Previewing People of Earth

The Daily Show used to be my right before bedtime ritual, turn it on and watch the first segment while the dogs did their last doggy business of the day so they do not have an accident at night. I did give Trevor Noah a try but it was rough and never really got much better. I guess having a foreigner tell us how messed up our country comes across as mocking while when New Jersian John Stewart did it the show was more cathartic. What makes the transition worse is that The Daily Show had a deep bench of correspondent yet no of them were the ones that got promoted. John Oliver started the mass exodus going to HBO, but since then a few former Daily Show members have found a soft landing at TBS. First husband and wife team Jason Jones and Samantha Bee got a pair of shows, she is doing a weekly version of The Daily Show while he is headlining The Detour.

Now Wyatt Cenac has found himself on the latest TBS comedy, People of Earth. He plays a skeptical journalist sent to report on an alien abduction support group lead by Ana Gasteyer (Suburgatory) meeting in a church overseen by Oscar Nuñez (The Office). But it comes more and more obvious that Cenac may have a close encounter while traveling to the small town after seeing deer everywhere he goes. See animal attracts are the number one cover up for alien abductions, or so the support group would have others believe.

The reoccurring line the aliens tell the abductees is, “Don’t get weird.” Thankfully few people in the group take their advice. There is the guy who blames the lizard people for everything wrong in his life including abducting his wife, though she may have just left a year ago. But the weirdest of them all may be Gerry, the one guy in the group who was not actually abducted but wants nothing more than to be taken away. And though they ask the humans not to get weird, the aliens are just that. And by weird, I mean the funniest part of the show, I just wished they were a bigger part of the show.

People of Earth airs Mondays at 9:00 on TBS.