Moonbase 8

None of these three [actors] are rewriting their comedy handbooks as much as bringing their A-game to some sharp writing and allowing their different styles to bounce off each other. It makes for a tight, quirky comedy that has more laughs in its blessedly brief three-hour total running time for this six-episode season than most comedy films released this year.

There is quite the understated humor that one would expect from the show’s stars and creators, which can make the series hard to get into at first. The first two episodes are certainly more of a light chuckle than any big laughs, but as the season progresses—and honestly, by the third episode—the show’s rhythms and idiosyncrasies are quite apparent. ... “Moonbase 8” is a project that manages to combine their [Armisen, Heidecker, Krisel, and Reilly's] collective talents into something both weird and heartfelt.

Krisel and the cast delight in finding ways to mine subtle comedy from the folly of earnest but bumbling men who’ve got the spirit, but not the talent, to escape their own gravity.

Unlike other ambitious adventures into the night sky, “Moonbase 8” is grounded; there’s room for creative expansion in future seasons, but this is a small-scale mission that’s off to a solid start.

Even when the premise feels overly familiar in the wake of similar comedies (to say nothing of all the recent space-race dramas), Heidecker, Reilly, and Armisen generate enough oddball chemistry to power a remote lunar base.

While “Moonbase 8” is often more relaxed than laugh-out-loud funny, it’s a step up from Netflix’s “Space Force,” which tried way too hard and wound up being seriously underwhelming.

While we didn’t laugh much during the first episode of Moonbase 8, we still saw the beginnings of three interesting characters and a great chemistry among them.

In all, “Moonbase 8” is comforting, but disposable entertainment. While the finale surprisingly teases a larger world beyond the desert, the first season is an uncomplicated hang-out.

The comedy here is dry and subtle. If you’re used to watching network sitcoms, this show is not for you. ... Depending on who you ask, “Moonbase 8” is either a hilarious, irreverent comedy or a snoozefest. You’ll have to watch for yourself to see which description is more accurate.

The series might lack the audacity and boundary-pushing of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! or Mister America, but it has enough low-key moments of invention—like the trio taking time out from their training to gamely participate in product testing for a new Snickers bar, or a climatic celebratory dance in newly delivered NASA jumpsuits, soundtracked by Billy Joel—to make you want to see what direction this star-studded lunar vehicle is going to steer toward next.

Moonbase 8 worked best blending dry wit with moving character studies of three men who discovered that even on the Moon – or a fake moon in Arizona – there are some problems from which you cannot run. If only the one-liners functioned as effectively as the pathos.

“Moonbase 8” has its absurdist comedic moments but they’re too hit-and-miss.

Moonbase 8 is, initially, more lackluster even if bursts of humor and humanity break through the subdued (or possibly "subtle," if you prefer) trappings. It could be more or better.

Moonbase 8 is about three guys in what amounts to quarantine, which adds an unexpectedly timely wrinkle to what's otherwise a pretty silly comedy. Even with that, though, this wry but inconsequential Showtime series feels so weightless, despite the talent involved, that it could easily just float away.

The storylines are, at best, mildly involving and the characters so thinly drawn you don’t feel anything approaching a binge-twinge when one episode ends and another is about to begin. This is a take-it-or-leave-it kind of show, and in a streaming/premium cable world where so much material is available, there’s no pressing need to spend your time on Moonbase 8.

A droll but dull comedy. [9 - 22 Nov 2020, p.8]

When the material rises to the occasion of their talents, “Moonbase 8” is the kind of comedy Steve Carell’s “Space Force” wanted to be. ... But alas, the material. The writing has a flatness about it that, at first, seems like a comic tool intentionally trying to evoke a deadpan vibe — before it simply seems like a lack of imagination.

Their three sensibilities should mesh into something magical here but instead "Moonbase 8" just . . . sits there.