‘STUART FAILS…’ succeeds – slides into a second season…

The Big Bang Theory was a phenomenon, a comedy with serious greek credentials that ran for over a decade and became landmark television.  Its main cast were Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter, Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, Kaley Cuoco as Penny, Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz and Kunal Nayyar as Raj Koothrappali, later joined by Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik, as Bernadette Rostenkowski and Amy Farrah Fowler, respectively.

In its wake, we’ve had prequels: Young Sheldon (2017-2024 starred Iain Armitage in the title role and detailed the formative years of the resident ill-adjusted genius) and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage (2024-to-date) with its focus on the years immediately following Young Sheldon but with its focus Sheldon’s brother Georgie (Montana Jordan) and his marriage to an older woman, Mandy (Emily Osment).

The latest spin-off (created by mainstays Chuck Lorre, Zak Penn, and Bill Prady) is Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, currently showing on HBO MAX and is quite a different animal entirely. Featuring several of TBBT‘s supporting cast – Kevin Sussman as Stuart, Lauren Lapkus as Denise, Brian Posehn as Bert) and John Ross Bowie (Barry Kripke) it has more in common with the cult hit Sliders than with its… well, mothership. Its premise is that Sheldon, Leonard and Harold created a device that accessed the multiverse and Stuart accidentally broke it… now ‘a‘ Stuart has appeared to tell another Stuart that he must fix space/time and so Stuart (and friends) find themselves sliding from reality to reality (each more bizarre than the last) hoping that each slide will be the slide home.

It’s a series without a laughter-track but still full of franchise and genre in-jokes (and familiar guest-stars)… but with an obviously higher budget and a higher concept than the original show. No-one knew if the series would work, but it’s had respectable ratings since its launch and now at its halfway point of that first season it’s now confirmed that the series will return for a second next year.

“We’re delighted with how this hilarious, genre-bending show from Chuck, Zak, and Bill has connected with the audience, both devotees of The Big Bang Theory and new fans alike,” said Amy Gravitt, EVP, HBO Programming, Head of HBO & HBO Max Comedy Series. “Along with everyone else, we can’t wait to see the worlds they conjure for these beloved characters next season.”