# Man Seeking Woman
**Man Seeking Woman** is an American surrealist romantic comedy series that aired on FXX from January 14, 2015 to 2017, following a hapless young Chicagoan named Josh Greenberg through the literalized absurdities of dating and relationships. It was created by [Simon Rich](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-rich), who adapted it from his 2013 short story collection *The Last Girlfriend on Earth*, and it ran for three seasons of ten episodes each before FXX canceled it in April 2017.[1](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/man-seeking-woman) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/man-seeking-woman/) • [3](https://www.thewrap.com/fxx-cancels-man-seeking-woman-after-three-seasons/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Half-hour surrealist romantic comedy on FXX; 10 episodes per season, three seasons (2015–2017)[1](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/man-seeking-woman) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/man-seeking-woman/) |
| Source | Simon Rich's short story collection *The Last Girlfriend on Earth* (Little, Brown, 2013)[4](https://books.google.com/books?id=HRU3AQAAQBAJ) |
| Main cast | Jay Baruchel as Josh Greenberg; Eric Andre as Mike Scaggs; Britt Lower as Liz Greenberg; Katie Findlay joins as Lucy Parker in season 3[5](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/man-seeking-woman/cast) |
| Executive producers | Simon Rich, Jonathan Krisel, Andrew Singer, Ian Maxtone-Graham, and Lorne Michaels; from Broadway Video and FX Productions[3](https://www.thewrap.com/fxx-cancels-man-seeking-woman-after-three-seasons/) |
| Reception | Season 1 Metascore 71 (35 critic reviews); season 3 Metascore 89; season 1 Rotten Tomatoes rating 82% from 33 reviews[2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/man-seeking-woman/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/man_seeking_woman/s01) |
| Cancellation | FXX announced cancellation on April 4, 2017; season 3 averaged 367,000 total viewers per week including seven days of delayed viewing[3](https://www.thewrap.com/fxx-cancels-man-seeking-woman-after-three-seasons/) |
## Premise and method
The series follows Josh Greenberg ([Jay Baruchel](https://www.edgepedia.org/jay-baruchel)), a twentysomething temp in Chicago who is dumped by his longtime girlfriend Maggie ([Maya Erskine](https://www.edgepedia.org/maya-erskine)) in the pilot and must rebuild a dating life. Josh's emotions are rendered as literal events: a blind date with a woman described as a troll is played with an actual bridge-dwelling troll, and his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend turns out to be a 126-year-old [Adolf Hitler](https://www.edgepedia.org/adolf-hitler) hiding in Argentina, played by Bill Hader.[7](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/7-things-you-should-know-about-man-seeking-woman/) • [8](https://www.avclub.com/jay-baruchel-looks-for-love-in-the-uneven-but-often-ins-1798182386)
Writer Dan Mirk explained the show's central rule: the surrealism is not framed as fantasy or dream. "The way that we're playing it is that it's all real... In the reality of this show, these things are happening."[7](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/7-things-you-should-know-about-man-seeking-woman/) The actors play these events straight, which is the technique Rich has described as the point of the show: a simple story about a guy looking for love, told in a new way, with time travel, aliens, trolls, and a Japanese penis monster named Tanaka in the mix.[7](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/7-things-you-should-know-about-man-seeking-woman/)
**Structure.** Episodes run about 20 minutes and are built on a small number of extended set pieces rather than many short gags. [The A.V. Club](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-a-v-club) described the format as a high-risk gamble, and [The Week](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-week) noted that a premise that could fill a whole movie (a war room assembled to compose a single text message, for example) constitutes just one of three acts within a single episode.[9](https://www.avclub.com/man-seeking-woman-pitbull-1798182561) • [10](https://theweek.com/articles/670320/why-man-seeking-womans-third-season-best-far) There are no cues distinguishing scenes happening in Josh's head from scenes happening in the world; the show exists in a universe where the metaphors are simply true.[8](https://www.avclub.com/jay-baruchel-looks-for-love-in-the-uneven-but-often-ins-1798182386)
## Cast
Jay Baruchel plays Josh as a straight man amid the absurdity. Creator Simon Rich praised his ability to "play things truthfully no matter how insane they become."[10](https://theweek.com/articles/670320/why-man-seeking-womans-third-season-best-far) Eric Andre plays Mike Scaggs, Josh's confident, dating-app-adept best friend who goes out every night expecting adventurous one-night encounters.[5](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/man-seeking-woman/cast) • [8](https://www.avclub.com/jay-baruchel-looks-for-love-in-the-uneven-but-often-ins-1798182386) Britt Lower plays Liz Greenberg, Josh's intimidating older sister, an attorney whose career achievements are overshadowed by her younger brother's love life.[5](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/man-seeking-woman/cast)
**Katie Findlay** joined in season 3 as Lucy Parker, a fiery, smart graphic designer who becomes Josh's serious girlfriend and, eventually, his fiancee.[5](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/man-seeking-woman/cast) • [3](https://www.thewrap.com/fxx-cancels-man-seeking-woman-after-three-seasons/) Maya Erskine played Maggie, Josh's ex-girlfriend, in the first season.[7](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/7-things-you-should-know-about-man-seeking-woman/)
## Origins
Simon Rich wrote for *Saturday Night Live*, Pixar, and *The Simpsons*, and had published several story collections and novels before creating the show; *The Last Girlfriend on Earth*, published by Little, Brown on January 22, 2013, is a collection of surreal relationship stories such as "Center of the Universe," in which God struggles to balance his career with the needs of his long-term girlfriend.[4](https://books.google.com/books?id=HRU3AQAAQBAJ) • [7](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/7-things-you-should-know-about-man-seeking-woman/) Rich has described the series as the most personal work he had done, and in interviews he framed it as a coming-of-age story in which Josh "has an awful lot to learn about himself."[11](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/man-seeking-woman-creator-the-simpsons-is-behind-every-great-tv-comedy/)
The production team drew on writers and directors associated with surreal comedy: Jonathan Krisel (*Portlandia*) was an executive producer and directed half the first-season episodes, alongside directors Ben Berman and Tim Kirkby, with writers including Ian Maxtone-Graham (*The Simpsons*), Robert Padnick (*The Office*), Sofia Alvarez, and Dan Mirk (*The Onion*).[7](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/7-things-you-should-know-about-man-seeking-woman/)
## Season 3 and ending
The third season, which premiered January 4, 2017, changed the show's premise: Josh, who had spent two seasons seeking a woman, now had one, in a serious long-term relationship with Lucy. The Week paraphrased the seasons as "Man Misses Woman," "Man Seeks Woman," and "Man Finds Woman," and argued that the shift, risky because love is a comedy-killer, produced the show's best season, with reviewers at Collider and Uproxx noting how quickly Lucy became central to the series.[10](https://theweek.com/articles/670320/why-man-seeking-womans-third-season-best-far) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/man-seeking-woman/) The season also broadened its focus beyond dating to storylines for its female characters, with Liz's arc treated as a co-equal thread, and it ended with Josh and Lucy's wedding in the finale, "Blood."[12](https://www.avclub.com/man-seeking-woman-s-creator-and-star-on-the-show-s-life-1798259762) • [13](https://avclub.com/man-seeking-woman-isn-t-afraid-to-piss-off-god-in-its-f-1798190677)
FXX canceled the series on April 4, 2017, a month after the low-rated third season concluded. Including seven days of delayed viewing, season 3 averaged 367,000 total viewers per week, despite the season's strong critical reception, a Metascore of 89.[3](https://www.thewrap.com/fxx-cancels-man-seeking-woman-after-three-seasons/) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/man-seeking-woman/)
## Critical reception
Season 1 divided critics on execution while acknowledging the show's originality. Its Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus called it "amusingly surrealistic and enjoyably odd," with an 82% score from 33 reviews, and its Metacritic Metascore was 71 based on 35 reviews.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/man_seeking_woman/s01) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/man-seeking-woman/) Positive reviews, such as [The Daily Beast](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-daily-beast)'s, praised its sharp writing and "gleeful weirdness"; negative ones, such as the [New York Post](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-post)'s, found the absurdist scenarios fell flat visually.[2](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/man-seeking-woman/) The Los Angeles Times called it "a conceptually lithe new comedy" that finds "magic, emotion, humor and weirdness," comparing its blend of fantasy and everyday life to *My World and Welcome to It*, *Louie*, *Broad City*, and *Portlandia*.[14](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-man-seeking-woman-fxx-review-20150113-column.html)
Common Sense Media and some critics noted a recurring weakness in the early seasons: Josh was set up as the sympathetic hero while many of the women he encountered were written as "Types," presented less sympathetically than the male characters, a balance the third season's ensemble work was seen as correcting.[15](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/man-seeking-woman) • [10](https://theweek.com/articles/670320/why-man-seeking-womans-third-season-best-far)
## Legacy
Rich went on to create and showrun *Miracle Workers* on TBS, also adapted from his books.[4](https://books.google.com/books?id=HRU3AQAAQBAJ) Its reputation rests chiefly on the completeness of its three-season arc, which ends with the wedding its title's search promised, and on the distinctness of its central device: taking a figurative expression about dating and making it literally, catastrophically true.[10](https://theweek.com/articles/670320/why-man-seeking-womans-third-season-best-far) • [13](https://avclub.com/man-seeking-woman-isn-t-afraid-to-piss-off-god-in-its-f-1798190677)
## References
1. [FX's Man Seeking Woman | An FX Original Series, FX Networks](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/man-seeking-woman)
2. [Man Seeking Woman Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/man-seeking-woman/)
3. [FXX Cancels 'Man Seeking Woman' After Three Seasons, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/fxx-cancels-man-seeking-woman-after-three-seasons/)
4. [Man Seeking Woman (originally published as The Last Girlfriend on Earth), Simon Rich, Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=HRU3AQAAQBAJ)
5. [Meet the Cast of FXX's comedy Man Seeking Woman, FX Networks](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/man-seeking-woman/cast)
6. [Man Seeking Woman: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/man_seeking_woman/s01)
7. [7 Things You Should Know About Man Seeking Woman, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/7-things-you-should-know-about-man-seeking-woman/)
8. [Jay Baruchel looks for love in the uneven but often inspired Man Seeking Woman, The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/jay-baruchel-looks-for-love-in-the-uneven-but-often-ins-1798182386)
9. [Man Seeking Woman: "Pitbull", The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/man-seeking-woman-pitbull-1798182561)
10. [Why Man Seeking Woman's third season is its best so far, The Week](https://theweek.com/articles/670320/why-man-seeking-womans-third-season-best-far)
11. [Man Seeking Woman Creator: The Simpsons is Behind Every Great TV Comedy, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/man-seeking-woman-creator-the-simpsons-is-behind-every-great-tv-comedy/)
12. [Man Seeking Woman's creator and star on the show's life after marriage, The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/man-seeking-woman-s-creator-and-star-on-the-show-s-life-1798259762)
13. [Man Seeking Woman isn't afraid to piss off God in its finale, The A.V. Club](https://avclub.com/man-seeking-woman-isn-t-afraid-to-piss-off-god-in-its-f-1798190677)
14. [Review: 'Man Seeking Woman' finds magic, emotion, humor and weirdness, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-man-seeking-woman-fxx-review-20150113-column.html)
15. [Man Seeking Woman, Parents' Guide & TV Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/man-seeking-woman)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › American sitcoms and comedy series › 2010s cable and streaming comedies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license