The Critic Cartoon

[drgon78]

Who else enjoyed this series and wish it got more then two seasons?

[superstaff]

I enjoyed it.

As a kid, I watched it sporadically (yet wasn't allowed to watch Simpsons). As an adult, I re-visited the show in 2010, and loved most of what I saw.

By the way, it got a 'season 3' in the form of really crappy webisodes. No, I don't recommend watching those, they're horrible.

[Prowler]

The one that crossovered with The Simpsons that one time?

Haven't seen it. I don't think it aired here. I guess it just wasn't popular enough. Hence why it got cancelled quickly.

I've read good things about it, though. Might very well be a hidden gem from its era.

[Leo656]

Love it. It's still funny, we marathon it every so often because you can get through the entire series very quickly.

Also, VERY ahead of its time with the random humor and cutaway gags. You can totally see how shows like Family Guy cribbed very liberally from it, although the context was different. For example, Jay being a film critic gave an actual reason for all of the movie-based gags and cutaways the show utilized, but still... pretty random. And characters like Jay's Dad just being a random doofus spouting nonsense and behaving badly while everyone else in the family just shrug and ignore it... very Roger from "American Dad", right there.

It's great, it was ahead of the curve, and it's sad that it ended so soon BUT at the same time it wasn't on the air long enough to wear out its welcome. Near the end, you could tell that the writers were feeling a bit "trapped" by the whole "film critic" premise and were more interested in exploring Jay's family, his relationship with his son, and his romantic life, with the bits about movies becoming more and more background stuff rather than huge chunks of the episodes. So it was already kind of becoming a different show than what it started as, which happens often. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and we'll never know how the show would have gone had it continued. But we do know it ended before it had a chance to go bad.

Highly recommended. Some episodes are better than others but the entire series is SO short that even if a person didn't like it they didn't lose more than a few hours watching the whole thing. I think it failed because it was paired up with The Simpsons despite being a very different type of show, and also simply because the type or humor the show relied on wouldn't come into mainstream fashion for a few more years. Again, if you watch a few episodes, you'll very quickly start to notice things that shows like Family Guy and American Dad liberally borrowed from. "This movie was even worse than that time I saw Tom Cruise in (______)", and stuff like that. The Critic is nowhere near as crass or mean-spirited, but the rapid-fire non sequiturs and visual gags were definitely an influence on many adult animated series to come. It's kinda like a bridge between The Simpsons and shows like Family Guy, the "missing link" as it were.

And I know some people hate Family Guy, but they probably would still like The Critic. They're very different shows, they just share a lot of the same type of gags. There's actually a lot of heartwarming stuff in The Critic, and it's not as obnoxious as a lot of modern cartoons for adults tend to be. It's a bit more dry, humor-wise. There's a bit of a Seinfeldian influence there, especially as in New York City is very much a "character" on the show.

It's a hard show to categorize but it really works. When it was on it became and remained my favorite show until it got cancelled.

Also, Duke Phillips is my spirit animal.

[drgon78]

It is a shame that so many cast members have passed away.

[drgon78]

I am still hoping for a blu ray release....one day.