The 2016 Presidential election season was a year-long slog of empty punditry, obnoxious political bluster, and desperate in-fighting, a cavalcade of heinous ineptitude and see-through pandering that exhausted, overwhelmed, and frustrated even the most ardent of political junkies. Election seasons have steadily grown longer and more all-encompassing in recent years, but with the two candidates up for the presidency this past year being who they are, the final months leading to Election Day were unlike anything America has seen in the modern political era. As such, election coverage absolutely sucked the air out of the room during that time, dominating headlines throughout the mediasphere and making it more difficult for entertainment to break through the clutter. It’s difficult enough to launch new shows in the current television era, with the steady increase of both DVR/SVOD penetration and scripted content volume, but having a prospective audience either distracted by the election or not in the mood to add any more content consumption to their daily routine as a result of the election only made things more difficult for the broadcast networks this past fall.
Therefore there are more than a handful of shows that never really got off the starting block with it comes to ratings, shows that might’ve stood a better chance in a less smothering media environment. One such series is The CW’s apocalyptic romantic comedy No Tomorrow, which combines the quirk and romanticism of Jane the Virgin with the corporate humor of The Office and the sci-fi whimsy of You, Me and the Apocalypse. Based on Brazilian series Como Aproveitar o Fim o Mundo (How to Enjoy the End of the World) and developed for American television by Corinne Brinkerhoff (The Good Wife), No Tomorrow follows straight-laced corporate drone Evie Covington (Tori Anderson) as her calm, comfortable life is completely upended when she meets Xavier (Joshua Sasse), a conspiracy theorist who believes the world is coming to an end in eight months and twelve days at the hands of an asteroid. Though Evie has doubts as to whether Xavier is misguided or simply off his rocker, she can’t deny the chemistry they have nor the positive impact his spontaneous, adventurous way of living has on her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvjIM87iNfg
One of the most impressive things about No Tomorrow is the fact that it recognizes Xavier’s issues and doesn’t look him run amok unchecked. It could’ve been very easy for the show to cast him as the Manic Pixie Dream Boy, an anthropomorphized version of Evie’s id whose sole purpose in the narrative is to bring her to some grand realization, and let that be that; instead, though, the show decides pretty early that Xavier’s psychological makeup has just as much weight as Evie’s and that what beyond the asteroid pushes him to live the way he does has story value, which grounded the narrative (and character) enough that both were more quickly to be taken seriously. Xavier might initially be an ideal to Evie, an outlet she uses to explore parts of her subconscious that she had gotten good at
But the show’s romantic side wasn’t the only thing that made it such a fulfilling watch. While the lightness of the relationship material was able to keep a show that was, for all intents and purposes, about an impending extinction level event from becoming dour and gloomy, the apocalyptic material did a lot of good work on its own. Not only did the threat of Xavier’s conspiracies proving to be true add necessary weight and stakes to a show that might’ve been too fluffy otherwise, not only did No Tomorrow somehow find a way to tonally integrate the apocalypse into an otherwise slight romantic comedy without collapsing in on itself, the lingering threat of the apocalypse was the show’s strongest catalyst for character development. Other characters might not necessarily believe in the threat that Xavier tries to sell them on, given that all of his work in proving the asteroid’s trajectory hasn’t been verified by anyone from the government or anyone related to any major scientific institutions, but the spirit of Xavier’s argument, that kernel of enthusiasm in his voice as he argues in favor of seizing the day and not waiting to live the life you want, is enough to propel a number of supporting characters into their own journey toward enlightenment. It’s an interesting bit of infection-based storytelling, of having a central plot device that only one character truly believes in that still positively impacts other characters due to the emotion behind its messaging. Most rewarding, though, is how Evie embraces the meaning behind Xavier’s theory; while the actual science behind the theory and the more overt genre elements embedded in the show’s identity mostly lay dormant, the influence of Xavier’s theory can be seen pretty much throughout No Tomorrow‘s first season. Even when Evie and Xavier aren’t sharing the same scene, even when the two are caught in a down time in their relationship, the increased sense of ambition, wholehearted embrace of life, and the newfound self-assurance that grow within Evie across the season all play a pivotal part in how she attacks her life and that can be traced back to Xavier and the apocalypse theory. Evie’s willingness to reevaluate a life that, on the surface, should’ve been wholly satisfying is a testament to the power of human connectivity and how sometimes it can take meeting the right person to show you that the way you’ve been going about things isn’t the way to get to where you want to go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma0gzUsl6wg
Of course, that type of thematic resonance can be achieved without piling on the possibility of human extinction, but the apocalyptic threat is still a way to add urgency to character development while finding a distinct way to repackage a romantic comedy. And the show’s main selling point ends up being this original way of hawking logical, deeply optimistic life advice, almost in the same way that Xavier is able to use his theory to reach those around him and inspire them to live their best selves. Armed with bucket lists (or Apocalists, as the show calls them) that are steadily crossed off and find themselves used to keep the show from being too serialized (a’la My Name is Earl), No
No Tomorrow was dealt a fairly rough scheduling hand, as it either aired against or was preeempted by a Vice Presidential debate, Election Day, and two games of the highest rated World Series in more than a decade, in addition to airing through the holidays without an original lead-in and up against ratings monster This Is Us, a show that targets a similar demo. No Tomorrow airing against This Is Us is the equivalent of NBC airing Powerless against The Big Bang Theory or OWN airing Greenleaf against Empire; you’re just cannibalizing your own audience at that point and since No Tomorrow had an incompatible lead-in in The Flash, which is still doing very strong numbers for The CW but numbers that likely aren’t looking for a quirky rom com, it was kind of stranded for the duration of its 13-episode run. Luckily, The CW opted out of extending its deal with Hulu this season in favor of an expanded deal with Netflix that includes full seasons of every CW show available eight days following their respective season finales. This is an especially important win for shows that conclude before May sweeps, as they have the opportunity to build buzz in the months leading up to upfronts without the pressure of linear ratings weighing them down. Granted, The CW has already done a mass renewal that didn’t include No Tomorrow, so sampling would have to be stout in order for the show to sneak onto the 2017-18 schedule, but what’s important is that it does have an opportunity to make a case for renewal without having to air on television. By watching No Tomorrow on Netflix (and telling your friends to watch it, as well), you’re giving a little show with a lot of heart, a show whose optimism and belief in humanity is a necessary antidote to the doom and gloom seeping through this country’s pores since November 8th, the chance to brighten up the broadcast landscape for another season. You’re saying that it’s okay for broadcast television to continue taking risks with its programming, that it’s not enough to trot out the same doctor/lawyer/cop shows and bland comedies and call that a network. Procedurals, multi-cams, soaps, and every other form of scripted television has its place on broadcast networks, so it’s time for fans of shows that are a little off beat, shows that don’t fit the standard definition of what broadcast television has been or currently is, to show their strength and get No Tomorrow a second season. All you have to do is binge it on Netflix.
No Tomorrow is available on Netflix now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2G2CCxZRJY