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There's an interesting story behind the new IFC series "Stan Against Evil." Far more interesting than the series itself, unfortunately.

"Stan" is an attempt at comedy/horror, written and produced by comedian/former "Simpsons" writer Dana Gould. A retired, small-town sheriff, Stan Miller (John C. McGinley, "Scrubs"), reluctantly teams up with his replacement, Evie Barret (Janet Varey), to battle demons.

("Stan" debuts Monday at 9 and 9:30 p.m. on IFC before moving to its regular time slot on Wednesday at 8 and 11 p.m.)

The title character is based on Gould's father, "who I've often described as Archie Bunker without the elegance and sophistication," said Gould, whose inspiration was the thought — "What if my dad had to fight monsters?"

But he wasn't thinking it would turn into a TV series.

"I originally thought of it as just, like, a 3-minute digital thing," Gould said. "Sort of a horror hobby. Just a fun thing."

But then he was having lunch with an old friend — Pete Aronson, IFC's executive vice president of original programming. It was "not even a show-business lunch," it was "just two dudes eating chicken."

"And he said kind of casually, 'You should write a funny "X-Files," ' " Gould said. "And I said, 'I kind of just did.' "

Well, only kind of. It's clearly supposed to be funny. And, maybe if it had been a digital short, it would have been.

But eight half-hour episodes is about 7½ too many.

It's a clever idea and the special effects are top notch. But funny? Not so much.

The best thing about "Stan Against Evil" is that it gives you a real appreciation for "Ash vs. Evil Dead," which is gross, sometimes scary and funny. It's clearly not as easy as that show makes it look.

While IFC is attempting demon-based comedy, TBS is attempting alien-based comedy. Outer-space aliens, that is.

"I read an article about an alien abduction support group, and I thought it was kind of interesting that those actually exist," said creator/executive producer David Jenkins, who "thought it could be a kind of a fun group of people to focus on."

He teamed up with producers Conan O'Brien and Greg Daniels ("The Office," "Parks and Recreation") and the result is "People of Earth" (Monday, 7 and 7:30 p.m., TBS), a rather promising comedy about that support group. And about aliens.

Wyatt Cenac ("The Daily Show") stars as a reporter assigned to write about people he assumes will be kooks and weirdos. But then he has his own close encounter.

Yes, the support group features some oddball characters. But, no, they're not crazy. Because the aliens are real.

"People of Earth" is sort of "The Office" times two. You've got the support group, and you've got the aliens. And the two groups are more alike than you might expect.

The aliens lead "a more banal life than we'd imagine, and they're stuck in their jobs," Jenkins said. "They wish they had romantic relationships that were working out."

It's very weird, deliberately paced and low-key. The humor comes from the characters, not from gags and punchlines.

Daniels said he signed on because he was "tickled by the idea" of aliens as regular folks.

"And I kind of like that thought maybe as a way to curry favor with the aliens that I do believe are coming eventually," he said, "and get them to not see us as food."

Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter: @ScottDPierce.