The Critic

The Critic is an American animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as writers and showrunners on the third and fourth seasons of The Simpsons. Twenty-three episodes of The Critic were produced. The show was first broadcast on ABC in 1994 and finished its original run on Fox in 1995.

Episodes featured film parodies with notable examples including a musical version of Apocalypse Now; Howard Stern's End (Howards End); Honey, I Ate the Kids (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids/The Silence of the Lambs); The Cockroach King (The Lion King); Abe Lincoln: Pet Detective (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective); and Scent of a Jackass and Scent of a Wolfman (Scent of a Woman). The show often referenced popular films, such as Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and The Godfather, and routinely lampooned Marlon Brando, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, and Dudley Moore, usually as his character Arthur Bach from the 1981 film Arthur.

Despite the ratings improving, The Critic was cancelled after two seasons. It continued to air through reruns on Comedy Central and then on Locomotion. From February 1, 2000 to 2001, ten webisodes were produced using Macromedia Shockwave; these webisodes were broadcast on AtomFilms.com and Shockwave.com.

In the late 2000s, reruns of the show aired again on ReelzChannel in the US and on Teletoon's programming block Teletoon at Night in Canada.

The show follows the life of a 36-year-old film critic from New York named Jay Sherman. His televised review show, Coming Attractions, airs on the Philips Broadcasting cable network. Sherman is cold, mean-spirited, and elitist as a movie critic, but in his everyday life he has a gentler nature and is filled with self-doubt. His signature line, upon seeing a terrible film, is "It stinks!" Each episode is full of film references and parodies. Some of the secondary characters that are a part of Jay's story include his zany adoptive parents and their biological daughter Margo, his well-meaning son Marty, the Australian film star Jeremy Hawke, his snide make-up lady Doris, his ex-wife Ardeth, and his boss Duke Phillips. In the second season, Jay acquires a love interest: a Southern woman named Alice Tompkins, who later becomes his long-term girlfriend.

The show was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who, along with James L. Brooks, served as executive producers. The Critic was a joint production of Gracie Films, the same company behind 20th Century Fox Television cartoon The Simpsons, in association with Columbia Pictures Television. The show's animation was done by Film Roman, who were also still working on The Simpsons at this time. It was co-produced by Patric Verrone.

Jean and Reiss were showrunners on The Simpsons and had been approached by series creator Matt Groening to design a spin-off centered on Krusty the Clown. Their pitch featured many similarities to The Critic – Krusty would be a single father in New York with a prickly make-up lady and an eccentric boss resembling Ted Turner. Groening turned down the idea, instead wanting the Krusty spin-off to be a live-action series led by the character's animated voice, Dan Castellaneta.

In 1993, Brooks approached Jean and Reiss with the idea of a sitcom based on a morning television program. The pair adapted their Krusty pitch to the new idea. Brooks recommended Jon Lovitz as the lead, based on his performance in A League of Their Own. Lovitz initially turned down the role due to his commitments with three upcoming films, so, at the last moment, the series became animated.