New to Neon in December

Neon will exclusively stream quirky space age comedy Moonbase 8 from December 28.

Following in the footsteps of Avenue 5 and Space Force, it launched early this month on Showtime and wasn’t deemed a giant leap forward for the sub-genre.

John C Reilly and two of the show’s creators, Tim Heidecker and Jonathan Krisel, play astronauts simulating life on NASA’s Moon Base Simulator in the Arizonan desert.

“Unlike the other two space comedy series to come out this year, Moonbase 8 mines comedy from the mundanity of these characters waiting for their chance to go to the moon,” Variety said.

“Heidecker, Krisel, and Reilly have all collaborated on projects before, on shows like Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Portlandia, but Moonbase 8 is a project that manages to combine their collective talents into something both weird and heartfelt.”

Rolling Stone thought it “at least feels timely, if not especially funny, since its subject matter is about the psychological challenge of prolonged isolation from all but a handful of people.”

The Hollywood Report called it “a celebration of mediocre men rising to mediocre levels in a mediocre moment for America.

“By that standard, making Moonbase 8 a mediocre comedy could well be a strategic decision and the four creators are nothing if not versed in meta-comedy.

“So maybe in wishing Moonbase 8 were tighter and smarter and funnier, I’m responding to the show exactly on its intended level.”

Next month Neon also will stream weekly the 11th and final season of Shameless (Mondays from December 7), S6B of Vikings (Mondays from December 22) and from the same day as SoHo,Your Honor (Mondays from December 15)

It also will pick up post-SoHo Industry (December 2) and Murder on the Beach (December 16), and add The Walking Dead S10A (December 9) and Keeping Faith S2 (December 22).