VividSimon Simply Perfect

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Guy Lanoue This little gem was perhaps ahead of its time, or perhaps a bit too clever for a mass audience, lasting only a couple of seasons. Unfortunately, the premise – an eccentric but honest movie critic – doesn't age well, since the script is of course locked into the movies of the time. This little trick is what made The Critic so good, that it didn't depend on characterisation or weirdness, or weird characterisation (astronaut Homer, Peter Griffin versus a giant chicken, Roger the alien in the attic), though these aspects are of course not entirely absent – Jay has a son he worries about, a younger sister, weird WASP parents incapable of showing they love him, and so on. Its charm was more in the movies that were reviewed, usually formulaic Hollywood stinkers that allowed the writers to have a lot of fun sending up the idols du jour – Schwarzenegger, Willis, Godzilla, T-Rex. Jay's Ted Turneresque boss, who is supposed to be narcissistic, greedy and cynical, is a pussycat compared to today's more faceless moguls. The main thing is that The Critic played directly into one of pop-culture's most important traits that was still a hip novelty twenty years ago: auto-referencing, playing on meaning alternating between two levels, the overt and its subtle reference to another pop culture icon. People who are adept at the name game inevitably gain hipster status, since their ability to wink every time they drop a name means they are masters of two levels of meaning, the overt and the subtextual reference; or does it? That's the hook, one never knows what level on which pop cultural communication operates. But within the terms of this genre and this culture, The Critic stands out since it also worked within a more traditional and pre-pop culture, in its avoidance of profanity and of references to body parts and fluids that came to define "funny" 15 years later. Worth watching, especially since getting the dated movie references makes the show even more iconic for its cultish audience.

joan6350 The Critic was a very good show!I was so sad when it was taken off the air because I was a big fan of it and it was one of the very few shows I looked forward to seeing every single week. I am a Canadian and I try to watch Canadian TV but a few shows have come along like The Critic and The Simpsons that I thought were very good and just had to watch. Plus a lot of Canadian TV stinks so if there's nothing to watch (which happens sometimes, seems to be happening more often the last few years but that's how it goes) I'll try the U.S. stations.Jon Lovitz was great as The Critic, a fat balding slobby guy who is trying to raise his likewise fat slobby son in New York City. His mother was very domineering and his dad was crazy. His boss was a take on Ted Turner, a network owning, southerner lunatic who only cared about his bottom line.I'm sad it didn't last longer but got the DVD box set for Christmas and still haven't gotten tired of them.

SimpsonsFan13 Created by ex-partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss (of Simpsons Fame), The Critic is a short-lived, satirical sitcom about a highly intelligent yet obese cable TV film critic named Jay Sherman, voiced to perfection by Jon Lovitz. Jay could carry the entire show by himself, but he's also surrounded by such a wonderful cast of supporting characters. One of my favorites has to be Duke Phillips, Jay's Ted Turner-esquire Southern boss. The level of satire and absurdism in the show is razor sharp. The real highlights are the hilarious movie parodies. My favorite episode has to be the Siskel & Ebert one, simply a classic. The animation is more well crafted than in The Simpsons, especially the backgrounds. The theme music by the always amazing Hans Zimmer is simply exquisite. The show lasted two seasons, one on ABC and one on FOX, but it could've lasted much, much longer. Overall, The Critic is great satirical series that was ahead of it's time. While The Simpsons is still my all-time favorite show, I'd rank The Critic pretty high.

moviemystic Poster Mr. Doright on this board got it wrong. The Critic was NOT made bySimpsons creator Matt. The two shows just happened to share the sameproducer - James L. Brooks - that's all. Matt has never drawn, plotted norotherwise created The Critic in any way, shape or form. As to Matt's all-time masterpiece, many (including Matt himself) argue that it was his excellent pre- Simpson's comic strip, Life In Hell. Regretably, Matt has gone from makingalmost no money in a much freer creative environment to making lots of moneyin an increasingly more restrictive environment, which usually leads to friction, in this case between him and Brooks, who has had it made in the shade since a very young age, due to the fact that his daddy was already a behind the scenes Hollywood bigshot.