I’m not really sure that I can consider myself officially a Big Bang Theory fanatic, or even truly a fan, since I have not sat through every single episode of The Big Bang Theory, which I think would be necessary in order to qualify me as a true fan. I have seen quite a bit of The Big Bang Theory, but doing a straight-through binge watch is something I have not accomplished. So I was certainly aware of Stuart Bloom and the comic book store that the guys frequented, but never in a million years would I have imagined that it would serve as fodder for one of the most creative and inventive sitcoms of 2026. Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is the third spinoff from The Big Bang Theory, following Young Sheldon and its own spinoff, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. I watched most of Young Sheldon as well, but couldn’t really get into Georgie & Mandy and gave up after two episodes. Sometimes you spin off the right character, and sometimes you don’t. Somehow, in what absolutely should not have worked, Stuart was the right character.

Kevin Sussman returns as Stuart, the perpetually downtrodden owner of the comic book store, but this isn’t a show that asks him to carry everything alone. He’s surrounded by a wonderfully weird little ensemble consisting of Lauren Lapkus as Stuart’s girlfriend Denise, Brian Posehn as Bert, and John Ross Bowie as Barry Kripke. Kripke is essentially the antihero of the bunch, starting closer to an antagonist before getting stuck along for the journey as Stuart at least attempts to save the universe. Posehn, meanwhile, has spent decades popping up as a character actor and comedian, and it’s nice to see him land something substantial enough to really highlight his particular comedic sensibility. These four bounce around timelines, alternate realities and multiverses where everything has been reshaped into increasingly bizarre configurations. There’s a reality where magic is real. There’s another where they are essentially cows. The show keeps flipping through these wildly creative, and I’m assuming somewhat expensive, set pieces. Luckily, HBO Max ordered a second season before the first was even finished, suggesting that whatever this lunacy costs, somebody decided it was worth paying for more.

One of my favorite running gags involves Gary, the recurring character who seems destined to die in nearly every parallel universe in which he appears. The show openly admits this almost immediately, with the title sequence gleefully announcing, “Spoiler: Gary dies.” The way Stuart Fails to Save the Universe keeps playing around with its opening titles and giving us a slightly different experience every time is kind of brilliant. This is, after all, a Chuck Lorre production, and Lorre became famous for those vanity cards at the end of his shows, where he would put some random thought, observation or joke on the screen. Here, it feels like he’s been given the opening title sequence as an additional playground. Whatever nonsensical joke the show wants to make, they don’t have to hope you stick around until the very end. They just have to hope you don’t hit the skip button.

As far as Big Bang Theory crossovers go, there are plenty. Some familiar minor characters return around the comic book store, but obviously people are looking for the heavy hitters, and at least several of the original cast members agreed to play along. Kaley Cuoco returns as Penny, Mayim Bialik returns as Amy, Melissa Rauch returns as Bernadette, and Kunal Nayyar returns as Raj. Their appearances take advantage of the multiverse concept rather than simply functioning as “Hey, remember this person?” cameos, which makes them considerably more fun. Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki and Simon Helberg remain absent during the first season, meaning Sheldon, Leonard and Howard are still sitting out this particular adventure. Wil Wheaton also pops up, and the show’s connection to Warner Bros. gives it permission to play around with some other familiar intellectual property, including a particularly fun trip into the DC universe. The series understands that nostalgia is useful, but nostalgia can’t be the entire joke.

What surprised me most is how little Stuart Fails to Save the Universe actually resembles the three previous shows in this franchise. This feels closer to what might happen if Taika Waititi had been handed The Big Bang Theory. It’s goofy, silly, darkly funny, satirical and frequently nothing like a traditional sitcom. While the season finale bucks the trend of the episodes preceding it by proving, in some regard, that this show could exist in a weird multicam format, the bulk of the season almost provides commentary on why multicam sitcoms have increasingly given way to single-camera comedy. These characters can go anywhere. The show can construct entire universes around them, destroy those universes, rebuild them and then send everyone somewhere completely different. And there’s no laugh track prompting you when something is supposed to be funny. You’re laughing organically because something was actually funny, not because somebody hit a button telling you that this was the moment.

Sussman is the dark horse leading man at the center of all of this. Stuart feels like somebody who was never supposed to lead a sitcom, which is precisely why watching him lead one becomes so interesting. I’m not sure his Emmy prospects are particularly high, especially with the comedy categories becoming increasingly competitive and the acting fields shrinking, but it would be one of those genuinely surprising nominations that I’d be happy to see. Posehn has also been working forever and gets some terrific material here, though I have a feeling this entire series may ultimately be more beloved by its fans than embraced by awards voters. HBO Max dropping it during the summer probably doesn’t help when Emmy voters will have another mountain of prestige television dumped in front of them before voting. But awards viability has nothing to do with whether you should watch it. You should.

The stranger question is who exactly this show is for. It’s so much wackier, more independent and more free-spirited than anything else connected to The Big Bang Theory that it barely feels like part of the same franchise. It’s a wild, crazy trip made for people who might actively be trying to escape the traditional multicam sitcom format. This is the kind of show that shouldn’t work on almost any level, yet somehow does. It reminded me quite a bit of What We Do in the Shadows, which obviously has the Taika Waititi television connection. Stuart isn’t a mockumentary, but there’s something about the way the comedy is handled, the willingness to embrace absurdity and the way the characters react to increasingly ridiculous circumstances that scratched a similar itch for me.

Part of my enjoyment also comes from the audio description, narrated by Elliot Schiff, who brings some truly wonderful work to the series. I did notice one moment where, in one of the multiverses, somebody apparently had an asshole on their forehead, and I thought the description became a little spotty around exactly what I was supposed to be picturing. It felt like the writer of the track might have been trying to dodge actually describing what that looked like. That’s not really Schiff’s fault, since he’s performing the written description rather than writing it. Schiff, who previously did wonderful work on HBO’s Succession, is a very balanced human narrator. His voice and performance are recognizable enough for him to have an identity, and he’s expressive enough to complement the comedy without trying to become part of it. That matters even more to me at a time when dreary synthetic voices are starting to populate the industry alongside human narrators whose performances are so flattened that they might as well be synthetic. Schiff reminds you why an actual performance matters.

As for the finale, I’ve seen some pushback from people who don’t think it properly sets up the second season, but I would argue that these episodes were made without knowing for certain whether there would be another season. The ending works both ways. It doesn’t completely solve everything, so there’s clearly room for Season Two, but it also doesn’t strand you on some enormous cliffhanger where your life cannot continue until somebody tells you what happens next. It’s a nice, soft place to hold while waiting for the next adventure. Besides, Stuart failing to save the universe is literally the title. It would have been a little awkward if he completely saved it during Season One. What do you call Season Two? Stuart Saved the Universe? Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Again? Eventually you’re just making Die Hard sequels.

I’m excited to see more. I also think it’s entirely possible I would have found even more to appreciate if I were a truly devout Big Bang Theory fan, because I’ve only seen maybe half of the original series and roughly the same amount of Young Sheldon. There are undoubtedly references that flew straight past me, and possibly cameos involving characters from episodes I never saw. Some former guest stars, like the late Bob Newhart, obviously can no longer return, but this universe has accumulated an enormous roster of recognizable faces over the years. With a second season coming, it’ll be interesting to see who else they can bring back and whether they can eventually convince Parsons, Galecki or Helberg to step into this much stranger corner of the franchise.

Stuart may have failed to save the universe, but he did save the summer by giving us a jolt of something fresh that felt sorely needed. We’re in a television landscape where so many shows seem derivative of whatever else is currently working for their streaming service, and Stuart Fails to Save the Universe doesn’t really resemble anything else currently on HBO Max, or frankly much of anything on any other streaming service. That audacious individuality is exactly what the doctor ordered. It’s a surprise breakout that works even if you aren’t deeply invested in the broader franchise, and somehow the Big Bang Theory spinoff that sounded least necessary on paper became the one that took the biggest creative swing. Sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways.

Fresh: 8.3/10