Resident Alien is a science fiction comedy series that currently airs on SyFy but is moving to USA for its 4th season (in 2025? no date has yet been announced). I’ve been evangelizing about this show since it first debuted in 2021 but it seems to still exist under the radar, which is why NBC Universal is moving it to USA, to reach a wider audience. You can currently watch the first two seasons on Netflix and the first three seasons on Peacock.

The premise: an extraterrestrial sent to wipe out the human race crashes his ship on Earth and has to disguise himself as human while looking for his doomsday device under the snow pack in Colorado. The alien’s first human encounter is Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk), a New York neurosurgeon who has a vacation home in the town of Patience, Colorado. The alien kills Dr. Vanderspeigle and assumes his identity. He spends his first three months on Earth holed up in the doctor’s lakeside cabin watching Law & Order reruns to learn English and how to pass as human.

Did I mention this is a comedy? Alien Harry may look human but he doesn’t understand the subtleties of human behavior, which leads him into many awkward situations. Patience is a small town. When their only doctor dies under mysterious circumstances, the sheriff (Corey Reynolds) asks Harry to perform the autopsy. The town mayor (Levy Fiehler) asks Harry to fill in as town doctor until they can find a replacement. Harry has bigger problems than just finding the doomsday device. The real Harry Vanderspeigle’s body is at the bottom of the lake and he needs to find it before someone else does. Also, the mayor’s young son Max sees him in his alien form. No one believes Max except his school friend, Sahar.

Alan Tudyk was the perfect actor for this. You may know him from the Fox space western Firefly (and the subsequent movie, Serenity), the movie Death At a Funeral (the original UK version, not the US remake), or the horror comedy Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. But this isn’t just Tudyk’s show. The entire ensemble cast is terrific. Harry bonds with his doctor’s assistant Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko) and goes on a few awkward dates with Asta’s best friend, the bar owner D’arcy Bloom (Alice Wetterlund). The sheriff’s deputy Olivia (Elizabeth Bowen) is quietly competent but the sheriff takes her completely for granted. There’s also Asta’s dad (Gary Farmer), who owns the town diner. He senses something off about Harry. Linda Hamilton joins the cast late in season 1 as the head of a secret government agency seeking extraterrestrials. Tudyk’s Firefly costar Nathan Fillion voices an octopus who communicates telepathically with Harry. Tudyk’s Dollhouse costar Enver Gjokaj plays a different alien (a ‘Grey’) with his own plans for Earth.

Despite Alien Harry’s mission to commit human genocide, this show has heart. The people of Patience pull Harry into their lives against his will. He even develops a warm relationship with Max, who sees him in his true form. I like the bond between the women on the show. Asta, D’arcy, Olivia, the mayor’s wife Kate (Meredith Garretson), and even town floozie Judy (Jenna Lamia) all support each other.

Resident Alien is based on a Dark Horse comic book by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse. The opening title sequence features a different how-to diagram every episode, showing how to do (and not do) various human things. Someone put together a YouTube supercut of the season 1 title cards:

Is it bingeworthy? Yes, definitely.

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