Are Yahoo Screen's Other Space and Sin City Saints Worth Your Time? (Hint: Yes)

You're almost certainly aware of Yahoo Screen's eleventh-hour rescue of the internet's most beloved comedy, Community. But alongside the Dan Harmon sitcom and one of the least enjoyable streaming interfaces/experiences in the game are a pair of shows whose launch may've flown under you radar: Yahoo Screen has developed two original programs of its own, the space exploration/workplace comedy Other Space and the sports/workplace comedy Sin City Saints (hey, workplace comedies are an easy place to begin).

And so there are two key questions here: First, while reviving a web-friendly stalwart like Community makes some sense, why in the world is my dad's favorite website making TV shows? Second, are Other Space and Sin City Saints actually worth watching?

To answer the first one, well, as you know, it's been written in the cloud somewhere in Silicon Valley that you cannot operate a major website in 2015 without producing your own original series. Heck, the TV.com team is thinking of making a show or two of our own, simply because it means people will start taking our #brand seriously. That's how it works, right?

And more importantly, to answer the second one: Somewhat surprisingly, BOTH of these shows are indeed worth watching. Other Space is probably the best new comedy of 2015 not titled Fresh Off the Boat, and it's a real treat. Sin City Saints is certainly not at the same level and probably more of an acquired taste, but it's also a decent, amusing little show. As we've done with some of the various offerings on Amazon and Hulu, let's dig into these Yahoo originals a bit more, shall we?

Other Space

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? Other Space is set a century into the future, where the Universal Mapping Project has made intergalactic space travel possible. Unfortunately, UMP hasn't found much of anything for about 50 years, a streak of bad luck it somehow hopes to break by giving young and inexperienced Stewart Lipinski (Karan Soni) his own craft, the famous-but-old Cruiser, much to the chagrin of his overeager and cold sister Karen (Bess Rous). Stewart's crew is full of misfits, including his best friend/former babysitter Michael (Eugene Cordero), his longtime crush Tina (Milana Shukskin), a bureaucrat's son named Kent (Neil Casey), the Cruiser's former leader-turned-burnout Zailen (Joel Hodgson) and Zailen's low-fi robot A.R.T. (Trace Beaulieu), and a very attractive A.I. (Conor Leslie). As Stewart tries to manage the clashing personalities on the Cruiser, an unforeseen disturbance jolts them into untraveled territory.

HOW MANY EPISODES ARE THERE? Season 1 runs eight episodes, all of which are available right now, per the currently common (but still terrible) "all at once" distribution model.

WHAT'S IT KINDA LIKE? Oddly, Other Space is quite a bit like its much more notable Yahoo Screen peer, Community. The show was created by Paul Feig, he of Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, and Bridesmaids fame, and while it doesn't necessarily have the big heart of those first two or the full-court press of jokes as the last one, Other Space is an adept tale of weirdos, losers, and drop-outs coming together. You can easily imagine it and Community teaming up to form one of the lowest-rated comedy blocks in television history. The space travel and science-fiction of it all might remind you a little bit of Futurama, though it's not nearly as absurdist—and that's okay.

IS IT ANY GOOD? Most definitely. While the Feig-penned pilot was focused on typical plot set-up stuff and features a final-act swerve that works but feels a bit rushed, the show's next three episodes were a delight to watch. Perhaps more notably, you can see the way Other Space—from the cast's chemistry to the writers figuring out how to write for each actor—coming together across those four episodes, which is the trajectory that most good comedies follow in their early stages. Other Space also finds the right zone for its "sci-fi" content, in that the set design is amusingly retro (like, cheap 1970s retro), and there are several decent jokes about the perils of space travel, but there are also some sturdy episodic stories that unspool from the galactic setting and the tasks that befall the Cruiser and its crew.

THE VERDICT: You need to find time to watch Other Space, especially if you're a fan of Feig or oddball comedies like Community. It isn't a rapid-fire joke machine, but the cast is very strong—Soni and Shukskin are the standouts, but Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans will certainly be happy with Hodgson's work, too—and there's a real warmth and charm to the show's stories that you're likely to find infectious. I'm not a huge fan of the all-at-once release strategy, but Other Space is definitely the kind of show you'll want to keep watching.

NEXT: Sin City Saints

PREVIOUSLY: Other Space

Sin City Saints

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? The Sin City Saints are Las Vegas's NBA franchise (well, the show doesn't explicitly say that, and the NBA isn't involved, but real players are referenced) and wouldn't you know it, they're quite the mess! When Silicon Valley douchebro-turned-team owner Jake Tullus (Andrew Santino) accidentally injures the Saints' star player LaDarius Pope (Keith Powers) in an unbelievably stupid, mascot-related Popemobile riff accident gone awry, the franchise's dysfunction makes its way onto the court. The league sends in its hard-nosed cleaner, Dusty (Malin Akerman), who unsurprisingly clashes with Jake and his team of executives and coaches (including the GM, played by former NBA'er Rick Fox, and Jake's righthand man Kevin, played by Tom Arnold). The two must work together to keep the Saints afloat, to keep LaDarius's mother from suing the franchise, and to keep Las Vegas from embarrassing the entire NBA.

HOW MANY EPISODES ARE THERE? There are eight episodes in Sin City Saints' first season, all of which are available right now.

WHAT'S IT KINDA LIKE? Like so many zany sports shows and movies that came before it, but with a little more attention to detail. Sin City Saints isn't necessarily interested in a realistic portrayal of what it's like to run a contemporary NBA team, but it has an admirable interest in things like analytics, the dangers of athletes participating in social media, and the media circus that surrounds teams in big metropolises. The presence of executive producer Mike Toliln, who's a big sports fan and who's worked on other sports-related projects in the past, helps in that regard.

IS IT ANY GOOD? Kind of? Sin City Saints certainly revels in the kind of behind-the-scenes debauchery that involves drinking, partying, and strippers, and while that's often part of the athlete lifestyle, it isn't especially interesting to watch. The episodic "hijinks" are generally dumb—when you start off with the team's best player getting drilled by a Popemobile, there's nowhere to go but up, I guess—and your tolerance for Santino's Jake will definitely vary. But this show is also watchable, thanks primarily to Akerman playing a bit against type (and with a tremendous haircut) and several nice touches that sports fans will enjoy. For example, the internal franchise debate between the nerdy analytic guy and the old-school coach is cliché, but it suggests an awareness of real NBA discourse. Simply put, there are more outrageous and/or funny bits to Sin City Saints than I would have ever expected, and they're sold well by comedy pros (Arnold) and ex-pros (Fox and Baron Davis) alike.

THE VERDICT? Sin City Saints is far less essential than Other Space, and it's not a must-watch by any means, but if you happen to enjoy basketball and/or TV shows about poorly managed sports franchises, it might surprise you.

Have you checked out either Sin City Saints or Other Space? If so, what'd you think?