilot episode was a huge empty world.
Tandy compares himself to Noah anumberof times here.
Is it nice when you might touch on these larger themes of the show?
I mean our laughs come from stupidity and petty acts of selfishness and small dumb shit.
And our emotion comes from personal experiences of loss or loneliness.
So we have this discussion periodically when do we do the society stuff?
So with this episode, we indulged some of that Noah talk and it feels organic.
It fits with Tandys pathological need to be considered the hero by everyone.
I guess what Im saying is, if youre watching the show and saying why arent they farming?
the answer is weve considered it a million times and we cant figure out how to make it funny.
This show has had an interesting relationship regarding flashbacks and restraint on the matter.
Why did you want Tandy to be responsible for San Francisco?
I mean, it just feels right.
Youre right that this flashback is way outside of our pattern.
I think if we made a habit of it, wed be jumping the shark a little.
But this one was fun.
The look of this episode with everyone on the road is some really beautiful stuff.
Oh believe me, I would love that.
I think we would do it in a heartbeat if we could afford it.
Just a really nice house on a secluded beach.
just consider those random objects somehow colliding, just like these people did.
Ha, will do.
We also know we have Tandys trains all over the country.
We keep looking for ways to run into those things.
This is certainly an interesting episode for Tandys character.
Hesa lotto take and is even wearing Carol down.
But the story definitely demanded that everyone get on everyone elses nerves.
As Lewis says, road trips are stressful.
The looks he gets from Lewis really make me happy.
Gail nearly getting up and leaving felt like a very natural move for the character.
Originally the pitch was everyone fights so much that they all agree to part ways.
We sat with that idea for a bit, but it felt like too much.
Like What makes us a family?
And we got there in Gails dialogue.
I think Marys performance is what makes it plausible.
Gail is very unhappy, and we explore the crap out of that in the next several episodes.
Really cool stuff coming up for Gail.
That said, no, we never actually considered having her move away.
Actually I take that back.
I mean, characters can hate something, but wanting to leave is different.
The audience doesnt want anyone to leave.
They want them to stay there, suffer, struggle, fight, make up, whatever.
Gails speech towards Tandy and his ideals really stands out.
Is it important to inject some cynicism into something when dealing with rebuilding and starting over?
It was very useful to have Gail talk that way in that moment.
It was cathartic for us to write it and make fun of Tandys dumbass patter.
It was a fun way to really challenge the conventions of the show too.
So it was definitely fun for Gail to say why should we put up with all your blah blah?
And my cynicism, probably like many people, comes from a feeling of vulnerability.
Hard on the outside to protect something scared on the inside.
Most funny people are like that.
So thats probably Gail too.
Talk about that final moment in the episode.
How excited were you to have a big, new playground at your disposal?
That cinematic shot and the looks on their faces.
It was the final shot of that night, and completely worth it.
Our walkthrough onLast Man on Earthsthird season will continue every two weeks!