It’s kind of hard to believe how successful The Big Bang Theory became. It’s actually pretty amazing how big the show has become if you really think of it. Their first try at a pilot didn’t work out too well. It was a show where the main characters were geeks and nerds, which history has already shown would lead to cancellation after its first season. And yet The Big Bang Theory lasted for 12 whole seasons and have spun out two spinoffs in Young Sheldon and Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage. Okay, Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage is more like a spinoff of Young Sheldon. But still, both shows wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for The Big Bang Theory.

Well, it turns out Chuck Lorre wasn’t done churning out spinoff from The Big Bang Theory as, several weeks ago, he released a new show set (kinda) in the same universe: Stuart Fails To Save The Universe. And honestly, I thought this show was going to be Chuck Lorre’s first big failure when it came to stuff to come out of The Big Bang Theory. It honestly looked like there was no way this would be good. It doesn’t even star any of the main cast from the original show! But against all odds, I have to say I have enjoyed all three episodes of Stuart Fails to Save The Universe.

By the way, before you read any further, I do have to warn you that I will be revealing some SPOILERS as it’s integral to why I believe the show works when it shouldn’t. So, you have been warned.

So, Stuart Fails To Save The Universe mainly focuses on the secondary characters from The Big Bang Theory. These would be the titular Stuart Bloom, a neurotic and insecure comic book store owner, Bert Kibbler, a socially awkward CalTech geology professor, Barry Kripke, a sardonic string theorist with a speech impediment and Denise Jeffries, a girl who loves comic books and Stuart’s love interest. It’s revealed in the first episode that they live in an alternate reality where an unknown apocalyptic event occurred and people are struggling to survive. This happenedbecause Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstader and Howard Wolowitz developed a device that accidentally caused it. In an attempt to fix the device and bring back the world to normal, the four of them unintentionally start jumping to different alternate timelines where something is generally amiss.

When the show was announced and I heard the pitch, I was, well, skeptical. Like I said, there was so many thing going against it. It was a spin-off of The Big Bang Theory but it didn’t really feature any of the characters who I would think could carry an entire series. I mean, Stuart? Really? Okay, maybe Barry Kripke but that would become a show that relies on one joke that repeats itself over and over again. It’s not like with Georgie Cooper Jr. getting his own show in Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage as he was becoming the breakout character. Even during the last couple of season of Young Sheldon, he was becoming the focus of the show. So, it made sense to give him his own show. This just wasn’t the case for Stuart or even Barry Kripke.

Another uphill battle Stuart Fails To Save The Universe had to overcome is the non-traditional sitcom setup. Say what you will about all the shows Chuck Lorre had put together. You may like them or you may hate them. But they were always set in the “real world.” All the characters and settings were all contemporary, meaning they were still believable. Stuart Fails To Save The Universe totally sidesteps that and decides to add sci-fi elements to a spin-off of a show that was fairly realistic. That major tonal change can alienate longtime fans of The Big Bang Theory.

So, with all of that being said, I personally didn’t have high hopes for this show. While I did enjoy The Big Bang Theory, even I thought Stuart Fails To Save The Universe would be a big failure. And, in fact, early reviews of the show were pretty bad. Okay, “bad” is not the right word. I guess “middling” would be more appropriate. It wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire. So, a part of me actually planned to skip it but, over the weekend when the first episode was released, I had some spare time and I decided to give it a chance. So, I booted up my HBO Max and watched it.

And, to my genuine surprise, I really liked the first episode of Stuart Fails To Save The Universe. It wasn’t just “middling” as the reviews suggested. In fact, I would say I enjoyed it a heck of a lot more than Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage! Why? Well, honestly, there are a lot of little reasons. It does feel kind of nostalgic to see these guys back, even though they weren’t the main stars of The Big Bang Theory. The first episode also showed of Raj Koothrapalli, one of the actual main characters from The Big Bang Theory, opening the doors for future cameos for others to show up where I can point to the screen and say “I understood that reference.” I was also impressed by the production value as this wasn’t just some sound stage they were performing on. These were actual huge sets and that must have cost them some money to make.

However, the biggest reason why I had a good time with the first episode was the quirkiness. And this quirkiness allowed the people behind the show to let their creativity run free. As this has Stuart and his gang travelling all around the multiverse, we get to see them interact with all sorts of other apocalyptic scenarios. And these scenarios will be ones which our geeky and nerdy heroes will be ill-equipped to handle, allowing the writers to make a dark situation funny.

There’s also the quirkiness of the characters themselves. Even though The Big Bang Theory ended around seven years ago, none of our “heroes” have essentially changed. So, it’s easy to jump right back into their adventures as we already know who they are and, since they’re basically the same people, we don’t really need any introduction to who they are. Finally, there’s the inherit quirkiness of the show’s main idea: travelling to different timelines. We all know each world is going to be an almost trope-y version of every apocalyptic scenario we’ve seen before. And, if the first episode was any indication, they were not going to half-ass them! And, thankfully, I was right!

Since then, I have watched all three of the episode HBO Max had put out for Stuart Fails To Save The Universe. While I can’t say this was a gut-busting, laugh a minute comedy show, there were some jokes which work and, because of the general idea, some of the jokes can have a dark tinge to them. I’m still amazed at all of the effort they put into re-dressing the main set to make it feel like totally different worlds and seeing these nerds simply trying to survive in these somewhat nightmarish scenarios. I eagerly awaiting the next episode which, from the trailer, looks like a doozy!

And it turns out I’m not the only one who’s been enjoying Stuart Fails To Save The Universe. After the initial batch of “middling” reviews came out, we got a slew of more positive ones. So far, almost everyone who’s seen the show has been enjoying the multiversal adventures of Stuart, Bert, Kripke and Denise. That’s pretty amazing when you consider a lot of fans didn’t think this had a chance. I don’t know how Chuck Lorre managed to pull that off… but I’m glad he did.

What do you think of Stuart Fails To Save The Universe? Let me know in the comments section below!