History Series / ManSeekingWoman

* {{WidgetSeries}}: While it at first simply seems to be a series about the trials and tribulations of relationships seen through the eyes of an imaginative geek, the show's presentation is much more surreal, with there being no clear indication of whether a scene is simply a fantasy that Josh is having or if the entire series is actually taking place in the reality of a {{CloudCuckooland}}.

* AllgedlyDateless: Josh regularly bemoans his inability to find anyone, but has a GirlOfTheWeek almost every episode, with some like "Dram", "Sizzurp", "Gavel" and "Branzino" show him and the new girl as being quite serious. In turn that means he has a long list of dates and ex-girlfriends over a short period of time. Admittedly, he's very insecure about his relationships and has trouble maintaining them, while his friends, family and even Cupid consider him to be a big loser in the romance department.

* HollywoodDateless: Josh regularly bemoans his inability to find anyone, but has a GirlOfTheWeek almost every episode, with some like "Dram", "Sizzurp", "Gavel" and "Branzino" show him and the new girl as being quite serious. In turn that means he has a long list of dates and ex-girlfriends over a short period of time. Admittedly, he's very insecure about his relationships and has trouble maintaining them, while his friends, family and even Cupid consider him to be a big loser in the romance department.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Josh attempts this but after a heartfelt talk with one of his hands, both pop off his body and crawl away.

''Man Seeking Woman'' is an [[Creator/FXNetworks FXX]] comedy shown since 2015. The show is based on the book "Last Girlfriend on Earth" by Simon Rich, who [[SelfAdaptation also created and ran this show]]. The show stars follows the dating life of 20-something Josh Greenberg (Creator/JayBaruchel), focusing on his dates, flings, and girlfriends. His best friend (Creator/EricAndre) encourages him to pursue sex as opposed to serious relationships, while his older sister (Britt Lower) pushes Josh towards relationships.

''Man Seeking Woman'' is an [[Creator/FXNetworks FXX]] comedy shown since 2015. The show is based on the book "Last Girlfriend on Earth" by Simon Rich, who [[SelfAdaptation also created and ran this show]]. The show stars follows the dating life of 20-something Josh Greenberg (Creator/JayBaruchel), focusing on his dates, flings, and girlfriends. His best friend (Eric Andre) encourages him to pursue sex as opposed to serious relationships, while his older sister (Britt Lower) pushes Josh towards relationships.

Despite a seemingly mundane premise, the presentation goes deep into surrealism. Historical, religious and mythical figures appear as themselves, the characters end up doing battle against otherworldly enemies and often operates on ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' physics, and no one ever acknowledges [[TheComicallySerious these things as being unusual or out-of-place]]. This is never fully explained either an actual function of their world or an ImagineSpot with [[UpToEleven the dial racked to the extreme]], but it serves as a reflection of the absurdity of modern life. Police negotiators are called in when Josh is thinking of drunk texting a girl he likes.

* AbsenteeActor: Both Mike and Liz are prone to not appear in a couple episodes a season, depending on what the story with Josh is about. Conversely when an episode focuses on Liz or another character, Josh still appears at some point in the story.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Partially because the show can be so zany a lot of the humor comes from exploring the fallout of certain decisions, or at the least a BrickJoke that you didn't expect to be an issue but would still be a realistic consideration of events. In one episode TheTag has Josh remember that he still had the sentient "Kyle" sex toy he got for his now ex-girlfriend and with no longer a purpose set him free, a matter of concern for many items acquired while in a relationship. Another episode a RunningGag had Josh trying to assure Mike and Rosa he was cool with them dating by having a jazz riff and backup dancers. He later has to negotiate with the dancers the cost of payment and unexpected union charges.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1587965e8443bae12bc1e9afea6f051a.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Love Is Strange.]]

* GirlOfTheWeek: Josh breaks up with Maggie in the first episode and she returns in multiple episodes to make Josh uncomfortable, but otherwise he has a new potential love interest in near every episode of the first season. The second season continues this pattern until Rosa is introduced partway through, which forms a more long term story arc about Josh as a DoggedNiceGuy towards her. This changes in season 3, when Josh starts dating [[spoiler: and eventual marry]] Lucy, who stays with him for the rest of the series.

* TheUnfavorite: Liz falls into this at times as despite being far more successful and accomplished than Josh their mother still sees him as the golden child. The third season episode "Dolphin" goes into more detail as she realizes she visits her and Josh's father Joel, who is an UpperClassTwit that looks down on the rest of the family for their more blue collar ways. She realizes she has some similar traits and when she stops judging her family she recognizes they are more attentive towards her than she realizes.

* UnrequittedLoveSwitcheroo: Josh has a massive crush on Rosa for a few episodes but after an ill-timed attempt to kiss her she rejects him. She and Mike turn out to like each other and start dating, and Josh moves on. After she and Mike break up, she is lonely and decides to reach out to Josh, who is still in the mode of assuming she isn't interested in him. This all turns out to be subverted, as she confesses she ''wanted'' to like Josh but just wasn't attracted to him.

** The Season 3 episode, "Shrimp", features a brief reference to the Dragon Blade game from the Season 2 episode, "Card", this makes even more sense considering both episodes revolved around Josh feeling like a failure in his professional life

* GirlOfTheWeek: Josh breaks up with Maggie in the first episode and she returns in multiple episodes to make Josh uncomfortable, but otherwise he has a new potential love interest in near every episode of the first season. The second season continues this pattern until Rosa is introduced partway through, which forms a more long term story arc about Josh as a DoggedNiceGuy towards her. This however, changes in season 3, when Josh starts dating [[spoiler: and eventual marry]] Lucy, who stays with him for the rest of the series.

* ImagineSpot: The surreal aspect of the show makes it difficult to tell if the insanity going on is a simple overactive imagination or a practical part of the setting. The complexity of these moments imply the latter. In one episode, a group of military officials advise Josh on what to say when he texts a girl to ask for a date.

* PokemonSpeak: Tanaka only says his name. Whitney can understand him, though.

** So far they've managed to work ''Literature/InfiniteJest'' into nearly every episode.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Partially because the show can be so zany a lot of the humor comes from exploring the fallout of certain decisions, or at the least a BrickJoke that you didn't expect to be an issue but would still be a realistic consideration of events. In one episode TheTag has Josh remember that he still had the sentient "Kyle" sex toy he got for his now ex-girlfriend and with no longer a purpose set him free, a matter of concern for many items acquired while in a relationship. Another episode Josh a RunningGag had Josh trying to assure Mike and Rosa he was cool with them dating by having a jazz riff and backup dancers. He later has to negotiate with the dancers the cost of payment and unexpected union charges.

* {{Yandere}}: Maude appears to be this, but really isn't.

* HiddenDepths: Despite his shallow, frat bro personality Mike was able to translate the exorcist's Italian and spoke whatever language N'Kluktu was speaking.

* ImagineSpot: The show heavily relies on these. In one episode, the main character imagines a group of generals advising him on what to say when he texts a girl to ask for a date.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: "Tinsel": [[spoiler:Liz]], for the first half of the episode denies that [[spoiler:she's having an affair with Santa Claus, at least until she accepts it.]]
* TheStoner: Josh and Mike [[note]]Though they have yet to actually do it on screen, many episodes feature Mike suggesting to Josh that they get high and go do or see something, usually animal-related. It's also been mentioned by Liz that Josh's diet as a newly-single man consists solely of ramen noodles, weed, and frozen chimichangas.[[/note]]
** In "Scepter", Josh travels back in time to college and interrupts himself smoking with Mike to tell himself to study Economics rather than Philosophy.

* {{Yandere}}: Maude appears to be this, but really isn't.
* YourCheatingHeart: Josh ends up dating Kayla and they are having a great time, Mike is even concerned they are looking towards marriage. Then Maggie, Josh's long-standing ex, shows up at his front door upset and looking for solace. Josh obliges out of lingering concern for her, but spends their entire night arguing with a court of law about the line between hanging out with an ex and cheating on his girlfriend. They then end up having sex, Maggie regrets and Kayla finds out shortly after, just telling him he sucks.

** The first scene of the first episode ends with Josh walking alone on a sidewalk, depressed after his break up with Maggie. The final scene of the Season 1 finale "Scepter" ends with Josh, Liz, and Mike all running together happily in the streets after Josh has made peace with the end of his relationship with Maggie, [[spoiler: as well as joy from killing an evil alien dictator]].

* BookEnds:
The show had an interesting habit of doing this with each season.

** The first scene of first episode ends with Josh walking alone on a sidewalk, depressed after his break up with Maggie. The final scene of the season 1 finale ends with Josh, Liz, and Mike all running together happily in the streets after Josh has made peace with the end of his relationship with Maggie, [[spoiler: as well as joy from killing an evil alien dictator]].

** Both the premier and finale of the second season deal with Josh and Mike potentially losing their friendship over each other's romantic relationships, with the finale having Josh be honest with Mike about his insecurities towards him and his better dating history.

** Both the premier and finale of the second season deal with Josh and Mike potentially losing their friendship in FriendVersusLover storylines, with the finale having Josh be honest about his insecurities towards Mike and his better dating history.

** The first scene of first episode ends with Josh walking alone on a sidewalk, depressed after his break up with Maggie. The final scene of the season 1 finale ends with Josh, Liz, and Mike all running together happily in the streets after Josh has made peace with the end of his relationship with Maggie, [[spoiler: as well as killed an evil alien dictator]].

** The first scene of the show has Josh walking away from Maggie with his stuff and a PersonalRaincloud forms over his head, with pigeons hitting him. The final scene [[spoiler: has the newly married Josh and Lucy go for a walk together and kiss, which produces a ray of sunshine parting the clouds above them as the rest of the world is rained on and struck by pigeons]].

* BookEnds: The first scene of the show has Josh walking away from Maggie with his stuff and a PersonalRaincloud forms over his head, with pigeons hitting him. The final scene [[spoiler: has the newly married Josh and Lucy go for a walk together and kiss, which produces a ray of sunshine parting the clouds above them as the rest of the world is rained on and struck by pigeons]].

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: "Tinsel": [[spoiler:Liz]], for the first half of the episode denies that [[spoiler:she's having an affair with Santa Claus, at least until [[GoodAdulteryBadAdultery she accepts it.]]]]

* PrematurelyBald: [[spoiler: Josh views himself this way, after finding out he'll be totally bald within three years. He doesn't think this will be enough time to find the girl of his dreams.]]

* UglyGuyHotWife: While most of the girls Josh dates are maybe a bit more attractive than him, this is a core premise behind Josh and Whitney. Whitney is a step up from most of Josh's girlfriends, and he proudly shows her off to any and all rivals. It turns out Josh gets uncomfortable that she is friends with Tenaka, a Japanese tentacled penis monster. Liz also implies he is not that into Whitney as a person, only desperate to keep her because he's concerned he won't find anyone nearly as pretty as her.

* WeddingFinale: Series finale episode "Blood" had Josh and his season three girlfriend, Lucy, get married [[spoiler: and face off a monster named Grangdor]].

* LighterAndSofter: The 3rd, and final, season was pretty much this.
** Josh got into a long-term relationship with Lucy that lasts the entire season
** Josh also works more to get over his insecurities that got him into trouble in previous seasons.
** Season 3 episodes also tended to end on a more earnest and sentimental note than in previous seasons.
** On an aesthetic level the show also became lighter, through its cinematography emphasizing more sunlight and brighter lighting in episodes, and deemphasizing the shadowy dimmer lighting often seen in previous seasons.
** Granted even with the Lighter tone, season 3 showed no less of the MindScrew that the show was known for.

* LoveHurts: Oh, yes. One ColdOpen in particular shows Josh having a wonderful day: the sun is shining, his breakfast is unusually perfect, he impresses some kids with a half court basketball shot and randomly wins $1,000 for riding the company elevator. He then asks Rosa if she wanted to get lunch that day, and she responds that she was having lunch with her boyfriend. At home Eric asks him how his day went and Josh, holding all the free prizes he won that day, miserably says it sucked.