People of Earth: Season 1 (full show)

December 14, 2016 11:37 AM - Season 1 (Full Season)

Ozzie Graham (Wyatt Cenac) is a reporter who has worked for The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Glint Enterprises, but when he goes up to the small town of Beacon, New York to report on StarCrossed, a support group for people who believe they've been abducted by aliens and... meet in a Catholic church for some reason, he finds more than an interesting story. He decides to move to Beacon and spend more time with the “experiencers” (do NOT call them “abductees”). [Airs/ streams on TBS, the final two episodes will air Monday, Dec. 19, 2016]

People Of Earth is nominally a comedy, and to be sure, there are laughs scattered throughout the first two episodes, mostly stemming from the general absurdities of the characters and the experiences they are describing. That being said, the show has roughly equal elements of mystery and drama. By the time the second episode ends, the jokes can’t help but feel secondary. The audience wants to learn more about these characters both for the purpose of empathizing with them, and attempting to figure what they’re up to.

- A.V. Club review of the first two episodes.

If you'd like to see some clips, here's the official trailer, which keeps things vague; the official teaser that gives a bit more away, and the Season 1 Preview that actually might spoil some things if you're good at putting pieces together (it includes clips up through 7th episode).

posted by filthy light thief (13 comments total)

LOVE. THIS. SHOW. High quality content A++ would watch again
posted by bleep at 11:44 AM on December 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm trying to get through this, but man, it's really dense and not very laff-a-minute (last night, we watched Ana Gasteyer get one of her patients killed! Hilarity!). But it's so good.
posted by Etrigan at 11:44 AM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I, too, love this show. It's not Quirky To The Max, there's no spooky X-Files feeling, and as the A.V. Club review notes, it's not really a comedy. Instead, it's a collection of stories about the ensemble cast. Everyone is great, but I didn't want to give a whole list of character bios, but I did add all the key folks in the tags.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:46 AM on December 14, 2016

LOVE this show. I must be on some spectrum because I find the show hilarious.

I want more scenes with the crabby gray alien.
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 12:31 PM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, this is nearly as funny as a standard sitcom, to me - the roving scope is great, and I like the weird... flattening of absurdity? that comes with the setting.
posted by sagc at 12:52 PM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

...and it has been renewed for a second full season before the entire first season has aired... which is a good sign.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:18 PM on December 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I love this show so much. I've been trying to get an address to send them some of the Alien Support Group lapel pins I had made, but keep striking out.

That the brought back the Nordics/Tall Whites (Don) makes me happy. These were the pre-Communion aliens, the ones who would come down, tell us we need to lay off the nukes, and encourage us to start, I dunno, nudist cults where we could raise our vibrations. These were the aliens who brought a message rather than the cold Greys who always took or the lurking Reptilians who always lie.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:18 PM on December 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

My favorite thing is that all three races of aliens are working together, with Don and Jeff now existing as an odd couple (RIP Kurt the Reptilian).

Question: are the Reptilians the only ones who have a plan to take over the world? What do the greys and whites get out of this deal? I haven't seen the 8th episode yet, so maybe it's answered there.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:26 AM on December 15, 2016

While I appreciate the depth and cleverness in this show, I mostly love the fact that the grey type alien always leans over from the top of the screen during the abduction scenes apparently just to underline how much he looks like a bawbag. It's the simple things.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 12:45 PM on December 15, 2016

oneswellfoop: it has been renewed for a second full season

So we get to see more of Nancy (or at least her head), Jonathan Walsh gone rogue and living on a (very strict) budget, the adventures of Officer Glimmer and his gambling debts and two divorces, and who the heck is talking to Jeff the Grey. Which alien "class" is missing from this show? Oh shit, there are a ton.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:23 AM on December 20, 2016

I saw the season finale last night. Holy crap is this a great show! It almost reminds me of LOST in the way it reveals tiny bits through flashbacks, and shows you a few connections at a time, just to keep you hooked. The cast is amazing, too. Can't wait til "2017," which is the vaguest return date ever....
posted by jhope71 at 1:27 PM on December 22, 2016

Woah. Lots of things happened in episode 10!

Jeff freaking out and running around the table as the mothership docks might be my favorite thing ever.
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 8:54 PM on December 26, 2016

my new favorite show. all the characters are just so great. I can't wait for more! the normalization of the absurdity is what really charms me.

don't get weird
posted by numaner at 9:53 AM on December 30, 2016 [1 favorite]