This fun series, made for US streaming service Hulu and hidden away on Prime Video in the UK, was created by Howard Overman (Misfits), Kyle Hunter, Sriel Shaffir and has been criminally overlooked over here. Executive producers include Seth Rogen and Even Goldberg, so you know you’re going to get some low-brow humour along the way, and they don’t disappoint here.
The story follows Josh Futturman (Josh Hutcherson), a geeky janitor at a research laboratory that is run by Dr Elias Kronish (Keith David), whose goal is to find a cure for herpes. Josh is obsessed with the video game Biotic Wars, and becomes the first person to ever complete the game. Unfortunately for him, the game was actually a recruitment tool for a resistance group from the future. The two renegades, Tiger (Eliza Coupe) and Wolf (Derek Wilson) assume Josh is the chosen one, they need him to help save the world, which will be wiped out by developments of Kronish’s lab. They must go back in time to stop the doctor unwittingly causing Armageddon. As one would imagine, things are not that simple.
Future Man is an instantly engaging series that is wittily written and features enough clever plot developments to make the show easy to binge, particularly since the episodes are only around 30mins in length. The characters – especially Tiger and Wolf – grow as the story progresses, allowing for genuinely hilarious moments as well as plenty of pathos. In the first season alone, we’re given a hysterical tour of James Cameron’s house, and find that ‘80s rock singer Cory Hart is cool. There are plenty of references to pop culture, obviously including time travel fare like Back to the Future and Quantum Leap.
The second season takes a different approach by splitting the group up but is still as profane, exciting, and crowd-pleasing. Season Three manages to wind the story up in a satisfactory fashion. With occasional appearances by Ed Begley, Jr, Haley Joe Osment, Glenne Headly (who sadly passed away before the first season completed), and in the final season, Seth Rogan himself. The show is consistently fun, and rarely predicable. The Via-Vision Blu-ray release only features the series, but with such great content, it doesn’t need any more.
