The Critic

This show was hilarious. I loved Jon Lovitz and all the other voice actors. Jay Sherman is such a comically brilliant character. As a film buff, I thought the movie parodies in the show "Coming Attractions" were amazing. I also liked the shows send up on the entertainment industry and films and actors in general I think Al Jean and Mike Reiss did an excellent job with this series. Sadly, most Simpsons personnel don't get as lucky with their own projects, even Groening had problems keeping Futurama on the air, which I also loved. I still can't believe it only lasted two seasons. I think it would be awesome if someday they would come out with more episodes or even a feature film.

This show is for the intelligent viewer. It not only went after Marlon Brando, but almost everybody in the business. It lampooned Bones from Star Trek, poked at Arnold, and really made fun at Ted Turner (Duke Phillips) It's a shame that Fox, then ABC didn't give it a chance.

Though it never really becomes more than the sum of its parts (hindered by quite a few rather generic plot lines and unimaginative film parodies) `The Critic' does contain more than its share of memorable laugh-out-loud moments, generally due to the brilliant voice acting of Maurice LaMarche, who performs most of the celebrity voice impersonations. His Orson Welles impression (`Rosebud... yes, Rosebud frozen peas'), one of the show's standout moments, has to be heard to be believed – it's no wonder Tim Burton hired him to overdub D'Onofrio's voice in `Ed Wood'.

Other highlights include the many cameo appearances by film critics Roger Ebert, Gene Siskel, Gene Shalit and Rex Reed. Seeing Siskel and Jay re-enact the `wig' scene from Hitchcock's `Vertigo' is heartwarming, and though I could never stand Rex Reed's reviews, he is a fabulous voice actor. His delivery of the Savvy Indian Chewing Tobacco commercial jingle still makes me laugh out loud any time I hear it.

Not a knockout show, but definitely worth watching. It's a bloody shame this was cancelled.

23 episodes on DVD, plus the webisodes. The first 12 or so episodes are worth the price of admission. All of it is watchable, but the series did indeed start slipping. The remarkable excellence of the first half should not be missed - and you'll want to watch the rest, just because they do show glimmers of the early magic through the rest of it.

It really does help to be a film buff - they do bits from lots of different movies, and part of the fun is spotting the homage (and sniping) at a wide selection of movies. Some of them appear in the opening/closing credits, and change from episode to episode. The 'films' he reviews for his show are, thankfully, collected in the special features on the third DVD, and are well worth watching just by themselves.

I love the Critc. This is a prime example of how unfairly show biz treats its good shows. The basic premise of the show is that a middle aged film critic by the name of Jay Sherman leads an miserable existence. We see him at the work place ripping bad movies a new one everytime he has to review one (plus for the people of the Crtic for having the guts to comment about this era of horrible movies made by Hollywood). We also see him in his private life as a man who's love life is in shambles, has a weird waspy (and adopted) family, and a man who just needs a break now and then. I very much enjoyed the critic, and shame on ABC and FOX executives for taking it down in its prime. And a half a shame to comedy central for not putting it on as often and at a better time. So in short, maybe ABC or Fox or some other network will wise up and bring back this cult classic from the dead.