A Cult Favorite Sci-Fi Comedy Show Is Currently Killing It On Netflix
The search for the next "Suits" has begun! Aaron Korsh's legal drama series gained a whole new lease on life in 2023 thanks to Netflix, becoming the year's most-streamed show and giving USA Network's loyal middle-aged target demographic a reason to fist pump in vindication. The only question now is, what lucky show will follow in its footsteps? Surprisingly, an unlikely candidate has emerged in the form of "Resident Alien," a genre-blending cult favorite that's currently in the process of airing its third season on Syfy.
Anchored by fan-favorite performer and voice actor extraordinaire Alan Tudyk (the man who clucked his way into audiences' hearts as Heihei in "Moana" and wooed his own butt as Clayface in "Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special"), "Resident Alien" has managed to climb its way into Netflix's Top 10 in the U.S. According to the streaming viewership aggregator FlixPatrol, it was the platform's eighth-most streamed series on February 14 and continued to ascend the charts in the days that followed. It went on to secure the number two spot four days later and has been holding steady there ever since, even ahead of much-buzzed-about Netflix originals like "One Day" and "Griselda." No doubt, its rise was partly fueled by those who caught wind of season 3 kicking off last week on Valentine's Day and decided to give the off-kilter sci-fi mystery-comedy a look.
Oh, I'm an alien, I'm an illegal alien
Even as streaming monsters like Netflix have revolutionized the ways we watch television over the last decade, Syfy has continued to chug along, powered by genre series like "The Expanse," "The Magicians," "Z Nation," and the ongoing "Chucky." That also makes it the perfect home for an oddball show like "Resident Alien," which casts Tudyk as an extraterrestrial who's hell-bent on invading Earth and exterminating humanity, only to crash-land in the podunk town of Patience, Colorado. Assuming the identity of the local doctor Harry Vanderspeigle, the planet's would-be conqueror struggles to uphold his disguise (it doesn't help that he learned how to behave like a human by watching "Law & Order" reruns), all the while growing fonder of the people around him and coming to realize that some of them might just be worth saving.
Tudyk is himself no stranger to niche live-action genre shows, having previously starred in "Firefly" and "Doom Patrol" (also, justice for his role in the short-lived "Powerless," a workplace sitcom about non-superpowered individuals in the DC Universe who specialize in developing products to protect civilians from being killed in the never-ending battles between superheroes and supervillains). He's joined in the "Resident Alien" cast by Sara Tomko as Asta Twelvetrees, Patience's head nurse and a Native American woman with a pretty tragic backstory, and iconic Indigenous American actor Gary Farmer ("Dead Man," "Smoke Signals," "Reservation Dogs") as Dan Twelvetrees, Asta's adopted father and a Vietnam War vet who owns the local eatery, Joe's Diner.
Maybe humanity isn't so bad after all
Developed for television by Chris Sheridan and adapted from the Dark Horse comic books created by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, "Resident Alien" has taken on a life of its own since it premiered in January 2021. In the words of /Film's resident, uh, "Resident Alien" aficionado Valerie Ettenhofer, "Like the show, the 'Resident Alien' comics involve some mystery-solving, some shadowy men in black, and characters like Asta and Dan (Gary Farmer). But the comics feature more standalone mysteries while the series is by now focused mostly on saving the world from total alien domination."
For all the flak Netflix gets for bringing newfound attention to notorious big-screen flops or trashy older shows that would do better to be forgotten, it's a blade that cuts both ways and can also shine a light on a more deserving subject like "Resident Alien." The series has been praised by critics since its debut, with Brian Tallerico writing that it has the same "folksy charm" as the '90s classic "Northern Exposure" in his review of season 1 for RogerEbert.com. Echoing that in his review for the Los Angeles Times, Robert Lloyd noted that the show's characters "bring in a hint of 'Northern Exposure'" and heralded season 1 as a roundly enjoyable addition to the time-honed tradition of comedy series about other-worldly beings chilling on our pale blue dot (going all the way back to "My Favorite Martian" and "Mork & Mindy").
As "Resident Alien" continues to expand its audience on Netflix, that only improves its chances of surviving to a fourth season (an increasing rarity for any show in this current era of television). In the meantime, those who are already caught up can watch season 3 in real-time as it airs new episodes on Wednesdays on Syfy.