It feels like something that came to creators Chuck Lorre, Zak Penn, and Bill Brady after a couple drinks: What if we took characters from our show named after the beginning of the universe and hurled them into the end of it? The answer to this hypothetical “The Big Bang Theory” spin-off is HBO Max’s “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” a ten-part original comedy with a few admittedly clever ideas here and there connected by repetitious joke writing, thin plotting, and just not enough to stay engaged. Spread out over weeks, it’s the kind of thing that’s too forgettable to feel insulting, especially at each episode’s remarkably short runtime, but the binge-viewing necessity of TV criticism reveals its many flaws. Most importantly, the end of the world will probably be funnier.
Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman) started as a minor, recurring character on “The Big Bang Theory,” developing into a larger presence on the show in later seasons (he was listed as main cast for seasons 8-12). The owner of Comic Center in Pasadena is joined on “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” by three other “BBT” ensemble members: Brian Posehn as Bert Kibbler, Lauren Lapkus as Denise, and John Ross Bowie as Barry Kripke. In the show’s pilot, the world has already collapsed into “The Last of Us”-esque chaos, complete with dwindling supplies and supernatural enemies. Stuart and Bert are using Comic Center as a base, throwing things into an interdimensional rift that they don’t really understand.
One day, an alternate reality version of Stuart comes to our reluctant hero and tells him that he’s the key to saving mankind in this timeline and beyond. Stuart and his three allies end up traveling across alternate realities, ostensibly to try and save the universe, but they’re basically just jumping from frying pan to fire and back again. The structure is simple: Drop the quartet of multiverse travelers into a new concept and watch as they try to figure out how to escape before the episode ends. It can be as simple as a reality in which everyone has telepathy or as ludicrous as one in which everyone eats grass and chews their cud like cows.
The timeline jumping gives “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” the structure of a comic series: Same characters, different adventures every chapter, recurring guest stars (including some from “BBT” that shan’t be spoiled but become a bit of a crutch early on as we’re more interested in who pops up next than the developing leads). The characters become, at best, secondary to the concepts. Sussman does alright holding the show as Stuart, but Lapkus is given almost nothing to play as his love interest Denise, and Bowie’s schtick gets exhausting in its alternating punchlines of horniness, cruelty, and mocking people with speech impediments. Posehn is great at this kind of “gentle giant” thing, but even he struggles to stand out.
The overall issue with “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” is a simple one: It’s just not funny enough. Standing back and looking at its ambitious concept gives it a few style points, for sure—it’s not just “Big Bang 2,” which I’m sure CBS would have backed up money trucks for the creators to make—but the humor writing is shallow and predictable, almost defiantly so in light of the bigger ideas in the outline of the show. It’s as if they knew they had an “out there” premise, and so the writers’ room intentionally tied it to depressingly predictable sitcom writing. We get it: Kripke is a horny dick with a speech impediment. It’s a joke that grew old on another show, which means it feels stale on this one despite its first season status. And it feels like even the writers know they don’t have enough material here as episodes are consistently under 18 minutes long—the seventh one lands at a depressing 14 minutes without credits.
There are, admittedly, glimpses of ingenuity on “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.” The opening credits play with the idea of skipping stream introductions with different messages every week, set to a great theme song by Danny Elfman. And there’s one episode that completely shifts the dark tone as the gang land in a utopia that’s never heard of things like ownership or monogamy (and completely destroy it). These blips aren’t enough to recommend “Stuart,” but they do hint at where the show could go in future seasons, leaving behind so much of the “BBT” baggage that it willfully brought on this inaugural trip for a brighter reality.
“Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” premieres on HBO Max on July 23, 2026. Whole season screened for review.
