FOX announced today that their post-apocalyptic comedy The Last Man on Earth which stars Will Forte will be returning for a second season. The news does not come as a huge surprise, though I expected them to wait until at least the end of April to see how it was trending. It bowed with decent numbers, pulling a 2.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic based on the overnights, though it has since slipped below the 2.0 level and the most recent new airing two weeks ago pulled only a 1.3 score (though it did have to go up against the season finale of i). Still it has ranked in the Top 25 broadcast network shows based on the overnights for several weeks and it has regularly ranked in the Top 25 when the Live+3 delayed viewing is factored in. FOX also claims that it is the Number 1 show in the 18-34 demo for the night and Number 1 in the 18-49 demo for its timeslot. That’s of course compared to the other shows on the broadcast networks as it airs directly against cable entry TWD which is the top rated show on television (by a wide margin). And the networks do not demand the same ratings levels from sitcoms as they do from hour long dramas as the former are cheaper to produce. I have not seen any word on whether its second season would be for a full twenty two episodes, but I’m sure we will get word on that by the time that FOX presents its schedule at the upfronts (more on that at this link). The Last Man on Earth will wrap up its first season on May 3rd.
