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 "Man Seeking Woman," a new FXX comedy series premiering
Wednesday and starring Jay Baruchel as the hapless Josh, spins a
twist on how Millennials find love in today's tech-infiltrated
world.
"Being single in your 20s, it's a minefield, it's a circus, it's
degrading, it's exhilarating, it's beautiful and ugly," said
Baruchel. "It's all these wonderful contradictions, but it's
nothing if not ridiculous."
In the first episode, Josh finds himself set up on a blind date
by his sister with a troll in a dress who attacks him, and yet
he's forced to apologize to her.
Later, Josh gets his hopes up of reuniting with his
ex-girlfriend when she asks him to a party, only to find she has
a new boyfriend, and it's none other than an aged,
wheelchair-bound Adolf Hitler who's the life of the party.
"Josh makes me laugh," said Baruchel. "He has very poor
decision-making skills and he just has a very strange, desperate
sense of himself."
"Man Seeking Woman" was created by humorist Simon Rich and
inspired by his novel "The Last Girlfriend on Earth." He said
his goal was to find extramundane metaphors to depict the
emotional roller coaster involved in 21st century dating.
"It is supernatural and absurd, but I like to think that when it
comes to the character's emotional journey, it's very honest,"
Rich said.
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From dating apps to the blurred lines of defining a relationship,
"Man Seeking Woman" uses farce to sometimes parody and sometimes
heighten the intricacies of modern-day dating.
"My job as a showrunner was to figure out new ways to torture Jay
every week," Rich said. "We set him on fire, we cut off his limbs,
we poisoned him repeatedly, we electrocuted genitals - we're
constantly subjecting him to tortures but he never once complained."
The show is made by 21st Century Fox's FX Productions, which has
developed a slate of edgy and often dark comedy such as "Louie" and
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
"I've been amazed at the network's bravery and the amount of
creative freedom they give their showrunners," Rich said. "I had a
chance to make the show that I wanted and they have never once
censored a single premise."
(Edited by Mary Milliken and Christian Plumb)
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