‘People of Earth’ Review: Close Encounters with Aliens in Conan O’Brien’s TBS Sitcom

A tired premise and cartoonish characters make this comedy a bit too earthbound

Extraterrestrials have lived among us (“3rd Rock From the Sun”), set up their own neighborhoods (“The Neighbors”), mixed with other species where they hung out in space (“Red Dwarf”) and even featured prominently on “Saturday Night Live” for several years (the Coneheads sketches back in the ’70s).Taking the concept and twisting it around to focus on those who have had alien encounters, however, is a pretty fresh take on the topic.

The only catch is that as Ozzie is driving in from the big city to cover the group he has an encounter of his own, making him question his own jaded, preconceived notions.

Offbeat and inherently silly, the pilot goes on to explain that there are three kinds of aliens – big eyed creepers, lizard-like beings and good-looking Ryan Gosling types, but their real motivations and what they want with the humans they abduct become one of the show’s main mysteries by the end of the pilot.

Between his sarcastic comedic timing and facial expressions he alone is enough to carry the show, but Ozzie’s personality is rounded out by characters that are inherently crazier than he is in order for his descent into a believer to work.

Helping creator David Jenkins along are executive producers Conan O’Brien and Greg Daniels, who famously turned the American version of “The Office” into a long-running success story.

[...] although this is a rare instance for viewers to explore alien life from a new point of view, the support group premise itself isn’t a new one; Matthew Perry’s 2012 entry “Go On” was unable to find success bringing people together with the very same setup.