It stinks! The immortal words of local cable TV film critic Jay Sherman. The Critic is a cartoon unlike any other. Created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, former show runners of The Simpsons they, along with producer James L. Brooks, crafted a smart, satirical sitcom that lampoons the film industry. Every episode was even produced by Richard Sakai. If these names sound familiar, I will get into them later. If you read the title and see it says 1994-1995. The show technically ran till 2001 with a series of ten web exclusive shorts produced for the internet. I'll get into why I don't consider the webisodes canon later as well.
Originally airing on ABC in 1994 for season one then on Fox in 1995 for season two, The Critic stars Jay Sherman (Voiced by the always funny Jon Lovitz), a divorced, middle aged film critic who hosts a review show called Coming Attractions with Jay Sherman where he reviews the latest films. Very similar to At the Movies with Siskel and Ebert. When Jay isn't reviewing the latest turkies on rye churning out of Hollywood, he's spending time with his son Marty (voiced by the late, great Christine Cavanaugh). Jay's family consists of his overbearing, constantly berating mother Eleanor (voiced by Judith Ivey), his wacked out of his mind father Franklin (voiced by Gerrit Graham), and his younger sister Margo (voiced by Bart Simpson herself Nancy Cartwright) who is the best part of season one and needed more episodes focused on her. Jay's best friend is Jeremy Hawke (voiced by the extremely talented Maurice LaMarche) an Australian actor whose more obsessed on his own image than anything else, but will go to the ends of the earth for his buddy Jay. At work Jay works for Duke Phillips (voiced by Charles Napier) who is like a mix between Ted Turner of the 90s and a cartoon super villain. His ever grumpy makeup lady Doris (voiced by Doris Grau, who also voiced Lunch Lady Doris... she voiced a lot of characters named Doris.) In season two the cast was expanded to include Alice Tompkins (voiced by Park Overall I swear to god that's her real name.) and her daughter Penny (voiced by the late, great Russi Taylor.) Together they all do great things for Jay. Marty helps Jay become a better father, Alice helps Jay become a better person, and Doris helps Jay's balding with spray on hair. Real film critics even had small cameos throughout the series; Siskel and Ebert, who had a whole episode to them, Gene Shalit, and Rex Reed.
The show itself is a standard animated sitcom. With Jay navigating life a divorced dad, juggling his career as a critic, his son, and his family constantly knocking him down. From episode one the show was funny as hell. One of the funniest parts of the show is the movie parodies they use to lampoon the movie industries. You can tell the producers and writers love movies, and if you love something enough you can make fun of it just as much. Now I do wish the producers took the advice of Siskel and Ebert when they reviewed the first three episodes way back in '94; the show needed to go harder into the movie parodies and focus on the life of a movie critic. Maybe have him watch TV and do something like MST3K and give his play by play thoughts on lampooning on what's popular on television. I really wish the show did that. The episodes that focus on his career and movies are some of the best. Episodes that focus on daily life they can feel a little long. But even when the episodes aren't as funny the performance of Jon Lovitz saves it at the end of the day. His delivery, his performance, his ramblings. Lovitz really does sell this show. Season one had the funnier episodes, but season two had one of the best characters introduced. Alice Tompkins, a single mother southern belle moving to New York and becomes Jay's new assistant. Alice is one of the best characters introduced. She's fiery, sassy, and not afraid to call out Jay on his BS. She's what saves season two from being entirely forgettable. One downside is when Alice was introduced, Margo was thrown to the wayside. She barely has any speaking roles which is kinda sad as, said earlier, Margo was the best part of season one. To contradict myself, I do wish when they had the episodes of normal life, I wish there were more time of Jay with his son Marty or Penny. Getting closer to his son and his step-daughter. And maybe less time on Duke. Duke is funny for a gag here and there but episodes focused on him entirely fall flat and Jay can't even save them.
Okay, in the opening I mentioned did the names sound familiar? Al Jean, Mike Reiss, James L. Brooks, Richard Sakai. Nancy Cartwright, Jon Lovitz, Doris Grau? Well they should. This show was made by the same crew who made The Simpsons. The same writing, the same producers, much of the same cast, it all started on The Simpsons. The only thing missing is Matt Groening. Though, I assume he despises The Critic considering the huge temper tantrum he threw when The Simpsons episode A Star is Burns came out.
Okay, now to address the mention of not considering the webisodes non canon. In 2000, five years after the show ended on Fox, the crew and Jon Lovitz returned to bring The Critic to the internet. In the webisodes they drop a bombshell that Jay and Alice's relationship didn't work out. And I hate that. No. I refuse to accept that. Jay and Alice were made for each other. Screw you webisodes! In reality I feel they did that because Park Overall didn't return so they make Jay and Alice breakup offscreen so Jay can go after his new makeup lady Jennifer (voiced by Valerie Levitt). She makes her only appearances in this web series. I'd argue the webisodes don't hold up as strong as the main series but it does do what Siskel and Ebert said all those years ago, it focused more on the films. Probably due to the shorter runtime, episodes now being a little over three minutes rather than twenty three to twenty four minutes. Jon Lovitz has been rallying hope for a Critic revival for years, and I hope if it does come back, they ignore the webisodes and say that Jay and Alice eventually married and lived happily.
My final thoughts on The Critic. It doesn't stink, it's great! You can easily find this show on Tubi TV for free with ads (unless you use Brave but you didn't hear that from me...) so give it a shot if you get a chance. All in all I give this show 4 skulls out of 5. Steve says; Goodnight, Critic fans! And a special goodnight to those just tuning in for Home Improvement!
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