It’s not easy keeping up with all the shows out there in the age of streaming, particularly those on traditional networks. Too often are they eclipsed by the high-concept, big-budget offerings on platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV. Sometimes, though, you just crave the original formula. Sometimes, there’s nothing better than the simplicity and stakes of a network dramedy. Though they couldn’t be more different from the glossier shows that dominate the market now, that’s exactly what makes them feel so special now. And it’s not just the so-called “vintage” finds, like Gilmore Girls or even something as recent as Suits, that fit the bill. There are plenty of shows that have tried to keep that spirit alive in the 2020s, like SyFy’s Resident Alien.
A massively underrated genre bender in its own right, Resident Alien was a difficult show to define — but no less delightful. Touted as “the mystery sci-fi small town doctor dramedy Earth needs now,” SyFy knew the show was a lot. But therein lies its charm: part Invasion of the Body Snatchers, part offbeat procedural like Monk or Bones, Resident Alien was keen to let its freak flag fly. Like a handful of SyFy shows, it was based on a lesser-known graphic novel, lending it a tongue-in-cheek edge that straddled the tone of any quaint network drama and a much darker cable series. Across four seasons, it never quite took off the way it deserved to, but its first season — and even its debut episode — makes a great case for the old ways.
It begins with an ironclad premise: an unfeeling alien is dispatched to the planet Earth to orchestrate an extinction-level event. He’s the perfect one for the job, as he hates Earth and the humans who populate it. But when his mission is derailed by a lightning storm and his spacecraft crashes somewhere in the Colorado mountains, our hero has to scramble to improvise. In a cabin nestled miles from the nearest town, he murders and takes on the identity of the first human he finds: Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk). Adopting his physionomy buys him the time he needs to comb the mountains to find his ship — that is, until the people of Patience, Colorado, call on “Harry’s” skills.
When Patience’s one and only physician is mysteriously murdered, Harry’s suddenly a local hero. He has to help solve the crime (which he’s eager to do, as a lover of Law & Order), step up as the town’s new doctor, and pretend to be a human. That last task proves borderline impossible: Harry is utterly immune to sarcasm or humor, nor did he ever fully master the art of smiling or laughing. Bafflingly, though, no one suspects anything truly untoward except for Max Hawthorne (Judah Prehn), a young boy who can somehow see through his disguise.
Resident Alien might have had big ideas, but it approached them from an intimate lens.
The first season of Resident Alien plants Harry in the midst of a tangled web of secrets and conspiracies, but none of it would be nearly as compelling if it weren’t for its stellar pilot. The show’s debut set an ideal foundation for the series, establishing clear stakes for Harry while teasing the beginnings of a true reckoning. The biggest draw of the series is watching a character who hates humans gradually become something close to human himself — and it’s evident, from Resident Alien’s first episode, that Harry’s development will be packed with both humor and heart.
Smack in the middle of the pilot, Harry learns about the joys of strong whiskey and 2010s-era Nicki Minaj, and lets loose for what might be the first time in his entire life. Later, he shares a moment of vulnerability with Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko), a nurse at the Patience clinic reckoning with the mistakes of her past. Both beats feel relatively simple compared to the profound, sometimes overwrought emotional stakes in post-Peak TV shows, but that subtlety rings like a breath of fresh air. It perfectly set the tone for a show that functions on an equal balance of alien hijinks and small-town interpersonal stakes. Though its sci-fi leanings only got stronger as the seasons progressed, Resident Alien had the guts to start small, and that feels like a luxury today.
