Product Description

From the producers of "The Simpsons"! Jon Lovitz is the animated Jay Sherman, a TV movie critic who is forced to review the most pathetic films which he always rates as "It stinks." In addition to the film parodies, the show also deals with his personal life: working for a tyrannical media mogul boss, his lovelife and his family. Three-disc release includes all 23 episodes from the entire first and second seasons!

To quote New York movie critic Jay Sherman, voiced to Master Thespian perfection by Jon Lovitz, "it stinks" that The Critic lasted all but two seasons. "I used to have a show on ABC," Sherman bitterly remarks at one point, "for about a week." The show, created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss of Simpsons legend, fared no better when it moved to Fox, and little better when re-run on Comedy Central. But it did garner a devoted following, and thanks to DVD and the Internet, "the last hope of fading stars" (according to one of the ten "Webisodes" contained in this three-disc set), Jay Sherman lives! Television's saddest sack is the host of a TV review show, Coming Attractions. He must deal with the slings, arrows, and outrageous misfortunes heaped upon him by his ex-wife, adoptive WASP parents, and ratings-desperate Ted Turner-esque boss. On the movie front, The Critic is no less inside than the similarly ill-fated Action, but its hilarious parodies of classics and contemporary blockbusters, from the musical "Apocalypse Wow" to "Dennis the Menace II Society," make it much more accessible to any multiplex-goer. 

The Critic took particular glee in zinging Howard Stern, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Woody Allen and Soon-Yi. (We pause to praise the show's unsung heroes, Maurice Le Marche and Nick Jameson, who provide uncanny celebrity impersonations each episode). Some references have a longer shelf life than others. Conan O'Brien, at the time a fledgling talk-show host, certainly got the last laugh on a spied newspaper headline, "Conan Replaced by Dancing Chicken." And the series' best episode, in which Jay reunites an estranged Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel, plays now as a touching tribute to the original Thumb and Thumber. The Critic is poised for discovery. Is it too much to hope that, as with Family Guy, voluminous DVD sales may spark interest in creating new episodes? --Donald Liebenson

Product details

Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No

MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)

Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches; 9.6 ounces

Item model number ‏ : ‎ 790875

Director ‏ : ‎ Steve Socki

Media Format ‏ : ‎ Multiple Formats, Box set, Color, NTSC, Full Screen, Closed-captioned

Run time ‏ : ‎ 8 hours and 40 minutes

Release date ‏ : ‎ January 27, 2004

Actors ‏ : ‎ Christine Cavanaugh, Gerrit Graham, Judith Ivey, Nancy Cartwright, Charles Napier

Language ‏ : ‎ Unqualified, English

Studio ‏ : ‎ Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00008EY6Q

Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 3

The Critic is an American primetime adult 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 seasons 3 and 4 of The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994, and finishing 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 actor Marlon Brando and actor/director Orson Welles. They also spoofed 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, and 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 is called Coming Attractions, which airs on the Philips Broadcasting cable network. He is widely considered to be "cold, mean-spirited, and elitist" as a movie critic and when he is not working, he is a nice guy. 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 nutty adoptive father, his well-meaning son Marty, the Australian film star Jeremy Hawke, Margo—the 17-year-old biological child of his adoptive parents, his snide make-up lady Doris, his ex-wife Ardeth, and his boss Duke Phillips. In the second season, Jay acquired a love interest: a Southern woman named Alice Tompkins, who later became his long-term girlfriend.