The Critic

The Critic is an animated sitcom that aired from 1994 to 1995. Jay Sherman (Jon Lovitz) is a divorced father, a bald man with weight issues, and host of Phillips Broadcasting's "Coming Attractions." His ex-wife hates him, His boss, Duke Phillips (Charles Napier), thinks he's soft, and he gets the feeling that his adoptive parents (Judith Ivey, Gerrit Graham) don't really like him. The only person that has any respect for him is his son, Marty (Christine Cavanaugh), though Jay's given him many reasons why he shouldn't. Al Jean and Mike Reiss created the show still fresh off their turns as show runners for "The Simpsons." Although it maintained good ratings through both of it's seasons, The Critic was canceled after 23 episodes. Midway through its run, The Critic moved from ABC to the FOX network. In addition to being a well-written, well made comedy show, It also brought the "Cut-away" to the comedy forefront. This was used mostly in movie parodies. Jay would mention a movie, then the show would cut to a scene of that movie. This kind of set-up would later be used extensively in Family Guy. MORE