Out of this world comedy: Aspiring astronauts shoot for ‘Moonbase 8’

Imagine being isolated with little contact with the outside world and longing to go someplace far, far away. With everything going on in the world today, surely a lot of people can relate to such a premise, and a new comedy that takes a look at the lighter side of astronaut life might be just what the doctor ordered.

John C. Reilly (“Step Brothers,” 2008) stars as Cap, the leader of a group of astronauts living at a NASA moon base simulator in “Moonbase 8,” premiering Sunday, Nov. 8, on Showtime. His underlings include Fred Armisen (“Portlandia”) as Skip andtim Heidecker (“Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories”) as Rook, fellow incompetent astronauts desperate to qualify for a lunar mission.

The six-episode, half-hour comedy series was created by Reilly, Armisen and Heidecker along with John Krisel (“Baskets”), who serves as the show’s director. All four men are also credited as writers of “Moonbase 8,” and they are all executive producers with Dave Kneebone (“The Eric Andre Show”). It’s been produced bya24 andabso Lutely Productions.

While the notion of astronauts living essentially “quarantined” from the outside world might seem a bit apropos at the moment, the comedy has actually been in the works since 2018 and was relatively recently picked up by Showtime.

“In a year when we have all been forced to come to terms with life in close quarters, we are happy to have landed this offbeat take on life in captivity with dreams of escaping to something grander,” Showtime executive Jana Winograde said in an official news release when it was picked up in August. “While the show was produced before the pandemic, its subject matter is timely – and, thanks to Fred, Tim, John and Jonathan, its humor is timeless.”

The series is set in a remote area in the desert near Winslow, Arizona, where the harsh conditions mimic some of the challenges the would-be astronauts might face in space. They diligently attempt to carry out their training, despite their obvious ineptitude. Each of the eager, aspiring astronauts has his own reasons for wanting to get to the moon.