With a 67% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a 72 score on Metacritic, the first reviews for HBO Max‘s Big Bang Theory spin-off, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, range from superhero triumph and supervillain origin story.
Co-created by Theory mastermind Chuck Lorre, the series follows fan favorite comic book shop owner, Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman), who finds himself at the center a mad multiversal nightmare. It’s up to him to try an repair reality with some help from Denise (Lauren Lapkus), Bert (Brian Posehn), and Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie)… as well as a plethora of alternate versions of characters that fans already know.
Stuart‘s RT score is the lowest for a freshman season in the extended BBT franchise. Season 1 of The Big Bang Theory earned 84%, Young Sheldon Season 1 scored 76%, and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Season 1 received 89%. Since TBBT was an Emmy favorite — winning 10 trophies from 55 career nominations — the new sci-fi spin-off should be taken seriously.
Stuart will debut the first of its 10-episode season on Thursday, the same day its star-studded panel takes place at San Diego Comic-Con. HBO Max is pulling out all the stops to ensure it becomes a hit — and some TV critics are fully on board the Stuart train.
Let’s dive into the good, mixed, and bad reviews for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.
THE GOOD
One of the more glowing reviews comes from Karina Adelgaard of Heaven of Horror, who writes: “I cannot wait for Season 2. …I really enjoyed how this show went all-out in paying tribute to all kinds of genres. You will see monsters, and whenever a new universe looks very similar to our own, just wait. It is never quite the same.”
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is “not only funny but endlessly clever,” raves M.N. Miller of FandomWire. “This is easily the best new sitcom of the year because of the sharp ensemble and cosmic chaos that constantly entertains its audience.”
And Greer Riddell of Collider declares: “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe‘s excesses occasionally overwhelm its emotional core, but its biggest success is giving the most overlooked characters of The Big Bang Theory their own journey.”
THE MIXED
Ana Dumaraog of Screen Rant calls it a “disjointed show” and argues that the “bold risk barely pays off,” adding: “Jokes don’t land for the most part, and without the physicality of being in a multi-cam setting, it’s all the more obvious.”
“An easy comedy to slip in and out of,” notes Abe Friedtanzer of Awards Buzz. “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is light and fleeting in a way that works perfectly for what it’s intended to be.”
THE BAD
Not mincing words, Chase Hutchinson of the Seattle Times calls the series “apocalyptically bad” — ouch. “For all the universes the show sporadically takes us into and the inescapable strangeness of its existence, it never finds one that’s actually worth saving,” he notes.
Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com complains that Stuart “wastes [the] clever concept” and that it amounts to nothing more than a comedy with “a few admittedly clever ideas here and there connected by repetitious joke writing, thin plotting, and just not enough to stay engaged.”
Finally, TV Guide‘s Liam Mathews blasts the character development, writing: “None of the characters change enough to make the season feel complete.” He agrees with the other critics who say Stuart Fails to Save the Universe “takes a big swing, but fails to connect.”
