Each fall, most of the broadcast and cable networks debut a ton of new shows in the span of a few months, making it difficult to sort out which ones to make time for and which to skip. So we’re starting the WIRED Pilot Program, where we highlight what you should continue watching, and what you can just let sit on your DVR until it automatically deletes. Today's entry: People Of Earth
The Show: People Of Earth (Mondays, TBS)
The Premise: After a car accident, reporter Ozzie Graham (Wyatt Cenac) travels to the rural town of Beacon, New York to write an article on a support group for victims of alien abduction. (They prefer the term “experiencers,” since it provides more agency.) His reporting leads him to realize that his memory of his accident may not be accurate—but instead a cover-up for his own experience with extra-terrestrial species.
The Pilot Program Take: Wyatt Cenac is a fantastic comedian who hasn’t had a comfortable landing spot since he left The Daily Show in 2012. But he's got acting chops—he was great in Moonlight director Barry Jenkins' 2008 movie *Medicine For Melancholy—*and nabbing the lead in a show with executive producers Conan O’Brien and Greg Daniels (The Office) is the perfect opportunity for more national exposure. He can convey the laid-back but serious vibe of an investigative journalist taken off his regular beat, while also being empathetic to the people in an alien abduction support group, and even freaking out a little bit when he finds out what’s been going on with his own memories.
People Of Earth is a 10-episode single-camera comedy that clearly has some more story to tease out about the intentions of the various aliens—Reptilians, Grays, and Whites—so it doesn’t reveal too much during the pilot. But the supporting cast around Ozzie is worthy of further exploration over the course of the entire season. Ozzie’s hazily successful media boss Jonathan (Michael Cassidy) drives an elaborate standing desk and acts way too weird about keeping Ozzie on the alien story. Gina Morrison (Ana Gasteyer) and Gerry Johnson (Luka Jones) prompt Ozzie to reveal his experience with aliens. Father Doug (Oscar Nunez), a the priest whose church provides a meeting space for the support group, bristles at the possibility of blowback from the rest of the community. Richard Shenk (Brian Huskey) searches for his missing wife and is a little patronizing about his theories of alien hierarchies.
The Verdict While the pilot doesn’t accomplish much with the story except revealing Ozzie’s hidden experience and the existence of hidden aliens, it does sketch out a way for him to stay in Beacon, get to know the rest of the support group, and open up more possibilities for science-fiction comedy. There’s a second episode airing right after the first on Halloween night, and it gives a better picture of how the show will progress incrementally while indulging talented comedic performers.
TL;DR Come for Wyatt Cenac, stay for the tight-knit, small-town bickering over the existence of aliens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1mTImmx6Jk
