Universal Basic Guys is an American animated sitcom created by Adam and Craig Malamut that premiered on September 8, 2024, on Fox.[1] The show centers around a group of South Jersey[2] factory workers who are enrolled in a universal basic income pilot program when their jobs are taken over by AI-powered robots, and left with a monthly income and a lot of free time to get into trouble. In May 2025, ahead of the second season premiere, the series was renewed for a third season.[3] The second season is set to premiere on September 28, 2025.[4]
Cast and characters
Adam Malamut as Mark Hoagies, a proud, carefree and idiotic middle-aged man with a frat-boy persona who often causes trouble wherever he goes whenever he feels slighted; to make matters worse, he's too stubborn to listen to good advice and follow proper procedures
Craig Malamut as
Hank Hoagies, Mark's younger and more simple-minded brother, also more sensible, who is well-liked by most people. He is also Mark's partner-in-crime and loves hot-dogs
Murph, one of Mark's friends, who has connections with the underworld
Talia Genevieve as Tammy, Mark's down-to-earth wife, who works as a nurse and was married once before; she divorced and lost custody of her teenage son Darren, who often visits her and Mark
Fred Armisen as David, Mark and Tammy's neurotic neighbor and a wannabe author, who often gets caught up in their antics
Recurring
Ally Maki as Andrea, David's stern and domineering Asian-American wife with whom he often has unnecessary dramatic confrontations
Brandon Wardell as Darren, Tammy's emotionally withdrawn teenage son, who often visits her and Mark since her divorced husband got custody of him and spends most of his time playing video games
Tommy Pope as Steve DelVecchio, Mark's obnoxious rival who is much more successful and seizes any opportunity he can to gloat to Mark about it.
Wanting to one-up a birthday gift that one of Tammy's co-workers got, Mark and Hank buy her a sickly-looking chimpanzee, which soon rips off Mark's face. David tries to help Murph when an exotic pet python he got tries to kill him.
Mark, Tammy, Hank, David and Andrea all take a cruise where each of them has their own adventure, Mark tries fishing to show up rival Steve DelVecchio, Tammy wants to do karaoke, David wants Andrea to take a break from work and Hank gets stood-up on a date.
Mark's attempts at bonding with his step-son Darren lead to them and Hank coming face-to-face with the Jersey Devil. David ends up receiving a sex-doll package belonging to Mark and he keeps trying to deny ownership to anyone who confronts him over it. Without a trace or even a warning, the Jersey Devil escapes and step-son Darren spends the rest of his life pondering what could have been if he had just taken the Jersey Devil's offer to become his bust boy.
After Tammy saves a man from choking, Mark tries to prove he is capable of being just as heroic, but he repeatedly humiliates himself in front of a bunch of firefighters. Tammy soon finds out that the guy she saved, Paul, has become obsessed with her. Mark is done trying to be a hero and Paul is saved by a certain firefighter who becomes his "new hero", at the restaurant is it soon revealed that the firefighter killed Paul with an ax after he invaded his home through the chimney.
While attending a football game, Mark's attempts at rubbing elbows with the football heads and with a fake Super Bowl ring leads to him becoming the new coach and Hank becoming the new mascot. David tries to enjoy the game, but is quite out-of-touch with the fans.
Mark and Hank and Tammy take a plane to Florida to attend a relatives's funeral, but Mark accidentally gets the pilots killed and his attempts at taking over lead to him butting heads with ground control while Hank is forced to not board the plane when he is mistaken for a terrorist by Airport Security and Tammy fights with a rude passenger. David tries to bond with his phoneaholic niece and nephew (the children of Andrea's sister) to convince Andrea to consider parenthood.
David needs to write a new novel from scratch, so Mark lets him use his dead uncle's cabin in the Pocono Mountains for solitude to write the book, but Mark and his family end up taking a retreat to the cabin as well, distracting Davi. Eventually though, the Hoagies get trapped in a Jumanji-esque situation when they play a cursed board game.
Mark adopts a new children's entertainer persona, but overreacts due to hate comments and tries too hard that the resulting attention brings out the worst in him. Andrea plans to use Mark's newfound fame to help with a problem at her job.
Mark and Hank get a job at an advertising agency, Mark is being irresponsible and lazy while Hank gets a promotion. Tammy clashes with Murph when he attempts to cut the life line on a Russian mobster he in indebted to, but reconsiders it in order to save children's lives.
When Mark and Hank attempt to join the army, Mark's inability to not even make the bed leaves him traumatized. David befriends a veteran after the latter simply complimented him, but soon comes to believe that the veteran is crazy as his story sounds similar to different fictions, until he gets the real evidence.
Mark and Hank goes on a deer hunting and they meet with their former colleague Doug, Doug is secretly a murderer and tries to murder them but Mark accidentally murders him with the crossbow. David struggles to stop a deer from eating his garden and gets help that works too well.
After ruining his father's restaurant and finances in the late '90s, Mark goes into business with Gary & Barry's Water Ice Shoppe during their annual winter closure, but Mark ends up repeating it. Hank lets the homeless man Vernon live the public bathrooms, and Vernon gets back on his feet that he returns the favor to Hank by saving the store and with Mark's idea to make the store go all year long.
Season 2
This season is expected to air on September 28, 2025 on Fox.[4]
Production
Development
In November 2022, it was announced that Game of Zones creators and executive producers Adam and Craig Malamut were set up on an animated series on Fox, called Universal Basic Guys/The Hoagie Bros. The series is produced by Leith Hill Productions, Fox Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television, with Bento Box Entertainment providing the animation.[19] In May 2024, the series was retitled to Universal Basic Guys and renewed for a second season ahead of its debut in the fall.[20] Dan Lagana serves as an executive producer and the showrunner for the first season while Rob Rosell is an executive producer and the showrunner for the second season.[21] In May 2025, ahead of the second season premiere, the series was renewed for a third season.[3]
The series premiered on September 8, 2024, on Fox.[20][1] The second season is scheduled to premiere on September 28, 2025.[4]
In Canada, the series airs on Citytv and is available to stream on Citytv+.[23]
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 29% approval rating with an average rating of 6/10, based on 7 critic reviews.[24]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 41 out of 100 based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[25]
Ratings
Viewership and ratings per episode of Universal Basic Guys
